Having recently been somewhat forcibly retired, I have been astounded by the predominance of advice on the internet for retirement planning, investments, real estate and every other form of advice where someone can make some money out of it.

While what is remarkably lacking is the thought that maybe people who are retiring might just want to worry about pursuing another 30 or more years of an active and healthy lifestyle.

Obviously retirement planning should have a strong focus on the financial aspects but if you are not in good health both physically and more importantly mentally, retirement tends to start looking a lot less attractive.

The phrase Use it or Lose it has real relevance here.

Both muscle tone and mental acuity decline sharply with inactivity and it is of paramount importance that anyone approaching retirement should realize this and take steps to prevent it.

PHYSICAL HEALTH

With the growing economic importance of the retiring baby boomer age group, there is now a fast growing development of anti-aging products.

The problem is a great number of the products that are hyped up are little more than hot air, usually they have some anecdotal evidence of efficacy which is enough to allow the marketers to sneak by the regulatory authorities but you are best off to keep your money in your pocket until you have personally seen the benefits of the product or until there is real published proof that it works.

Good food, plenty of exercise and continual mental stimulation will do much more for you than pill taking.Having said that, there are definitely some products worth looking at.

I have personally seen some fairly amazing recoveries from serious immune system problems with a somewhat controversial range of products made by a network marketing company called Mannatech ( no I do not sell it mainly because, like most of these outfits many of their often ill informed sales people will tell you it is a miracle cure for any disease state you can think of and it is definitely not that ).

We have had some great results with Hgh stimulating products but there are a considerable number of companies selling very inferior versions of it, so if you are interested in these products make sure the company selling it has real published data on controlled clinical trials. There are other health related products worth looking at but rather than me presenting them here, it will be good for your mental health to look them up yourself.

MENTAL HEALTH

Probably even more important than the physical are the retirement choices you make that will keep your mental functions sharp. It is inevitable that there will be some loss of mental sharpness and minor memory lapses as you get further into retirement but it is entirely possible to maintain most of your mental abilities at an age equivalent which is much younger than your chronological age.

Here are a few suggestions:

Make the effort to join a club, discussion group or reading group.

Take up Toastmasters, chess, bridge, poker or something similar and make an effort to get really good at it by reading up as much as you can about the subject.

Get involved in a charity but keep away from the committees who are often more interested in feeding their egos than in actually doing something worthwhile.

Start up an internet based business, just having to learn the computer skills necessary for this will keep the mental fires burning for years but it is doable and can be quite profitable as well.

If you can afford it get involved in an all encompassing activity such as my personal passion which is thoroughbred horse breeding and racing. There is an endless challenge in getting that one right, but be careful of some of the sports so called expert advisers.