A 21st century retirement includes a new definition of success, and a resurgence of a dream that may have been within us all along. For most of us, work gives a sense of ego-security, knowing that we are “somebody”; that we are successful, at least at some level. When we look towards retirement, we look for a new formula for success, and we have to dream up new challenges, and find a new meaning.

Baby Boomer specialist Dr Richard Johnson from the US group Retirement Options, which focuses on how the generation born between 1940 and the early 1960s (the Boomers) are handling retirement in the US, has developed a profile tool to help Boomers understand this journey. It is exciting to discover that in this phase of life, we can dream and fulfill much of who we are.

There are six main areas to examine to ensure balance. One of the most important is finding your “ideal work”. Finding what we love and are skilled to do can help bring clarity to the rest of the journey. Activities that give you a sense of purpose will ensure that life remains positive and fulfilling.

1. Career and work: Your personal work dream may be to continue with the same kind of work you have done in the past, or you may want a complete change. Discovering what you love doing is important to establish what your options may be. Dreams are necessary: they give us hope and a purpose for living, a direction, a course of action that offers order and brings harmony to our lives.
Take Sam and his wife Linda, who will be retiring soon. Sam is a lawyer and Linda a nurse. They have made the decision to move close to a rural village in KZN to help set up a community care centre. This is an adventure for them, and will fulfill a dream they have often talked about.

2. Health and wellness: This category includes all the energy you spend helping your body and mind work as healthfully as possible. How you maintain your physical health, how you relate to yourself internally, and how you discipline yourself physically and mentally are all included. Our bodies age, and few of us are able to do the same kind of work at 70 as we could do at 30. Discovering what kind of work we will be able to do and keeping mentally and physically fit are central to this next phase of life.

3. Finance and Insurance: Money can offer a sense of security, or a sense of foreboding. You need to have enough of it if you are to enjoy retirement. Build a relationship with a financial planner who can guide you through this critical part of a successful life. These days, we live much longer. Finding balance between your investments and possible other new forms of income are worth discussing. For instance, you may make an investment in a rental property, or take a share in a small business that needs your expertise.

4. Family and relationships: As humans, we crave relationships. It is critical to continue developing and looking after relationships throughout life. Family dynamics are changing in the sense that children live at home longer than in previous generations, and parents are living longer. The Baby Boomers are thus often referred to as the “sandwich generation”. Globalisation is also separating families across the globe, and this makes it all the more important to remain flexible.
John and Sally live in Gauteng and have three children. None of them lives close by. One family is in Cape Town, one is in London, and the third child is working in China. Though it can never replace actually having family nearby, technology like Skype helps to keep communication and connection. Learning new skills like blogging and managing digital photography online can be the glue that keeps the family connected.

5. Leisure and social: Leisure is a human need. When we have no leisure, we risk a gradual erosion of our human spirit. Stress is relieved by leisure activity, but stress can also come from living a lifestyle that is under-loaded.
Leisure reminds us that our purpose in life is not only to do, but also to be. As we transform ourselves so that work is no longer the chief definer of our life, we can come to see our leisure interests and pursuits as part of our life journey. In this sense, leisure helps build in us a sense of wholeness.
Internal leisure allows us to rediscover our child-like qualities of awe, wonder and delight. Spending time on long walks in nature, challenging ourselves with time on a retreat, even writing a journal will open new dimensions of who we are. In retirement, you have the time to discover this part of who you have always been.

6. Personal development: This includes everything you do to improve yourself. As we age, this should take on more, not less, meaning. The responsibility of making this happen shifts to you. It’s worth remembering that formal study is not the only way to develop new skills: we all have many opportunities around us to learn new and exciting skills.

Yvonne is someone who has chosen the path of formal study, and finds that her chief pleasure comes from unexpected quarters. She had always dreamed of teaching, but her work as an accountant had kept her busy throughout her parenting journey. When she reached retirement age, she went back to study teaching. The study is fun, but mostly her joy comes from the children she engages with daily in her teaching assignments.

