Richard Cakans Becomes Amazon No.1 Best-Selling Author With Retirement Guide, Retirement: It’s Personal

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best arts and entertainment magazine UK“, Richard Cakans has stormed the Amazon charts with his No.1 bestselling book Retirement: It’s Personal, a practical guide that helps people in their 50s and 60s align their money, emotions and lifestyle to retire with clarity and confidence — without regrets.

A UK-based independent financial adviser has achieved a major milestone by topping the Amazon charts with a practical new book on retirement planning. Richard Cakans, a Chartered Fellow FCSI from Cumbria, has released Retirement: It’s Personal – A Practical Guide to Aligning Your Money, Emotions and Lifestyle. The book quickly became a No.1 bestseller, surpassing established titles including Andrew Craig’s long-running How to Own the World, and reached No.2 in the Financial Retirement Planning category, ahead of Tim Ferriss.

Why Retirement Feels So Daunting Despite the Numbers

Many people in their 50s and 60s have accumulated pensions, savings, and a rough estimate of their target “number,” yet they still hesitate when it comes to actually retiring. Common questions include:

• Am I truly ready, or should I wait longer?
• What if I stop working too soon and run into problems?
• What if I delay too long and miss out on my best years?

The issue is rarely a pure lack of money or spreadsheets. More often, it stems from a lack of clarity and confidence about the bigger picture.

The Three Elements That Must Align for a Successful Retirement

In his book, Richard Cakans emphasises that a fulfilling retirement requires three key areas to work together:

• Money: Assessing what you have, what you need, and how to convert pensions and investments into reliable, sustainable income.
• Emotions: Addressing fears of running out of money, guilt about leaving work, and deeper questions around readiness.
• Lifestyle: Envisioning what daily, weekly, and yearly life will actually look like in this new chapter.

Drawing from over 20 years of client conversations — including highly successful professionals such as nuclear physicists — the guide translates complex topics into plain English. It helps readers define what “enough” really means for them personally and build a simple, flexible plan that can be reviewed annually.

Tools and Analogies That Make Planning Accessible

The book introduces practical tools to cut through uncertainty, including:

• “The Lottery Question” to uncover true motivations beyond finances.
• The three phases of retirement to structure thinking about different life stages.
• Simple analogies, such as the fridge, freezer, and cupboard model for organising assets by time horizon and risk level. This helps separate short-term spending needs (fridge: 0–12 months) from medium-term buffers (freezer: 1–3 years) and longer-term growth assets (cupboard: 3+ years).

These approaches help turn vague worries into clear, actionable steps, whether someone is approaching retirement or already in it.

A Personal Mission Inspired by Life Experience

Richard Cakans’ drive to write the book comes from both professional insights and a deeply personal story. His father worked hard throughout life but only began travelling later on, only for illness (cancer) to limit those opportunities. Hospital visits soon replaced planned holidays, leaving regrets over missed experiences with family.

This experience, combined with hearing countless clients say “I wish I had spoken to you sooner” once they realised they could comfortably afford to retire, motivated the book. Cakans stresses that retirement is a decision, not a specific age. Many people could stop working years earlier “on paper” but delay due to uncertainty or waiting for external permission.

He previously worked as a financial adviser at HSBC, spent nine years with Quilter, and now operates as an independent adviser with Throgmorton Private Capital, supporting executives and families with tax-efficient, sustainable wealth planning. Based in Wigton, Cumbria, he also serves as a senior mentor to other advisers.

Top 5 Practical Tips from the Book

1. Define Your Retirement Vision
   Write one clear sentence starting with “Retirement for me looks like…” Include details on where you’ll live, how you’ll spend a typical week, and who you’ll share it with. This anchors all other decisions and prevents drifting into someone else’s version of retirement.
2. Conduct a Quick Fear Audit
   List your top three retirement worries. For each, finish the sentences: “What I’m afraid will happen is…” and “What I’d need to feel safe is…” This converts anxiety into specific, solvable planning points.
3. Build a Fridge-Freezer-Cupboard Cash Buffer
   Categorise future spending by time horizon to match risk levels appropriately and reduce immediate anxiety about market volatility.
4. Ask the Lottery Question
   If money were no object, would you still work? Use the answer to identify what’s truly holding you back, then test a small change — such as a new hobby or routine — within the next 30 days.
5. Calculate Your Minimum and “Nice” Retirement Income
   Determine the monthly amount needed for basics (housing, bills, food, transport, and some breathing room), then add a second figure that includes holidays, hobbies, and treats. These two numbers often reveal that people are closer to readiness than they realise.

Changing the Conversation Around Retirement

Cakans encourages a shift in mindset: instead of asking “When can I retire?”, start with “What do I want my retirement to look like?” Whether that involves more time with grandchildren, fell walking in the Lake District, kayaking, golf, travel, or simply freedom from obligatory work, the goal is to make informed choices and live without regrets.

The book, published through Authors & Co, aims to empower readers with both knowledge and confidence. It highlights that once you know you can afford to retire, you gain real power — the ability to decide your path on your own terms.

For those feeling stuck between continuing to work or stepping into retirement, Retirement: It’s Personal offers a balanced, relatable framework to move from anxious guesswork to clear, confident decisions.

Find more from Richard Cakans now:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4v8hc9q

Paperback: https://amzn.to/47wmFwG

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