Preface

We have had satisfying careers in university teaching, consulting, and working with corporations. In recent years, we have had no intention of slowing down, dropping out, or retiring. We weren’t likely to start new careers. However, we wanted to find new ways to continue to do meaningful work based on our strengths.

When our professional colleagues and friends expressed the same view, we questioned why professionals should feel they are expected to retire, particularly when employers need the critical skills that they have. We questioned why they would scale back their lifestyles instead of continuing to work, earn, and save. We questioned why boomers, who have influenced our culture in every decade, would not redefine retirement and work to meet their own goals. Boomers should, we argued, dispel the long-held myths that define aging, work, and retirement.

So we wrote this book. It felt good. We learned a lot. And we now know that instead of retiring in the traditional sense, we will simply be “moving on” and “doing different things.” We encourage you to do the same.

Because of our academic and consulting backgrounds, we’ve given you more than a simple guidebook. We’ve distilled the relevant research and facts to guide your choices of work, leisure, learning, and community or family activities. Our choice of publisher, a respected business school, reflects our emphasis on issues, challenges, and decision-making.

We thank Wharton, Fielding Graduate University, and all of our colleagues, friends, and family who influenced our work and share our conviction that as a boomer you can again “do your own thing.”

—Jim Walker and Linda Lewis