Retirement is the beginning of an exciting new phase of life, not the end of life. Ensure that your life is painted in rich colours, and becomes a beacon of hope and inspiration to others.

Lynda Smith is an accredited Retirement Transition Coach with Retirement Options.

Please click and follow the link below to hear the radio 702 Interview

http://www.pod702.co.za/podcast/bestofredi/20100630BESTREDIB.mp3

After surviving decades of meetings, deadlines and targets an important and exciting event draws ever closer: that of retirement. But as you dream of exchanging your worn-out office chair for a low-slung beach lounger, the traditional views of retirement are changing rapidly. Whether by circumstance or choice, the baby boomer generation are re-writing the rule book on how to live out your golden years.

Women at around 50 are in an exciting stage of life. Many have completed the parenting years, some have started new and exciting careers and many find themselves single and having to re-design and dream up a new future. Are women in this life stage lonely and purposeless or finding new independence and loving their lives? There is no doubt that both groups exist. The challenge is to meet with others, find the positive and possible opportunities, do the work and start enjoying this phase of life.

1. If you are single, you are perceived to be desperate to find a partner.

As much as many of us would like to date or have male friends, it is not as high up the agenda as the media and dating sites would like us to believe. Many of us love the fact that we can make decisions and enjoy our independence.

2. This is a lonely time of life.

Living alone can be lonely. Even being married in this stage can be lonely. Many enjoy some solitude in this stage. We are comfortable with who we are. There are friends and people to network with who are in similar situations. We may be lonely sometimes, but there are many opportunities to connect and make friends.

3. Finances are a challenge and we do not know much about how to invest.

Women, more than men are more likely to ask for advice around money. Women who are divorced are challenged in having to start over and make ends meet. It is important for all women to take charge of their financial situation, understand what money attitudes are holding them back and start to build a personal nest egg for the future.

4. Debt is killing the savings.

Learning to manage money and not spending because we feel we deserve it. We need to minimize short term debt so that we can start to enjoy this season. This will enable us to see a better picture of the horizon and the money needed to make this a reality.

5. Retirement is for slowing down and no longer working.

Women of 50+ in the 21st century have a good 20-25 years ahead of healthy living and there is no reason not to start a second career, travel or re-invent you. Finding out what you enjoy and designing a portfolio life for yourself is an exciting part of your “retirement” years.

6. We no longer care about our appearance.

We feel and look younger than previous generations reaching this age. There are facts to help us with healthy living that will equip us to continue looking and feeling better about ourselves. “Eat less and move more” is a motto we should all be practicing.

7. Where is the family?

We live in a global world and our family is spread all over the place. We need to learn to connect in new ways, using technology and at the same time build strong networks of family and friends that live close by. Often it is our friends that become the closest family for many in this stage of life.

8. How can I find purpose for my life now that the children are gone?

Parenting is an important season of life, but not our entire life. Discovering who you are, what skills and gifts you have and making a difference in the lives of others will help you to navigate your new journey. Learn a craft or new skill, join a class, start to study and discover many new and exciting opportunities.

Celebrate who you are. Make friends. Believe you are special. Make a difference. Manage your finances. Live life.

Written by Lynda Smith from Refirement Network.

Lynda Smith is passionate about people and developing future leaders. Over her 32 year career in business, she has mastered the art of networking and innovating. Her current role is building a business called The Refirement Network. She helps Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, to understand the opportunities and challenges the future holds for them, especially post-retirement.

Here is Lynda's interview with the Women in Business program, split into four parts.

As you approach your retirement years and think of the kinds of changes you would like to make in your new season of life, it helps to know there are others who have gone before you and succeeded. It helps to know there are others who are enjoying a second career, contributing to society and living a fulfilled life after 60. That there are those in your generation that have not faded quietly into the background to live out their 30+ retirement years relaxing, but rather have decided to make some changes and launch a second career in an area that they feel passionate about. It’s about finding out what you always wanted to do and pursuing this goal in a way that suits the lifestyle you aspire to in your middle-age years.

