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WORK TITLE: Time for Wonderlust
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Farmington
STATE: CT
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES: N/A
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Sharon, children: Forrest D. and Julie.
EDUCATION:University of Pennsylvania, M.B.A., 1966.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Certified Financial Planner and author. Aetna, Hartford, CT, Vice President of Investments, 1966-1988; Capital Counselors, Inc., Farmington, CT, principal, 1988-1995; Mullaney, Keating & Wright, Inc., West Hartford, CT, principal, 1996-2004; Real Leisure Press, Farmington, author, 2004–. Farmington Land Trust, Inc., treasurer, 1992-2001. Has appeared in articles featured in Newsday, Financial Analysts Journal, and the New York Times.
MEMBER:Farmington Village Green and Library Association (treasurer, 1989-1998).
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
For several years, Forrest J. Wright led a professional career within the finance industry. During his youth, he attended the Wharton School of Business, where he received his master’s degree. Wright has worked with several different firms over the years, from Aetna to Mullaney, Keating & Wright, Inc., the latter of which he helped found.
As stated on his personal website, Wright has always held particular interest in the retirement side of the finance world. This first began during his childhood, after he learned from his father the amount one would need to live so comfortably they would no longer need to hold a job. While Wright has now officially retired, he has devoted part of his time to continuing to share his knowledge with others who are in the midst of planning for their own golden years.
Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement Renaissance is the fruit of Wright’s efforts to impart his expertise. Wright instructs readers on two specific principles: the process of saving properly, and how to make the most of one’s life after reaching retirement. He explains that, should readers follow his first set of advice properly, they should be able to take advantage of retirement once they reach the age of sixty-five, if not a bit sooner.
The book splits off into two halves. One half deals with life after retirement. The other half is meant to teach planners how to approach the process of saving for their retirement years in the most efficient way possible. Wright explains that the best way to save up enough involves two major steps. The first is to avoid falling into the trap of materialism and buying new things just for the sake of it. Wright suggests that, in seeking to earn more just for the sake of acquiring more possessions, we cheat ourselves out of quality time we could devote to other pursuits. The second step is to secure a job you can perform very well, so your earning potential is at its maximum. He also advises readers to seek out the services of a financial professional to help them manage their savings, as well as investing one’s money properly and responsibly.
In offering his own tips on saving up for retirement, Wright also shares his philosophy that the time after one has retired should be devoted to self-improvement: learning new skills and picking up new interests you may not have gotten the chance to enjoy while you were working. Part of Wright’s views, in this regard, come from his own personal studies of the most influential philosophers and their works. He uses these philosophical teachings to further explain his points, and also takes a look at the notion of leisure and the timeline regarding how society has come to understand what leisure means. He looks at the life and works of such philosophers as Sigmund Freud, Plato, Friedrich Nietzsche, Henry David Thoreau, and several others. Wright also approaches the subject from a more personal angle by describing his own views on what leisure is and how he pursues this notion within his own life. One Publishers Weekly reviewer called the book “a valuable reminder that life should be treasured.” A writer for Kirkus Reviews felt the book is “a must for future and current retirees” and “an entertaining excursion through the world of philosophy for everyone else.” On the Readers’ Favorite website, Claudia Coffey wrote: “Whether you are close to retirement or it is way off in your future, this book will prepare you to take advantage of your every waking moment; how to not just ‘live’ but to ‘be.'”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2018, review of Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement Renaissance.
Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2018, review of Time for Wonderlust, p. 56.
ONLINE
Readers’ Favorite, https://readersfavorite.com/ (October 21, 2017), Claudia Coffey, review of Time For Wonderlust.
Time for Wonderlust website, https://timeforwonderlust.com/ (June 19, 2018), author profile.
