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 the German writer Goethe:
“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. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed of would have come his way.
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.

Tools to help an organization or individual look at this scenario.

The July 3rd issue of The Economist sported an illuminating analysis of the impact of aging on the economies of the world. It's chock-full of recent stats on aging and offers a panoramic overview of the fact that the "graying of the world" will indeed change the world in ways far more dramatic than any other influence currently on the demographic "radar screen."

With increasing longevity and decreasing fertility (lower birth rates per woman) economists’ project ongoing labor shortages. They see companies and organizations scrambling to retain employees, especially those with critical skills, knowledge, and experience.

Refirement Network has two tools that can help see the picture more clearly.
1. 15 Success Factors of Retirement ( RSP)
2. Life Options Profile. (LOP)

The purpose of these profiles is to give your employees a clearer picture of where and how they stand with regard to their next life step.

The RSP and the LOP do not encourage retirement; instead they are tools that help your employees make the most rational, logical, and prudent decisions about the next stage of their lives.

I've worked with many clients who, after taking the RSP or LOP come to the most reasonable decision that they indeed are not yet ready (prepared) for a life of full-time leisure, if they ever would be at all. Such a realization prompts them to look again at their assumptions, their values, their thinking, feelings, and ultimately their decisions about their current work, and reassess what is "best" for them right now. The majority of these folks decide to remain working albeit with a very much changed, if not transformed view of themselves as workers and as people.

The RSP and the LOP are life changing documents, they are not retirement inducements - indeed, when used correctly, they can be exactly the opposite.

Companies and organizations are now encouraged to perform audits of their "aging workforce" and from the collected data develop strategies to ensure that they retain the right mix of skills, talents, competencies, and experience in their overall workforce to promote organizational growth and development. The RSP and/or the LOP can be a vital tools in this process of critical worker retention.

The RSP and LOP give objective data, they provide a new and functional vocabulary for deepening conversations and heightened understanding of what's best for any particular worker. When and if the RSP and LOP are "billed" as vehicles for skills retention and productivity enhancement, then the RSP and the LOP will no longer be seen as the first step of any worker toward leaving the organization. Instead, the data generated by the RSP and LOP will be seen as personal information the individual worker can use as a solid basis for further decisions about life planning.

We offer a vital life-giving means for sustaining growth and development not only on the personal (worker) level, but also on the corporate level as well. We've generated a true win-win for all!

We can offer initial training, and ongoing coaching to selected workers who fit into critical need areas for the company. You may even want to hire us as "critical human asset specialists" to become permanent fixtures in your overall worker retention programs. In such venues, retirement coaches will not be seen as helping workers leave the organization, on the contrary, they will be seen a primary means for helping workers stay!

Gerontologists have been promoting phased-in retirement programs for years as a healthier model for retirement. Allowing a worker to gradually move to a full-time retirement lifestyle, by traversing a succession of steps of lessened responsibility or fewer hours (or both) has long been the goal of enlightened adult development specialists. Well, it seems that the needs of the market place, rather than any motivation to help worker's psychological adjustment into retirement, will finally move us in the direction of phased retirement. Because we see projected labor shortages, corporations will do all they can to retain critical workers? One very attractive way of accomplishing this is by instituting phased-in plans where workers can opt to shorten their hours on a gradual schedule and may take up to 10 or more years to move from full-time work to a full-time retirement lifestyle.

Lynda Smith is the only accredited coach with Retirement Options in South Africa.
This article is adjusted for South Africa from an article written by Professor Richard Johnson, developer of the profile tools discussed.

The relationship between husband and wife is one of the most important relationships that you will ever have. In her book “Passages” Gail Sheehy likens this significant relationship to that of a diamond. I would like to try and describe this diamond to all Boomers so that you can attempt to plot what the diamond in your life looks like.

The beginning of a marriage is a dream come true for most couples. The picture may be one of sunshine, roses and dreams of how we will live our life together. The honeymoon can last long beyond the holiday. The Bible tells us that we become “one flesh”. It is easy for us to communicate and openly share our thoughts and feelings about life, challenges and dreams with each other during this stage. This is the point at which we begin to draw our diamond, very much at one starting point, together.

Then, life starts to happen around us. We will most likely both be building our prospective careers. The decision to have children will be on the radar. Then, your first child is born - one of the greatest blessings that any couple experience together. Once the joy and wonder of this little miracle have passed, reality hits us. We chase life, career, goals, friendships and our general pace of life is fast and busy during this stage. Other children follow. Career decisions and climbing the corporate ladder challenge and excite the journey. At times it may start to feel as if we are passing one another like ships in the night and never get the time to communicate. This is when each partner begins to draw the opposite sides of the diamond shape.

This stage continues for as long as our children are at home. How long this stage lasts is dependent upon how many children you have and the age difference between them. On average though, it is a period of between 20 and 25 years. Life is filled with family holidays, various school events and playing the happy couple in the corporate world. Your most important relationship however, is often put on hold due to stress and busy-ness. It is critical to make special time for the two of you to communicate and grow together during this stage. We need to make time for “date nights” and weekends away without children, friends and family. The woman wants to feel loved and cherished and the man needs to know that he is still the most important person in his partner’s life. At this point, the opposite sides of your diamond will be at the widest distance apart, unless you have continued to communicate strongly with each other and have regular time together.

