A new book called The Retirement Rescue Plan by Melissa Phipps is an all-in-one survival kit for retirement planning. 

In this smart, useful book, Melissa Phipps guides pre-retirees through engaging self-evaluation exercises, explains financial matters simply and clearly, and discusses key aspects of today’s retirement challenge, including strategies to find the right kind of work. Phipps’ expert advice is sure to assist anyone in planning and executing a successful retirement.

I had the opportunity to review a pre-publication copy of  The Retirement Rescue Plan and found it to be one of the better retirement planning books I've seen. It will be helpful if you are considering retirement or even if you are already retired. I highly recommend it. You can purchase it directly from Amazon below. 

Boomers searching for a way to earn income may find it right in their own home. A home business is a viable alternative for many Boomers who are looking for part-time work and are just as happy being their own boss as working for someone else.

Leslie Truex, a home business expert on About.com, has a step-by-step plan that will help you set up a home business in just one month. "During this first week," writes Leslie, "you’ll be researching, planning and beginning the initial steps to launching your business. During the second week, you’ll be putting your business foundation in place. The last two weeks will be about marketing and delivering great products and services."

Leslie breaks her plan into four easy-to-read sections, with every action item divided into daily to-do's. Each action item comes with a helpful description. This is a great way to segment the process of starting a business into manageable steps so it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Check out the first installment of Leslie's four-part series here.

Another home business option for Boomers is working together as a couple. While some couples can't envision working together, it does have significant advantages --in fact, the best business partner you could have might be your spouse. My wife and I started and ran a service business together for over six years and then sold it. We tell how we did it in our book, Let's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business. It will help any couple evaluate whether starting a business together is the right thing to do and give you tips for making your business more successful. 

No one likes to live with uncertainty, but many Boomers cannot be certain their retirement will be smooth and uneventful. Other than health, the largest concern of Boomers is whether they will have enough money to retire. It's one thing to know what your anticipated expenses will be in retirement -- but what about those costs you didn't expect?

In an article posted on NextAvenue.org, Alaina Tweddale details six specific unexpected retirement costs that should be on your radar screen. Some may be more obvious, such as emergencies, but others, including market volatility, ongoing maintenance, and underlying investment fees, could catch you by surprise. Alaina discusses all six, with helpful detail about each.

This article is definitely worth reading.

By the way, NextAvenue.org is an excellent PBS-sponsored source of valuable information for Boomers. I highly recommend it.

"Hello, My Name is Doris" is one of a growing number of movies targeting Boomers -- and this one should be especially endearing because it stars Sally Field. It is wonderful to see her back on the screen playing Doris Miller, a single spinsterish woman who fantasizes about a romance with a younger man. The plot alone is reason enough to support the film, even though at times it seems Doris is being made fun of instead of having fun.

Still, there are lessons to be learned from this charming, funny, and poignant film. For one thing, Doris is a hoarder, replicating the undesirable behavior of her deceased mother; in fact, she continues to live in her mother's junk-filled home. Let this be a lesson to those who cannot let go of the past. On the positive side, however, her imagined romance breathes new life into Doris in a way that demonstrates embracing new things is possible at any age. When she steps outside her comfort zone and becomes something of a trendy heroine to the younger generation, Doris really is symbolic of the Boomer penchant for reinvention.

Doris' pining for a younger man, while sad in some ways, is a welcome change from the more traditional older man-younger woman scenario that occupies life, literature, and movies. It certainly shows that women are just as capable of lusting after youth. In the end, however, the real lesson of the movie is that after all of her angst, Doris emerges a better, stronger, more together person. And Sally Field plays her to perfection.

Boomers, in particular, often face a work choice in their later years. Some may tire of their primary careers or working full-time, while others are forced out of their jobs. Thankfully, many Boomers are discovering that it is the second half of life that can be just as fulfilling. In fact, Boomers who launch "second-act" careers, or encore careers, find that they can pursue a true passion or, at the very least, formulate a lifestyle plan that allows them the flexibility to do more of what they want with their time.

Nancy Collamer is a speaker, coach, and author whose website, MyLifestyleCareer.com, focuses on how to profit from your passions during semi-retirement. Her list of "100 Great Second-Act Resources" is just one of the many valuable pieces of information she provides. The list includes resources that inform and inspire, as well as those that address being an entrepreneur, finding part-time, contract and freelance opportunities, volunteering, joining a 50+ community, and more.

Nancy is also the author of the book, Second-Act Careers, in which she offers "50-plus ways to generate income in semi-retirement" along with sensible advice and expert guidance about how to build a second-act career. This book is likely to be the best road to a second-act career and could help you evaluate options and make the best choice for you. You can read more about the book and order it directly from Amazon below.