Section 4 - Boomer Prespectives!

Retirement Doesn't Work
By: Professor David Demko, PhD
AgeVenture News Service

Here's the best retirement advice you'll ever get ... 
DON'T DO IT. Forget retirement. There is no such
thing. Retirement is just a convenient invention 
created years ago as an avenue to the clear the work
place for new blood. Over the years, entire industries 
became beneficiaries of this new concept called
"retirement". Ironically, it seems that the last 
person to benefit from retirement is the retiree. 

So how did the Captains of Industry get mature 
workers to go along with the idea of retirement?
Easy. Tell the workers that retirement is a reward, 
the best part of life. But was that true? As far back
as twenty years ago, the American Medical Association 
called enforced idlement, like retirement, a
health hazard. In fact, even before the AMA 
proclamation, studies by the National Institute of 
Mental Health suggested that the transition to 
retirement was so stressful that the average life 
expectancy of a white collar male at age 65 was 
only 36-40 months. 

So why does the retirement myth persist? Well, 
there's too much at stake for too many special
interests. You might even say that retirement 
was created for everyone's benefit but the retiree. 
Sure, you might end up benefiting from retirement, 
you might even enjoy it. But that's incidental. 
Let's take a look at the intended beneficiaries 
of your retirement. 

Corporate America wanted "new blood" to strengthen 
the work force. "New blood" is code for
"replace experienced personnel with younger people
who will work cheap". Any how, the corporate
thirst for new blood set off early retirement trends 
that continue unabated to this very day. Interestingly, 
industry's trend of pushing mature talent out the door 
has coincided with the downward spiral of America's 
competitiveness in the global marketplace. Another 
benefactor of your retirement is the nation's huge
health care industry that, ironically, prospers only 
when you're sick. Where's the incentive to keep you 
healthy, active and enjoying your retirement? If 
you're lucky enough to be healthy, then there's 
the "well-you-never-really-know" insurance industry 
trying to capitalize on your anxieties about life's 
uncertainties. Another benefactor of your retirement 
is the financial planning industry that distracts you 
from pondering whether or not retirement makes any 
sense at all, because you're too darn busy planning 
to be financially secure in retirement. Never mind 
that you just might be financially secure, yet 
emotionally miserable, if you stopped working. 
Everyone seems to be having a great time living off 
your decision to retire. Everyone that is, except you. 

If you want to get retirement right, you have to 
understand that almost everyone's interests are 
served by your retirement, except your own interests. 
Once you figure that out, you're half way home.
Enjoying an active and productive retirement won't 
just happen. Retirement is more a state of mind
than a stage of life. It's what you make of it, 
it's what you discover is in it for you. Retirement 
is doing what you want to do, even if it's work 
that you want to do. Here's a few rules to keep 
in mind if you want to make retirement work for you.

DAVE'S RULE #1
Ask yourself why you want to retire. Don't do it just 
because you hate the daily drill of your job. If
you don't like your job, you should change jobs, not 
retire. I criss-cross the country speaking to
thousands of retirees, and this is what their spouses 
would like their husbands to do ... GET A LIFE.
Women say they are sick and tired of the "stopped 
living, stay-at-home, sitting-in-a-chair-waiting-to-die 
husband". So plan on retiring from one thing, like your 
job, to something else that's equally interesting. 
Just don't retire from life. 

DAVE'S RULE #2
Find out what makes you tick. What makes your life 
inspiring, worth living? Ever wonder why a lot of
self-employed people never retire? What for? Their 
retirement reward is to be able to continue to
pursue their lifelong passion whether it's a 
hardware store, law practice, or photography.

