In the past, people may have retired happily and spent their golden years playing golf and pruning the petunias, but not us Baby Boomers. As author, columnist, and speaker Jim Carroll points out in an article called The End of Retirement, the confluence of an upcoming skills shortage, lack of retirement funds, and longer lifespan equals fewer and fewer true retirees in the future.
Actually, I think this is already happening, that even those who don't need to continue working are still working just as hard after they retire. My Dad, for example, retired from his day job at Cigna Corp. a while ago, but he immediately plowed his energy and time into his true vocation: Working to protect the rights and improve the life quality of people with mental retardation, from working with The ARC to lobbying hard on the Hill and at home.
When it comes to planners, I see a similar trend. As this article from CMI shows, meeting planners most definitely are not fading away, but instead are turning their planner skills to charities and other good works.
The difference for the future, as I see it, may be that we have to work for money AND love instead of just for love, as so many are doing now.
P.S. As the headline for this post popped into my head, I couldn't help but remember one of my favorite records as a teen by a group called Old & In the Way. Anyone else remember that group, with David Grisman, Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan, and Jerry Garcia? Uh oh, I'm dating myself--that AARP card could be coming any day now!
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