The beginning of the Third Age in your life is when the children leave home. There are a lot of complex emotions going on in the minds of any couple at this stage, the most common being the “empty nest” syndrome. This is most likely to affect women who may not have re-entered the marketplace after the birth of her children. The man may be in high adrenaline mode and successful in the corporate world. The other side of the coin also can also present itself at this stage. The man may be retrenched or feel that there is no joy in the drudge of work on a daily basis. It is very common for couples at this point to battle to re-engage and discuss who they are and what they need. Most individuals need to spend time alone and then together to try and work out what all this means for the future. Sadly, at this stage, many feel it is time to part as they don’t seem to have anything left in common. This is the most important part of how the diamond will regain its shape. We all have choices and can make a concerted effort to try and communicate, work out the issues and learn to fall back in love with this person you have been sharing a house and life with for the past 25 years.

The Third Age should be one of the greatest stages of your life. You are with a person who shares a history and children with you. The responsibility of parenting is over. You now have the opportunity to spend quality time together with less financial strain. You have your best friend at your side and you can travel and experience new and exciting things together. This part of the diamond moving back to a point can be fun as you discuss your dreams and challenges. I hear many complain that these conversations don’t happen. The men want to withdraw from life, women want a new career, and there is no common ground. I want to challenge you that it is worth fighting for. Please spend the time trying to find that love and recommitting your life to one another. We are a generation that has had more divorce than any other generation. It must be so sad to part at this stage and not work at rediscovering the wonder and mystery of the person who wears your ring.

I hope that this article will stimulate conversation for you as a couple and that you will value the diamond in your life. May you have a long and interesting journey back to the point of your diamond.

As I celebrated my 50th birthday, I realised that I was entering a new season of my life and that there were some important decisions I needed to make. The most important was, where do I want to live? I realised that I had opportunities available to me, that I did not have before.

• My children have both married and are living outside of South Africa.
• I manage my own business and spend the bulk of my time working from home in Johannesburg.
• I was starting to feel fearful about taking early morning and afternoon walks.
• and the traffic (as we all know) can be a nightmare.

I started to consider what choices I could make and a full year ago, I took the opportunity of moving to Hartebeespoort Dam. I have loved the changes that this decision has brought about in my life. I would like to share some of the research and choices that may be on your radar screen as you make these decisions. You may be surprised at the options open to you.

To build bridges in South Africa. For all South Africans

This is a dream bigger than any one of us , yet I know that it is a dream I share with many. How do we ensure that the see dreams become reality? How do we build a people and a nation that we can all feel proud of? Is this even possible?

I live my life with the glass half full, so I will do whatever I can to hold onto the view that this dream IS indeed possible.

As a fifty-something South African woman, I am constantly asking myself what it is that I do to help bring a small piece of this vision to pass . In the work I do at Refirement Network, helping the next generation to understand the road they are heading towards as they approach formal retirement, I often come across two very conflicting situations. On the one hand , the businesses all over South Africa are experiencing a skills shortage that is hindering our ability to make things happen. Yet on the other hand, I speak to many people who have skills but are unable to find anyone who wants to employ them. The solution seems only too clear – to build bridges!

As Marc Freedman states in his enlightening book entitled, Encore - Finding work that matters in the second half of life:

“Now a new combination of forces is impelling change. The necessity today is to encourage people to continue to work in ways that truly use their talents to support the economy as well as themselves. It is essential that those who have a strong need and desire to work in this new way have every chance to realize that objective and every opportunity to use their accumulated human and social capital in areas where it matters most.

In this context, a nascent but growing collection of innovative organizations, individual entrepreneurs and other leading-edge groups is stepping forward to change the landscape, demonstrating the potential of the Encore career.”

So how can we build these bridges?

Individual

• Understand your value and worth
• Learn to love all South Africans
• Discover your skills
• Have places where you can use these skills
• Help sustain your home and community by your actions

Companies

• Value your human capital
• Do a wisdom and skills audit
• Build capacity so that your older workers see a future beyond formal work
• Use your CSI funding to help build models for change
• Ask yourself what skills and capacity your organi sation can offer the country

Churches/Non Profit Sector

• Work together
• Remember that we all have the same vision but we need to find one wide, strong road to change
• Value the skills in your team
• Be innovative
• Embrace change and technology

Academia

• Work towards a collective vision
• Share research
• Integrate and assist models of change
• Open the doors of learning for renewing skills for older students
• Network and challenge government and business for change

Government

• Build bridges to allow for skills to be used
• Help people move beyond the past
• Build one united nation
• Change policies that hinder development
• Protect our children, elderly and the poor
• Eliminate crime
• Help individuals and organisations to focus on education, health and business sectors

Global

• Build a united nation that can stand proud in the world of the 21 st century
• Invite and assist those that have finance and skills to help us
• Become a nation that cares about our children, elderly and poverty stricken
• Build bridges to help the rest of Africa.

This is a big vision, and it will take many people, organisations and finance to bring about this kind of change. I hope to be part of the tipping point that will help to bring this about.

I will continue to knock on doors and voice my opinion until the tide turns. I value any comments, interaction and help. This is a dream for a future for my grandchildren and yours. Join me on the road to this future.

This was taken from the Sunday Times of 30th March 2008

South Africa needs 913 000 people with scarce and critical skills to fill available positions according to the Department of Labour. Nearly half of them – 102 670 crop farmers, 150 000 mixed crop and livestock farmers and 220 000 crop and livestock farm workers – are needed to secure the nation’s food supply.

The remaining demand covers the gamut of employment opportunities in any functioning economy and includes:

• School Principals 350
• Amusement, Fitness and Sports Centre Managers - 180
• Journalists and Editors – 30
• Financial Investment Managers – 1200
• Architects and Landscape Architects 550
• Engineers, all categories – 10 365
• School Teachers – 41 120
• Pharmacists – 10 200
• Motor Mechanics – 2865
• Bricklayers and Stonemasons – 1700
• Handymen – 19 000