DAVE'S RULE #3
Force yourself to set lifestyle goals. Since you can 
look forward to another two decades, plan to make it 
as interesting as possible. For example, make a list 
of ten things you'd love to do if you could afford to 
retire. Then, write down how much time you're spending 
on these activities now. Most likely, you have a 
retirement fantasy that includes a lot of exciting 
pursuits. But if you're not pursuing any of these 
activities now, what makes you think your preferences
will change in retirement? People find time for the 
things they love to do. In a sense, unsuccessful 
retirement results from people who call their own 
bluff. All their worklife they talk about all the 
exciting activities they'll be engaged in. Then 
comes retirement and they don't pursue any activity.
Don't wait for later to discover that your
retirement dream is all show and no go.

DAVE'S RULE #4
Try to see through the dollar signs. A common mistake 
is to concentrate only on the financial aspects of 
retirement. Sure you need to have a nest egg. But 
what's the point if you aren't healthy enough, or
don't live long enough to enjoy the opportunities 
afforded by your retirement income? One of the
greatest ironies of so-called retirement planning 
is that most people spend fifty years building a 
nest egg, but only fifty minutes making plans to 
stay healthy enough to enjoy it. 

If retirement exists at all, it exists as a state 
of mind. The ultimate in retirement probably means 
being able to live life on your own terms, doing what 
feels right for you. Continuing to work. Changing
careers. Stopping work altogether. Pursuing a 
college degree. Or one of a thousand other pursuits.
Today's retirees have based the retirement decision 
on economic feasibility without much thought to
the personal consequences. Baby boomers may be a 
different story. Research suggests that boomers
won't be financially capable of retiring in the 
same style as their parents. That's the bad news. 
The good news is that the boomers will have to do 
a lot more soul-searching about the retirement
decision. As a result, they may not retire at all. 
Call it necessity, or preference. Retirement, as 
we know it today, may never be the same. And 
quite likely just might disappear from the 
American experience. 

David Demko reports on boomer lifestyle issues 
and trends.

Submit your comments to: demko@demko.com - 
Copyright © AgeVenture News Service, Boca Raton, FL -
AgeVenture web site is: http://www.demko.com/
                  

SECTION 5: BOOMERS ERA BOOK REVIEW!

Childhood memoir set in the '50s

"Memories Are Like Clouds"  begins at Kenny Dell's 
(a soldier killed in Vietnam) funeral in 1968 and 
immediately drifts back to childhood during
the forties and fifties in East Vandergrift, 
Pennsylvania, a small mill town populated by Eastern 
European immigrants, their offspring, and baby
boomer grandchildren. It is a simple story, 
resurrecting an innocent way of life and memorable 
characters buried in the ashes of the past. Fondly
remembered by Kenny's sister Diana, this nostalgic 
book is a growing-up memoir about one of 
America's heroes and those who loved him.

The complete book online can be found at:
http://www.tiac.net/users/write/memories/memories.htm

Submitted By: Daisy Bell at write@tiac.net
     

SECTION 6: BOOMER TID BITS

AARP is cerebrating its 40th anniversary.
The nation's largest senior citizens organization 
is having a midlife crisis of its own; as it
struggles to recruit millions of baby boomers
to no avail, since the boomers are not signing
up to join they are eligibled to at 50.


Lordy, Lordy, Miss Barbie is 40!

Barbie originated from a German doll 
named Lily. Lily is modeled after a
successful German cartoon strip of the
same name.

The original Barbie doll cost $3.00
During Summer of 1959, 
Mattel sold 351,000 Barbie dolls.

Ken made his debut in 1961.

Source: ABC Prime Time.

SECTION 7: BOOMERS OF THE MONTH

     BOOMERS OF THE MONTH: David Demko, Phd. 

SUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS

If you already receive this by Email,
you do not need to do anything.
But if you are new to this section 
and wish to received it by email:

Send an email to: boomersint@aol.com 
        Subject Newsletter Subscribing.

REMOVE INSTRUCTIONS

To receive no future mailings from this site simply 
send an e-mail to: boomersint@aol.com.
        Subject Newsletter Un-subscribing.

All newsletter via email ARE sent to you by request only.  
If this newsletter reach your mail box by error - simply 
sent unscribe request.  Un-intentional mistake do happens.