It feels weird. I’m only nine months from the twentieth anniversary of my 60th birthday. OMG, how did that happen? I was recently asked on a forum what advice I would have for someone turning 60. Granted, they say advice is worth what you pay for it and it was a free forum, but since… Continue reading The Best Advice For Someone Who Recently Turned 60. (P.S. The Best Is Yet To Come!)
Category: Career
Beware the Mid-life Default Mode (or How to Avoid Becoming a Pinprick)
Autopilot is death. Flipping the switch is hard. I’m stealing these words from Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR correspondent and author of one of my favorite books and one I’ve referenced before: “Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife.” I decided I would just let BBH do most of the talking this week because… Continue reading Beware the Mid-life Default Mode (or How to Avoid Becoming a Pinprick)
Are You Fearful of Old Age? What Age is “Old” to You?
I guess I’m supposed to be concerned about my advancing age. I get a daily reminder as I roll out of the sack every morning. But, so far, I’ve been able to keep it off my mental calendar. Maybe someday, when all seventy-eleven balls I have in the air come down. I don’t believe in… Continue reading Are You Fearful of Old Age? What Age is “Old” to You?
Retirement: Is Yours Running to Something? Or From Something? Or Just Plain Stuck?
Are you being pulled by aspiration, pushed by desperation, or just drifting in cultural sludge in your third age? Given that 2 of 3 retirees enter retirement without a non-financial plan, drifting seems to be the default. “Hey, no problem – what’s the big deal? Retirement will take care of itself”, they say. Sorry. Guess… Continue reading Retirement: Is Yours Running to Something? Or From Something? Or Just Plain Stuck?
How Is It OK That We’re Meant to Work a 9-5 for 40-plus Years Then Retire? Maybe We’ve Been Bamboozled!
Did you ever wonder how we, as participants in the so-called “western culture”, ended up in a 20-40-20 linear life model while other societies, with longer life spans and generally healthier citizenry, don’t? Somewhere along the way over the last century, somebody crafted a manual that made the default life plan to “work-from-9–5-for-40-years” and then… Continue reading How Is It OK That We’re Meant to Work a 9-5 for 40-plus Years Then Retire? Maybe We’ve Been Bamboozled!
How Not To Waste a Retirement.
“The retirement age is coming down from 70, to 65, to 60 and may, in the course of the next 25 years, go below that. But the dream come true is a nightmare. For retirement, conceived as a protracted vacation, is a form of prolonged suicide. It marks the first formal stage on the road… Continue reading How Not To Waste a Retirement.
Four Steps to a Bountiful Post-career Harvest
“For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of harvest.” Hasidic saying I’m curious. Has your financial planner – assuming you are working with one, which I hope you are – ever dropped the word “harvest” into your conversation as you pour over the charts and graphs and talk… Continue reading Four Steps to a Bountiful Post-career Harvest
So You Think You’ve “Peaked.” Probably Not – Read On!
A question came up recently on Quora.com that intrigued me and motivated me to put the pencil to paper with a response. The question asked: “At what age is your prime age?” Fertile ground for thought and opinion, don’t you agree? So I stepped up with my two cents worth. Here’s an expanded version. There… Continue reading So You Think You’ve “Peaked.” Probably Not – Read On!
Don’t Give Up Your “Unrepeatable Uniqueness.”
I’ll bet you’ve heard this before: No two snowflakes are ever the same. You are a snowflake. You are a unique, unrepeatable collection of DNA. You have a genetic makeup that has never happened before and won’t be repeated again. It’s true. You are “unrepeatably unique.” So what? Am I supposed to do something… Continue reading Don’t Give Up Your “Unrepeatable Uniqueness.”
The Size of Your Funeral Gathering Will Be Determined By the Weather. Whaaaat?
I remember how that quote rocked my world a few decades ago when I first read it in my mid-50s. I was in that life phase characteristic of most American males where there is this sinking realization there are more yesterdays than tomorrows and the “is-this-all-there-is” questions start surfacing. Am I relevant? Will I ever… Continue reading The Size of Your Funeral Gathering Will Be Determined By the Weather. Whaaaat?