There are many exciting examples of people who have taken these bold steps and are enjoying a fulfilled second half of life continuing to contribute to society in a meaningful way, but on their own terms. One such example is John Perlman. Many of you may know him as SAfm’s morning radio host for more than 9 years. He is an example of someone who achieved success in his chosen field for over 20 years but as he approached middle-age was yearning to leave a legacy in the community around him.

Born in 1959, John grew up in Johannesburg and received a BA in History, South Sotho and Political studies from Wits University. He later did his honours in Development Studies and worked as an academic researcher. However, he found academic writing somewhat uncreative and wanted to tell real stories rather than write about theories so he did a higher diploma in journalism at the City University of London and joined the media. Between 1987 and 1998 he was involved in all aspects of journalism including print, radio and television and soccer commentating. Then in 1998 he took a full time job at SAfm as the morning radio announcer which he did for the next 9 years.

The change for John occurred in 2006, as the World Cup in South Africa drew closer he felt that for once he wanted to be involved in the event instead of reporting on what others were doing at the event. At this time he had started a programme at SAfm which supplied library books to school children in underprivileged areas. It was a basic idea where companies donated money for a set of books that was donated to the school to start their library. During this process John thoroughly enjoyed working with schools and children and the idea was sparked in him to start something similar around the World Cup. He felt that this world-class event being staged in our country needed to have spin-offs for the less fortunate who were never going to be able to see the games or benefit from the hype. He wanted to give underprivileged soccer players the chance to feel involved in the World Cup in some way.

In June 2006 John began exploring the idea of supplying football kit to children in underprivileged areas. He spoke to various people about the idea and as time passed it gathered momentum in his mind until by November of that year he was really excited about the project.

John left SAfm in February 2007, and so after more than 20 years in journalism he was free to pursue his new dream in the social sector – but he had no money to make it happen. In the interim he did some other work to keep him afloat, including facilitating conferences, public speaking, corporate training and freelance work, all the while he pursued his new venture on the side. By May of 2007 he had his first breakthrough when the mining group BHP Billiton donated R6,5-million to the project.

With a solid first investment in the idea, which Old Mutual matched, John needed to work at setting up a company with systems and processes in place to spend the money effectively – and so the Dreamfields Project was born. It was here that he got in contact with Graham Bath, an excellent administrator and business man who set up the company systems.

To date, the operation employs 5 people in its Joburg office and has an additional 2 people in its Cape Town team. The organisation has spent more than R14-million in communities, and hopes to increase this to R20-million by the end of 2010. The project uses corporate funding to provide soccer kit to teams of 15 children; to stage soccer tournaments in underprivileged areas, and to develop and upgrade sports fields.

While 2010 is the big soccer year with the World Cup around the corner, looking beyond that John hopes to secure funding for the next 3 years and to continue with the work they are doing in underprivileged areas. He also hopes to expand their ad-hoc soccer tournaments into weekly soccer leagues for schools to participate in. The project is also looking at developing a low-cost, low-maintenance model for upgrading soccer fields.
Speaking about the transition from his first career in journalism to this new venture John has some advice to share with others. He realises that it might have been easier for him to take this plunge as he does not have any children of his own and did not have the added financial responsibilities of university fees or other family commitments.

Regarding the project itself, John believes that it succeeded because of its simplicity. He advises others not to make their ideas too complicated and try to solve too many problems at once. Rather make a small start and get something going instead of developing an enormous idea that is too daunting to implement. Getting something started while it is small also gives you the opportunity to make your mistakes early on when the consequences are not too disastrous. He adds that often a big profitable plan leads to many hangers-on all wanting a piece of the action, while having a small simple and do-able plan is surrounded only by those who are committed to making it happen.

