Dick Bolles and Richard Leider are among the best known life-work planning coaches in the country.
Bolles is the author of the best selling “What Color is Your Parachute” series…. Leider is a best-selling author in his own right, with 30 years of experience coaching people to live and work with a sense of purpose. Leider also is the chairman of The Inventure Group, which consults with large corporations on executive development and life planning.
Leider has just published a new book, Something to Live For: Finding your way in the second half of life.” The forward was written by Dick Bolles. The two came to Chicago together recently to conduct a two-day life-planning seminar. The event was sponsored by the Crossroads Center and Chicago Life Opportunities Initiative in cooperation with the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
I had a chance to sit down with them while they were in town to talk about their careers, the nature of life transition, and how boomers plan to do retirement differently. Here’s an edited video of that session from RetirementRevised, the companion site of my newspaper column:
Traditional media will be sustained by the strong growth of 50-plus audiences while younger demographic groups move quickly to mobile and new digital formats, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers study. The report forecasts a continued “global broadband boom” and strong growth in mobile, digital cinemas and high definition DVD formats. But PWC also sees “established and traditional business segments” continuing to dominate revenues, except in the music industry. Here’s where older audiences fit in:
Meanwhile, consumers over the age of 50 are creating a balance in the industry by devoting significant amounts of attention to the more traditional media of their generation as the Net Generation drives growth in digital and mobile entertainment. In every region of the world except EMEA, the 50+ population will see double digit growth rates and globally, this population will increase from 1.1 billion to 1.25 billion, a 13.1% rise through 2012. This growth will help sustain traditional formats even as this generation becomes increasingly interested in the platforms embraced by their children and grandchildren.
What’s interesting here is that most traditional media continues to run away from valuable older audiences. In the newspaper industry, innovation is focused exclusively on attracting young audiences to ink-on-paper products via breezy free subway tabloids and flashy graphics. When will publishers figure out that there’s a good 30-year future serving older audiences that can sustain them while they move through the painful economic transition to digital media?
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) confirmed for the first time that it is planning a magazine for older Boomer women, but said the launch is on hold due to the slow economy. No timeline for launching the new magazine has been announced. The news surfaced in Women’s Wear Daily, which reports that the magazine’s working title is “M.” Earlier reports on this can be found here.
What kind of work will baby boomers choose to do when they leave their primary careers behind? The MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey released today suggests a surprising number will opt for work that makes a meaningful contribution to society. The survey found that “a surprisingly large number of people between the ages of 44 and 70 are already doing work that combines income and personal meaning with social impact. These individuals—5.3 to 8.4 million of them—have moved from the end of midlife careers not to leisure-based retirements, but to new stage of work for the greater good, a stage of work that Civic Ventures has come to call the “encore career.”
The survey also pointed to the possibility that the number of people choosing encore careers could grow rapidly. Of those between 44 and 70 not already in encore careers, half say they are interested in moving into jobs in such fields as education, health care, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Why is the interest so strong? According to the report:
Several mutually reinforcing interests are leading boomers toward encore careers. Survey findings show that the primary motivations include a desire to stay active, productive, challenged and learning. More than a third of those in encore careers and those interested in them cite practical needs for continuing income and health benefits. A majority are looking for “flexibility in the work that they do.
Beyond these general interests, choosing work for the common good re”ects the desire of those in encore careers and those interested in them in !nding work that provides both meaning and accomplishment. More than half (54%) of those in encore careers and two-thirds (64%) of those interested say it is very important to them to use their skills and experience to help others.
Civic Ventures points to several moves employers and policy makers could take to further stimulate encore career development. These include providing access to affordable healthcare in the “Medigap” years leading up t age 65, ending financial penalties for continuing to work and providing education and training for new careers.
I spent last week with some of the nation’s top experts on retirement security at a fellowship program hosted by the National Press Foundation (NPF) and underwritten by Prudential. Our group of 17 journalists heard presentations on Social Security, pensions, health care, annuities, retirement housing and the federal budget deficit. All the sessions were on the record, and I plan to use a good deal of the material soon in Retire Smart columns. In the meantime, NPF has posted audio and Powerpoint presentations on its website. Each of the sessions runs about an hour, but if you’re interested in a five-star briefing on any of these issues, look no farther. Highlights:
Our Fiscal Future. Isabel Sawhill, Senior Fellow and co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution.
Change in the Air. John Rother, Group Executive Officer of Policy and Strategy for AARP.
What Americans Know About Retirement. Barbara Bovbjer, Director for Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Decumulation. Mary Beth Franklin, Senior editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.
A former sales manager in the active adult housing industry has launched a website that helps prospective buyers research and compare age-restricted communities around the U.S. 55Places.com showcases more than 50 active retirement communities throughout 11 popular retirement states. The site includes community descriptions, pricing and association fees, photos and lists of about amenities and social clubs. The site claims to offer “objective independent reviews of all active adult communities,” including both new and “resale” developments. The founder is Bill Ness a former sales manager for Del Webb Corporation, the largest developer of active adult communities in the country.
Traditional media will be sustained by the strong growth of 50-plus audiences while younger demographic groups move quickly to mobile and new digital formats, according to a new
I spent last week with some of the nation’s top experts on retirement security at a fellowship program hosted by the National Press Foundation (NPF) and underwritten by Prudential. Our group of 17 journalists heard presentations on Social Security, pensions, health care, annuities, retirement housing and the federal budget deficit. All the sessions were on the record, and I plan to use a good deal of the material soon in 
