HARRIET EDLESON

Author/Journalist

PAPERBACK PUBLISHED 2024

If you’re getting ready to retire, thinking about retirement, or already in the process, 12 Ways to Retire on Less can help you focus on the steps you need to take to get there.

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ARTICLES:

Retirement Wisdom Podcast’s Joe Casey interviewed Harriet Edleson:

Featured on the podcast, Accidentally by Design,

REVIEWS

Retirement Wisdom Review – Dec 8, 2021 

12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future

by Harriet Edleson

Because of my work as a retirement coach, I read more books on retirement than most people. I found 12 Ways to Retire on Less to be a breath of fresh air. It’s a well-written, no-nonsense, comprehensive guide to planning for retirement in today’s challenging environment.

Planning for retirement today entails navigating a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety. Journalist Harriet Edleson highlights the practical considerations for the big decisions you’ll face in planning for retirement, including when to retire or work longer; budgeting; generating income in retirement; when to file for Social Security; moving or staying in a place; housing options in later life, and the often-overlooked issue of transportation. It’s a pragmatic, reality-check on retirement today that shows how there are still ways to make it work.

I recommend this book as a valuable resource that will help you reframe how you’re thinking of your next chapters and retire smarter.

The strength of the book is on how to make savvy moves to optimize your resources in funding what for many people promises to be a longer retirement than previous generations enjoyed. However, my favorite parts of the book were when Edleson goes beyond those core financial topics to emphasize the importance of keeping the dreams you have for retirement in focus. In several chapters, she explores viewing retirement as an adventure and writes of discovering a new purpose and honing in on what you really want to do in this phase of life, including envisioning your dream locations and where you want to travel. Starting with this vision of retirement as an adventure sets the stage for then finding smart ways to fund your vision.

Listen to our conversation with Harriet Edleson here

Book report

New works by Bethesda-area writers

BY CARALEE ADAMS |SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 | 8:31 AM

After years of writing about retirement for magazines and newspapers, Bethesda journalist Harriet Edleson pulled together the advice she’s learned in 12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2021). She encourages readers to create a budget, consider the best time to claim Social Security, and carefully review housing options—which will likely be their biggest expense. “People are fearful of running out of money in retirement,” says Edleson, who is a regular contributor to Marketwatch.com and The Washington Post. “If you plan, then you will be more likely to know what you have coming in, how much you are spending, how much you are earning, what is your guaranteed income, and you can sleep better.”

Events:

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, 1 pm – Finding Your Encore Career, Friendship Heights Village Center, 4433 S. Park Ave., Chevy Chase, Maryland. Come learn how many Baby Boomers left the work force but have decided to return to a new or related career. Whether it’s for the challenge, the intellectual stimulation, the money, or a combination, approximately 20% of those 65 and older are working today. Ask questions and share your ideas. Speaker is financial journalist Harriet Edleson, author of the book, 12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future.

Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 7- 8:30 pm – Your Retirement Dream: How Planning Can Make it Come True, Oakton Library, 10304 Lynnhaven Pl, Oakton, VA, 22124, how to turn your dreams into reality, both financially and emotionally; books available for sale and signing.

Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, 2 – 4 pm – Speaker at Senior Tea in Glen Echo Heights Neighborhood in Bethesda, Md. Contact Harriet Edleson, author of the book, 12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future, for more information and to attend at Harriet333@aol.com. Books available for purchase and signing.

Monday, April 15, 2024, 7 pm – 8:30 pm, “Your Retirement Dream: How Planning Can Make it Come True,” Patrick Henry Library, 101 Maple Ave, E, Vienna, Va., how to turn your dreams into reality, both financially and emotionally; books available for sale and signing.

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, noon, “Your Retirement Dream: How Planning Can Make it Come True,” Mount Holyoke Alumni Association, ZOOM.

Monday, Oct. 24, 2023, 7 pm, “Making the Most of Your Money in Retirement,” 
When stock market volatility and inflation persist, smart retirees search ways to make the most of their money. It’s not easy but small moves can make a difference and keep you from making the wrong moves in unpredictable times. Edleson will focus on specific steps retirees and those considering retirement can take to improve and maintain financial stability for the long run. She writes for MarketWatch.com, a Dow Jones financial website, and is the author of the book, 12 Ways to Retire on Less (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Her other writing credits include The Washington Post Real Estate section and the Retiring feature in The New York Times. Most recently, she was a staff writer/editor/producer at AARP.  Copies of her book will be available for purchase at the conclusion of the program; Friendship Village Center, Village of Friendship Heights, 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815 – (301) 656-2797.

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, 2 pm, “Romance Scams Hit High,” talk and book signing,
Friendship Village Center, Village of Friendship Heights, 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815 – (301) 656-2797.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022, 10:30 am, guest speaker and book signing, “Taking to the Skies Again: Traveling in Today’s World,” Friendship Village Center, Village of Friendship Heights, 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20815 – (301) 656-2797. If you’re considering travel this summer yet find yourself wavering, it’s not surprising. Overall, you want to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Yet, for some, travel is a big part of life. If you wait for the perfect time, you may never go. You can postpone for only so long. Instead, during a pandemic that ebbs and flows, aim to mitigate risk.

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, 5:30-6:30 pm, Guest Speaker at Georgetown Village, virtual,
LISTEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa48mBlPmuU&t=1508s