John admits that he did get discouraged along the way when things did not seem to work out, but at this time he was encouraged by this quote from a mountaineering book authored by W.H Murray about the first Scottish expedition to the Himalayas:
"... but when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money— booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

John also advises people to get take a balanced view of the advice they receive from others. While many people may want to help and give you advice, be very clear about what you are trying to do and only collaborate with others where you can see a clear link in what you both want to achieve.

On the topic of moving from the corporate to the social sectors, John says that he has had to become more humble as the answers in the social sector are not all black and white, but that it is a lot more complex than that. Also measuring success is very relative when working in the social sector, so while Dreamfields has distributed 930 bags of soccer kit and upgraded 10 soccer fields, how they measure success is not that straight forward.

John advises anyone embarking on a new venture to look for champions to help you achieve your goal. These people might not be the most articulate or outspoken individuals but they get things done and have staying power when things don’t always go smoothly.
Overall, John describes his new adventure as a huge curve of learning and discovery, but he is incredibly blessed to be a part of the team that is making 2010 soccer memorable for young South African players from disadvantaged backgrounds.

http://www.dreamfieldsproject.org/

In the late 1940’s and 50’s after the Second World War a whole bunch of babies were born. These babies formed part of a large species called “baby boomers”. They caused a lot of upheaval in the world. Their parents were happy and excited about life after the war. Business was booming and the Americans even put a man on the moon. These children were growing up with a positive attitude and even believed that they could change the world. Schools and universities were built to accommodate this growing group. Radio was the main medium as they grew up. They would lie in bed at night and listen to programs like “squad cars” Television became part of life for some of these children but computers were not part of their vocabulary.

These babies morphed into workers that believed they could change the world. Work became an obsession and for many this meant working long hours, putting work first on their priority list and mortgaging their families. During this stage of life, computers the size of houses started to appear and very quickly started to change the way people communicated and worked. The pace of this change has been fine for some but for most of these boomers it has been difficult to keep up and understand exactly how this is changing their world.

Otto von Bismarck brought in a great concept that many boomers have been looking forward to. After 40 years of working they can relax, play golf and enjoy all the money that has been invested for them over the years. They were all very sad in 2008 when these investments seemed to have disappeared down a deep black hole. They are not sure what to do now? Should they keep working and let go of the dreams?
They are not so happy at work because they have X and Y young snots who seem to be able to work from a small mobile piece of technology and seem to not have any respect for the way work used to be. Why is change happening so fast? Why can’t things just stay the way they were? These young snots also seem to be happy to work for a few hours and then want to go home. There is a lot of tension in the office and they call us part of a “dinosaur” species. Are we becoming obsolete and bound for extinction?

There are some boomers who seem to be still doing ok. I am not sure why they have managed when most of us are so unhappy. They seem agile, move fast, have a tongue that flicks and catches a sense of all the wonderful things that the younger generation is experiencing. They are learning about some strange new media called Facebook and Twitter and engaging with these young snots. They seem to see the future as a place full of opportunity. They talk about working much longer than they had planned because they love what they do, feel healthy and want to make a difference. Some of them are even going back to learn new skills and are talking about a new career. They seem to be just like chameleons that have changed colour and adapted to this new world. In time history will look back and we will be able to record which species survived.

"In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it...

Throughout history, practically nobody had choices… Now suddenly a large number of people have choices. What is more, they will have more than one career, because the working life span of people is now close to 60 years – three times what it was in 1900." Peter Drucker.

New ways to work beyond your first career

The world has changed dramatically in the last 20-30 years since the time our parents started retiring, and is totally different from the world that existed in the late 1940s and early 1950s when the concept of retirement was first widely implemented. As people are living longer healthier lives the thought of 3 decades of leisure during retirement is not that appealing, especially to the active, progressive Baby Boomer generation facing retirement in the next 5-10 years.

