Retirement Voices Questionnaire

If you are a woman who is retired, we’re glad you’re here! And we appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts and insights about your transition to this stage of life.

Getting started is as easy as 1-2-3:

REGISTER OR LOG IN: The first time you visit, click on the blue underlined word Register (just after the Submission Guidelines below) and enter your email and a password. You MUST register in order to save or submit your answers to the questionnaire. For every subsequent visit, click on the blue underlined word Login and enter your email and password.
COMPLETE THE REQUIRED FIELDS: Tell us a little about yourself.
PROCEED TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE: Answer as many questions as you like. When you’re done, scroll to the bottom of the questionnaire and click either Save Draft or Submit:
- Save Draft enables you to answer the questions in more than one session. To come back to the questionnaire later, simply Login and your saved information will appear.
- Submit sends your answers to us. Please note that once you hit Submit, you won’t be able to retrieve your information again.

When you’re ready to log out from the site, go to the upper right corner of the page, hover over “Howdy” and you’ll see the Log Out link.

Please remember: We can’t receive your submission until you click the Submit button! And the submission deadline is April 30, 2019.

Submission Guidelines (and some of the required legal disclosures)

Submissions will be accepted through April 30, 2019.
All submissions must be previously unpublished. Work posted anywhere online or in print counts as having been published.
By completing and submitting this questionnaire, you grant to the co-authors a royalty-free nonexclusive license to publish, reproduce, display, distribute and use excerpts or all of your submission in any form.
The co-authors are under no obligation to use all submissions. The co-authors will select which submissions, in part or in their entirety, will be included in the book. Submissions may be edited for grammar and clarity.
Submitters who are selected will receive notice of their inclusion. No payment will be made for selected submissions. You will be sent one free copy of the book if your submission (or excerpts thereof) is published.
You are granting to the co-authors permission to use your brief career description, year you retired, age at retirement and city/state alongside your response(s) that are selected for the book.

You must click here to Register (on your first visit)

or click here to Login (every subsequent visit)

before you fill out the required fields form and questionnaire below.

Questionnaire

If you are human, leave this field blank.

First Name (required, but won't be published) *

Last Name (required, but won't be published) *

Email (required, but won't be published) *

Year you retired *

Your age at retirement *

City, state/province where you live *

e.g. Portland, Maine

Brief description of your work/career before you retired *

75 characters max

Required *

I have read and accept the submission guidelines

Now let's really get into it:

You can answer one, a few, or all of the following questions, and provide as little or as much detail as you wish. If you want to answer the questions in more than one session, you can click Save Draft (at the bottom of the page) and come back to the questionnaire later. Just be sure to submit your answers no later than April 30, 2019.

1. How do you define retirement? Do you describe yourself as being retired? If not, how? How do you feel about the word “retirement?” Is there another word or phrase that describes this stage of life better?

2. Describe your retirement decision: how, when and why did it happen? Did you get there slowly or suddenly? Did you get support from friends/family about your decision to retire?

3. When you retired, did you go through any transitional phases? What were the first few months like compared to later months? How did you feel earlier in retirement vs. later?

4. How do you spend your time now that you’re retired? What gets priority? Is your time more or less structured than before? How do you feel about how you’re spending your time?

5. How has being retired affected your relationships (think of all the people in your life)?

6. Has your lifestyle changed since retiring? If so, how? What prompted the change?

7. Has retiring affected your physical health? If so, how?

8. Has retirement affected your spirituality? Your perception of aging and mortality? If so, how?

9. Has retiring affected your sense of identity? If so, how? From where do you get your self-esteem? When someone asks, “What do you do?” what do you say?

10. What has surprised you about retirement (positive and/or negative)?

11. What aspect of retirement has been the most difficult for you? What’s been the easiest?

12. What do you wish you had known about retirement before you retired? What advice would you give to someone considering retirement?

Additional comments:

Only choose Submit when you are finished filling out the form, otherwise choose Save Draft. Once the form has been submitted, it cannot be modified.