A Few Lines from Lin:  Back from NYC
Upcoming Events: Staying Positive in Negative Times
What's New: WTBR Interview
Feature Article: How to Stay Calm While Your 401k is Plummeting
Lin Recommends: A Voice of Sanity
Quote of the Week: Serenity

Hello {!firstname}:

Last night, I had a blow-out time in NYC delivering my Three Secrets to Positive Aging: No, Diet & Exercise are NOT Two of Them! workshop at the Hibiscus Self-Discovery Speaker's Series for Women. The event was co-sponsored by The Transition Network, and what an amazing group of women showed up.

Meanwhile, the financial chaos of the past few weeks, has me working hard at practicing what I preach - staying centered and calm, and keeping my positive energy flowing. It's not always easy, but what a difference in my outlook (and my day!) when my attitude is positive and I'm filled with hope instead of fear.

If you're having a melt down because your retirement fund has plummeted and you think the world is ending, check out "Lin Recommends" below and read a voice of sanity from my friend and colleague, Bill Losey.

To your endless possibilities (no matter what's going on around you)!

Lin Schreiber, Retirement Revolutionary

The recent financial upheaval makes the timing for the upcoming  Retire Retirement Boot Camp: Basic Training for the Rest of Your Life truly, well, timely. All my work is geared toward helping you develop and enhance those personal attributes, abilities and capacities that will assure that you thrive in the coming years, not merely survive.

This Boot Camp is all about energy, and how to generate and sustain a positive outlook while creating the life you really want, not the life you get by default when you’re running on the old negative auto pilot.

It's not too late to  sign up for this fun, energizing, enlivening weekend at Kripalu Yoga and Health Center in Stockbridge, MA, November 21-23. Would love to see your smiling face there!

Last week, I was a guest on  Good Morning Pittsfield hosted by John Krol on local radio station WTBR. What a great interviewer, although he was a tad sneaky. John "neglected" to tell me that while the show is recorded in a radio station, there are TV cameras set up so the show can air on local television later in the day. Fortunately for me, my friend Maureen gave me a heads up, so I put on real make-up and wore something nice. Thank goodness or I would have worn my usual Berkshires attire, and looked, well, not hot! To see how well I cleaned up,  check out my interview.  This links directly to the video file, so to queue it to my interview, forward the video to time marker 36.21 in Windows Media Player (or whatever your default media player is), which is about 36 minutes into the show.

How to Stay Calm While Your 401k is Plummeting

by Lin Schreiber, Retirement Coach

The Dow Jones is whipping up and down more rapidly and more frighteningly than the scariest Giga-coaster (that's giant roller coaster), the media is whipping up a frenzy of hysteria, and politicians are whipping out their index fingers nastily pointing to their opponents as the cause of it all. Your life savings are dwindling, your plans for a cushy retirement are fading, and a restful night's sleep has become a thing of the past. Not to worry. You can stay calm when chaos and uncertainty is swirling all around you by:

Tuning Out. Okay, so it may seem too simple, but what if you just turned off the TV, put your daily newspaper on hold, and stopped checking your portfolio online every 10 minutes? You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel without the steady stream of bad news overwhelming you. And, you don't have to worry that you'll miss any "really" bad news, because at least one person you know will call you immediately to find out if you've heard.

Tuning In. There will never be a better time to start using your IGS (Internal Guidance System). It's like the GPS you use in your car, only better. Your IGS is that deep inner knowing that's called a variety of names - hunch, intuition, gut feeling, to name a few. You know what I'm talking about. It's when you absolutely know that you should (or shouldn't) do something and you do it anyway. Aren't you always sorry when you don't listen? So now is the time to start tuning in. Once you've stopped listening to all the external noise, tune in to what you need to do for yourself. It's probably NOT eating a quart of Ben & Jerry's every night.

Stop Blaming. While it may seem perfectly sane to play the blame game, it's a total waste of time. So what if you think your broker or the Democrats or the Republicans or your evil Aunt Sophie is responsible for the pickle you find yourself in. Does it really matter at this point? Blaming keeps you stuck in the past. Now's the time to make some good decisions for your future.

Stop Playing the Victim. If you need to go to bed for a day with one or more of those Ben & Jerry’s quarts, do it. But set a tight limit to the amount of time you're going to wallow. "Oh, woe is me" won’t change anything. It'll just keep you stuck in the lousy feelings.

Accentuating the Positive. Now, more than ever is the time to refocus your attention. Move from dwelling and ruminating and worrying about what you've lost, to refocusing your attention on all that you have. A simple, daily act of gratitude will work miracles, not only in the way you feel, but in your life as well.

Discovering the Lesson(s). Yes, there are powerful lessons in this financial crisis for all of us, whether you were heavily invested or not. Perhaps, like many women, you've been the proverbial ostrich, leaving it up to your spouse or financial planner to build your wealth. You may be relieved that you never invested in the stock market, because you're still waiting for the knight in shining armor (or Prince Charming) to come and take care of you. Or, you may have accumulated a lot of really cool stuff over the years, but haven't secured your financial future because you're not good at math. Find out what the lessons are and then start…

Answering the Golden Question. In every situation that you don't like, ask yourself, "What's the opportunity here?" I promise you, there's always an opportunity. It may be time for you to take charge of your money and learn about investing and managing your wealth, and/or time to build your financial future before the Prince shows up, or uncover what you really value and align your life with that. Oh, and the math excuse? Forget about it. You don't have to be a mathematician to be a good investor. If you take the time to re-evaluate your relationship with money and learn all that you can, you'll build a secure future.

Change (good and bad) is inevitable in life. Some you choose, some - like the current financial crisis - is thrown at you. If you allow yourself to be swept along in all the negativity and hysteria, you'll just be reacting to everything that comes along and you'll feel yanked and pulled and fearful. If, however, you take charge and become pro-active, you can remain calm amidst the storm. And, you'll sleep a whole lot better, too!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you keep it intact and include this blurb with it:  Certified Retirement Coach Lin Schreiber, author of the popular ABC's of Revolutionizing Retirement, helps self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next stage of life, formerly known as "retirement."  To claim your copy of her free popular Revolutionize Retirement Starter Kit, visit her site at http://www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com.
 

If the financial news has you totally freaked out, I highly recommend that you experience Bill Losey's calming voice of reason by reading Bill's letter to his readers in the most recent issue of his weekly newsletter,  Retirement Intelligence. He clearly lays out what is real, what is permanent, and what is temporary in a way that should calm your fears and help you make good decisions about how to move forward.

And if that doesn't work, try turning off the TV and putting the newspaper on hold for a week...seriously!

Lin Schreiber is a Retirement Revolutionary who loves helping self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next stage of life, formerly known as "retirement."  Like Lin, her clients have a positive vision for the future, and the idea of riding off into the sunset for the next 30-40 years isn't in the picture.

She is a sought after speaker, Professional Certified Coach and Certified Retirement Coach.  Through her business, Revolutionize Retirement^(TM), she delivers her comprehensive coaching programs to individuals over the phone, and to groups at her Boot Camp live events.  Combining her contagious enthusiasm, non-stop energy, and passion for her subject, Lin creates a fun, dynamic learning environment that energizes and inspires her audiences.

Lin is featured on the PBS series Boomers^(TM): Redefining Life After Fifty, and is the author of The ABC's of Revolutionizing Retirement.

Contact her at  www.RevolutionizeRetirement.com.

Serenity (besides being the name of my glorious granddaughter) is what we seek in times of chaos, which is why I love this quote so much.

"Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm" ~Unknown

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