This article is written by the founder of Retirement Options.
Lynda Smith is an accredited coach for Retirement Options in South Africa

By Richard P. Johnson, Ph.D., CRC
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"When future historians look back on this time in retirement history, they will not say that this was retirement's darkest hour ... no, instead they will say that this was retirement's finest hour."(paraphrased from the famous quote by Winston Churchill)

Question: How do we, as retirement coaches assist those folks now who have voluntarily postponed their previously scheduled retirement time due to the uncertainty of the current economic recession?
Answer: We coach them to shift their perspective of their personal relationships with their work. If they can't actually retire from their job ... they can "retire in place!"

This may not be as crazy as it seems. Read on. We know that the recession has temporarily changed the retirement plans for some percentage of people; some are opting to put off their retirement to a time when they hope to feel more financially secure ... whenever that may be. But, they still wish to retire; and most of them want the "new retirement," that type and style of living about which Retirement Options certified coaches are so well qualified to help them in their quest. They're fearful now, and fear paralyzes us. Yet, our potential clients are restless, they want change in some form, they want to feel that they are moving forward ... that they are doing something concrete to prepare for the future. How can we help?

"Retirement in place" is not an oxymoron; rather it can be a logical and rational goal toward which those who have put off retirement can aspire. The fundamental essential, that which is at the core of any successful retirement, is a change in attitude and a change in perspective of oneself. We normally think of retirement as changes made on the outside: changes in our day-to-day activities, changes in environment, changes in our schedule, etc. We see these outward changes as prerequisites for inward changes in attitude and perspective. But, are the outward changes actually necessary for the inward changes to occur? Is it possible to shift our attitude and perspective about ourselves so much that it enables us to adopt, or "take on" the retirement role internally even though we are still outwardly employed at the same career position? A curious question indeed!

When we look at the very first retirement success factor on the RSP (Retirement Success Profile), that of "Work Reorientation" we can see the seeds of 'retire in place.'

Work Reorientation: The degree to which you have emotionally distanced yourself from taking your personal identity from your work.

On page 10 of "The New Retirement" we find: "In order to healthfully shift into the new retirement mode, we must jettison our old conception of ourselves and take-on a new self definition of expanded proportion." Retirement means, first and foremost, that we leave our old definition of self behind and craft a new one that better 'fits' us at this stage of life. We no longer 'see' ourselves as managers, or plumbers, or pharmacists, or IT professionals, or teachers, or accountants, or sales personnel. Retirement requests that we construct a new primary definition of self, a definition that is based primarily on 'who' we are, rather than on 'what' we do. This shift is not easy, but it is essential if we are to fully take-on the 'new retirement mentality.' We're not used to defining ourselves in terms of 'being; no, we're used to defining ourselves by what we 'do.' We've always defined ourselves based on our actions. In polite conversation, we're very infrequently, if ever asked, "Who are you?" rather we're asked, "What do you do?" Yet it's the "who" question that emerges as most important as we approach the retirement transition.

Healthy retirement is much more than exchanging one "doing" definition of self for another. "I used to be a chemist, but now I'm a fly fisherman." We understand such a statement, yet does is genuinely get to the core of 'who' I am? Isn't there something essential, something deeper and more permanent about the person who used to work as a chemist, but who now fly fishes? This essential core is what is supposed to become clearer as we mature. Personal growth is about self-awareness, and it's during our transitions when we grow the most. The Buddhists have an interesting saying that captures the essence of this point ... they say, "Before enlightenment, carry water and chop wood; after enlightenment, carry water and chop wood." The notion here is that we are a 'who' beneath the 'what' that we do; the 'what' of us does not necessarily define the 'who' of us. This discussion may seem be a bit philosophical for coaching, but the core issue of who I am is quite different from the issue of what I do.

I was recently a guest on 702 Talk Radio taking about 'refirement'. The interview can be downloaded here: 20091014personalfinance.mp3

Here's what 702 say about the show:

Paul Roelofse, retirement coach Lynda Smith and financial education consultant Iona Minton spoke about the new approach to retirement for baby boomers called 'refirement' and how people need to shift their retirement mindset. They also spoke about why it is important to save before you retire and why you should make a list of the things you want in life before retiring as well as things that can keep you busy after you have retired.