The author has seen retirement from both sides: As professional planner and as retiree. His web site is timeforwonderlust.com
Forrest J. Wright always wanted to retire--literally. At eight years old he asked his dad what it would take not to have to work. The answer he got was "two million." To bring that "two million" day closer, he became a Wharton MBA (University of Pennsylvania), professional investment manager at Aetna, Inc., and a retirement planner (CFP) at his own firm. All as a means to an end described in Time For Wonderlust.
Forrest J. lives with his wife, Sharon, and daughter, Julie, in Farmington, CT. His son, Forrest D., lives in Philadelphia.
About
ForrestForrest Wright, CFP is a retired Certified Financial Planner with extensive experience in retirement planning. He has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania) and has been profiled in the New York Times, Financial Analysts Journal, Newsday and other national publications. His interest in successful retirement goes back to age 8, when he asked his dad how much money he’d need to never have to work. His father answered, “two million,” and Forrest’s quest began. In his own retirement, he began a comprehensive self-study of the world’s greatest philosophers—and discovered that th this second quest had far more meaning for him than the original quest for wealth. In this book, he shares his journey and provides an easy introduction to the great philosophers and the ideas they provided that shaped our world
Experience
Real Leisure Press
Author
Company NameReal Leisure Press
Dates EmployedJun 2004 – Present Employment Duration14 yrs 1 mo
LocationFarmington, CT
Mullaney, Keating & Wright, Inc.
Principal
Company NameMullaney, Keating & Wright, Inc.
Dates EmployedJan 1996 – Jun 2004 Employment Duration8 yrs 6 mos
LocationWest Hartford, CT
Capital Counselors, Inc.
Principal
Company NameCapital Counselors, Inc.
Dates EmployedJul 1988 – Dec 1995 Employment Duration7 yrs 6 mos
LocationFarmington, CT
Aetna
Vice President Investments
Company NameAetna
Dates EmployedJun 1966 – Jun 1988 Employment Duration22 yrs 1 mo
LocationHartford, CT
Education
University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
Degree NameMaster of Business Administration (M.B.A.) Field Of StudyFinance, General
Dates attended or expected graduation 1964 – 1966
Volunteer Experience
Farmington Village Green and Library Association
Treasurer
Company NameFarmington Village Green and Library Association
Dates volunteeredJan 1989 – Jul 1998 Volunteer duration9 yrs 7 mos
Cause Social Services
Manager of Farmington's (CT) private library since 1901.
FARMINGTON LAND TRUST INC
Treasurer
Company NameFARMINGTON LAND TRUST INC
Dates volunteeredAug 1992 – Sep 2001 Volunteer duration9 yrs 2 mos
Cause Environment
Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement
Renaissance
Publishers Weekly.
265.3 (Jan. 15, 2018): p56.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement Renaissance
Forrest J. Wright. Real Leisure, $9.95 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-9969451-2-7
Addressing retirees such as himself and those looking ahead to retirement, Wright devotes this curious, misleadingly titled book to examining the
idea of leisure and trying to answer his own question about what "payoff' he could expect from unlimited free time. For most workers, Wright
observes, their job is inextricably linked to their social standing. It's not greed that propels people to prefer work and consumption over leisure
and frugality, he writes, but "status seeking." In fact, "more income means less free time." Although Wright offers some suggestions for
retirement planning, such as investing, hiring a financial planner, and "owning your job" (working toward self-employment), this book is
definitely not the "how-to" its title implies. Instead, Wright offers an in-depth look at leisure's history as a concept and shares his own rituals for
relaxation. He goes on to discuss retirement as a time for intellectual cultivation and nurturing the"love of knowledge," taking readers through a
quick look at philosophers over the ages, from Socrates to Descartes to Nietzsche. The most actionable advice that more pragmatic readers will
find is a nudge toward retirement, with Wright advising at the conclusion, "We must act now because our opportunity could end by accident,
tomorrow, underneath a bus"--not exactly the most ringing encouragement, but certainly a valuable reminder that life should be treasured.
(BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement Renaissance." Publishers Weekly, 15 Jan. 2018, p. 56. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A523888945/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8c215f43. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A523888945
Wright , Forrest J.: TIME FOR WONDERLUST
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 15, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Wright , Forrest J. TIME FOR WONDERLUST Real Leisure Press (Indie Nonfiction) $None 2, 15 ISBN: 978-0-9969451-2-7
An intriguing combination of economics, philosophy, history, and advice aimed at readers who wish to plan for a meaningful retirement.
To debut author Wright, a financial planner and retiree, retirement offers the chance to recapture the youthful idealism lost to years of work,
responsibility, and keeping up with the Joneses--an opportunity to instead enjoy pursuing the pleasures of the mind and continuing the kind of
intellectual education most of us left off after college or high school. To this end, he concentrates the first section of the book on how to
financially prepare for such a retirement. His plan to save enough money to retire early, or at least have enough by age 65, involves, in part,
excelling in your career (hopefully one that you like) while at the same time eschewing status-seeking conspicuous consumption. In other words,
forget about the Joneses. He suggests some investing but only if you are satisfied with a fair return over time. If "you become greedy, you will be
burned." Business out of the way, Wright launches into his passion: philosophy. Plato, Mill, Thoreau, Sartre, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud;
Wright covers them all logically and lucidly. With lively, down-to-earth prose, he manages to present understandable thumbnail sketches of each
philosopher's worldview, from the ancient Greeks to the present day, all while demystifying complex ontological and epistemological concepts
and bringing to life the personalities behind them. Wright exudes an infectious enthusiasm and offers something of a life preserver to those so
jaded by their work lives they "cannot conceive of any meaningful alternative to work, other than death."
A must for future and current retirees; an entertaining excursion through the world of philosophy for everyone else.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Wright , Forrest J.: TIME FOR WONDERLUST." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522642986/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5f3d1a76. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522642986
“Sometimes, as I drift idly on Walden Pond, I cease to live and begin to be.” When Henry David Thoreau wrote these words in the mid 1800s, he was lamenting American materialism that was becoming ever more apparent in the wake of the Industrial Age. Now, almost two hundred years later, we can only look back at Thoreau’s time with nostalgia for what we see as a simpler life. In Time for Wonderlust: Planning Your Retirement Renaissance, Forrest J. Wright reminds us there is life after work, but we have to plan for it. This well-researched book is written in two sections. Section one about how to save toward retirement, how to wean ourselves from conspicuous consumption, and how to feel comfortable that what we have is enough. Section Two is about what to do with that leisure time and how to enjoy the rest of our life, without that conspicuous consumption to which many of us are sadly addicted. We also learn about philosophy and how it applies to each of us. If we can learn how to be comfortable with who we are without ever trying to earn the respect of others based on what we have and what we drive, we will be the better for it.
In Time for Wonderlust, Forrest J. Wright shockingly tells us that “people in wealthy countries are continually complaining about the absence of free time and the resulting stress, but when offered a choice between using productivity gains for more free time or for more hours of work, workers will oddly choose more work, even when their basic consumer needs are fully met.” Even more surprising, Wright tells us that by age sixty-five, many Americans are afraid of retirement; they "cannot conceive of any meaningful alternative to work, other than death.” We have to train ourselves to take advantage of “cultural leisure.” Toward that end, Wright offers us a history and study on philosophy. After all, the Greek word for leisure, schole, is the origin of Latin scola, German schule, and English school. Under The Search for Meaning, we follow the path of philosophy, from ancient times through transcendentalism up to today. We learn how philosophy and religion sometimes correlated well, but at other times clashed mightily. I loved the chapter on existentialism, and how it relates to each of us. I didn’t set out to read a book on philosophy and existentialism, but I learned a great deal about how to take advantage of that which we can see, and that which we cannot see. Whether you are close to retirement or it is way off in your future, this book will prepare you to take advantage of your every waking moment; how to not just "live" but to "be."