I created a research guide for my LIS course on Information Services and Resources. Since I was coming to the end of a very jam-packed semester and also was recovering from a rather brutal respiratory virus, I decided to do my project on tropical island retirement. As it happens it was not all dreams of leisure. There are a number of legal, financial and psychological considerations around retiring, whether your destination includes the tropics or not.

1. A Tropical Island Retirement
By Noreen Whysel
LIS 652 Information Services and Resources
Professor Brooke Watkins

2. Overview
 What is Retirement?
 Who Retires?
 Which Island?
 What to Do on Your Island?
 How Would You Meet People?
 What Are Some Benefits and Restrictions?
 Are You Ready to Retire?

3. What is Retirement?
 Various definitions of retirement may indicate differing
expectations of what retired life entails.
 Understanding what retirement means can help a patron
decide if they are ready and what to expect.

4. Definitions: What is Retirement?

5. Definitions: What is an Island?

6. Definitions: What is Tropical?

7. Additional Context
 Retirement as a Career Stage
“Workers face new choices as they approach the
retirement stage of their careers….[F]ew blue-collar
workers choose to stay at the job beyond the customary
retirement age of 65. Instead, an increasing number of
workers retire and then take part-time jobs. This trend
may be caused by the early retirement incentives many
firms offer to employees. The practice has also
contributed to the growing number of older workers who
are employed on a part-time basis.”
Source: industrial relations. (2013). In Britannica Online.

8. Additional Context
 Notes on Aging (human aging)
“I retired from active teaching at Harvard 22 years
ago, when I was 68 years old. This was more formal than
real…. [A]fter “retirement” the university—
faculty, students, and functions—continued to require of
me about the same effort as it had previously. Much work
for somewhat less money. I thought I would have more
time for writing; retirement made little difference.”
Source: Notes on Aging. (2013). In Britannica Online.

9. Who Retires?
 Demographics of Retired Populations
 Average Age at Retirement
 Average Income and Net Worth
 Marital Status
 Disability Status
 Educational Background
 Sources
 Alamanacs
 Statistical Abstracts

10. Who Retires?
 Statistical Abstract of the United States
 Gale General OneFile
 Google Search
 United Nations, World Health Organization
 Urban Institute, NYC Department for the Aging
 Academic Research (Scopus, ISI Web of
Knowledge, Google Scholar)

11. Demographics: Who Retires?
Source: U.S. Census

12. Who Retires?
 Clark, D. E., Knapp, T. A., & White, N. E. (1996). Personal
and location-specific characteristics and elderly
interstate migration. Growth and Change, 27(3), 327-351.
Retrieved from www.scopus.com
 Le Serre, D. (2008). Who is the senior consumer for the
tourism industry? Amfiteatru Economic, 10(SUPPL. 2), 195-
207. Retrieved from www.scopus.com
 Smith, K. &Toder, E. (November 2005). “Changing
demographics of the retired population,” Older
American’s economic security. Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute.

13. Which Island?
 Where?
 Is the patron looking anywhere in the world or must the
island be in the United States?
 The United States has tropical island territories in the
Caribbean, South Pacific, as well as the state of Hawaii and
many islands in southern continental States.
 Geographic Resources
 Maps
 Travel Guides
 Travelogues

14. Which Island?
 Frommer’s, Fodor’s, Lonely Planet
 Visitor Guides and Regional Newspapers
 Statistical Abstract of the United States
 USGS National Atlas
 Physical geography
 U.S. territorial acquisitions
 Gale General OneFile

15. Which Island?
 Access to services
 Assisted versus independent living
 Medical care
 Future needs
 Resources
 Retirement Living Information Center
 AssistedLivingFacilities.com
 Care.com
 State departments on aging and housing

16. What To Do?
 Travel Guides
 Local Newspapers and Visitor guides
 Gale Directory of Newspapers and Broadcast Media
 Gale InfoTrac Newsstand
 Newseum’sToday’s Front Pages
 Locally produced visitor guides and community papers

17. How to Meet People?
 Event listings
 Alumni Associations
 Trade Associations
 ALA Chapters
 American Library Directory

18. Benefits & Restrictions?
 Retirement Income
 Social Security
 Investments
 Medicare
 Retirement Expenses
 Housing Expenses
 Living Expenses
 Health Expenses
 Recreation, Entertainment

19. Benefits & Restrictions?
 General Resources
 Encyclopedia of Retirement (2003)
 U.S. Resources
 USA.gov
 Social Security Administration
 Department of Labor
 Banks and Financial Planning consultants
 International Resources
 EmbassyWorld.com
 Foreign Government Resources on the Web (U of Michigan)
Source: Guide to Reference

20. Are You Ready to Retire?
 Emotional and Financial Preparation
“…older people are increasingly being forced into
retirement before their productive years are
over, causing problems in their psychological
adaptations to old age. Retirement is not regarded
unfavourably in all instances, but its economic limitations
tend to further remove older people from the realm of
influence and raise problems in the extended use of
leisure time and housing. As a consequence, financial
preparation for retirement has become an increased
concern for individuals and society. ”
Source: old age. (2013). In Britannica Online.

21. Are You Ready to Retire?
 Emotional Preparation
 Visualization
 Read fiction and non-fiction books about island living
 Look at maps and video travelogues to plot out activities
 Financial Preparation
 Web Calculators - Cost of Living
 IRS Guides to Retirement and Living Abroad
 Legal Preparation
 Foreign embassies
 Wills

22. Thank You!
 Download the research guide at:
 http://www.whysel.com/pratt/652/tropical-island-
retirement.docx
 Noreen Whysel
 nwhysel@pratt.edu
 @nwhysel