Baby Boomers, the cohort of Americans born between 1946 and 1964, have
confronted turbulent social and political change while setting significant new
trends in every phase of their lives. Becoming members of a burgeoning species
of the involuntary retired is just one more bump on the road of life for this
powerful generation.
“Over the hill” in Corporate America is getting a lot younger. An expert
estimates that 3.5 million people between the ages of 40 and 58 vanished from
the American workforce from 2001 to 2004. That’s about 5 percent of all Baby
Boomers. And now the automotive industry’s restructuring buyouts of 2005 and
2006 are forcing second careers to sprout out of the pain of a pink slip for
boomers. Many of the 78 million boomers in the United States are asking the
question, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”
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These later-in-life career changers don’t care about taking it easier and often
will work as hard or harder than they did in the jobs they left behind. A
Merrill Lynch & Co. retirement survey of more than 3,000 Baby Boomers reported
that 83 percent intend to keep working and 56 percent of them hope to do so in a
new profession.
Second careers are like second marriages–you are prepared to make better
choices on what you want to do and who you want to do it with.
Many people are planning on working into their 70s or even later and 16 percent
plan to work for themselves or start their own business. A 2004 AARP study shows
that the proportion of self-employed workers rises with typical working age,
peaking at 24 percent of working women at age 66 and 38 percent of working men
at age 65. The numbers reflect that people are "doing this as a transition to
retirement, or they tend to be working longer than those who are in
wage-and-salary jobs," said Lynn Karoly, a senior economist with Rand and co-author
of the AARP study.
“With children gone, corporate jobs eliminated, little retirement savings and
the best years of their life beginning, Baby Boomers are ready to move on to a
second career and downsized home more suited to their current and future needs,”
says John G. Agno, career coach and Baby Boomer Tips blogger at
www.SoBabyBoomer.com
Agno says, “We are all knowledgeable workers today and many boomers are walking
away from employers with tacit knowledge intact. The experience gained in career
number one will be selectively applied in a second career—allowing boomers to
do what they do best, where and when they want to do it.”
A majority of boomers say they want to work in a phased retirement, but
companies are only just beginning to try to figure out how to accommodate that.
The Merrill Lynch survey found that 71 percent of adults hope to work in
retirement, with many looking for part-time jobs or an opportunity to move in
and out of the work force—perhaps, during a period as a long as ten years.
"Employers simply can’t afford to see this Baby Boomer generation retire en
masse," says Roselyn Feinsod, principal at Towers Perrin HR Services in
Stamford, CT, "without witnessing significant effects on productivity, the
ability to serve customers and, ultimately, the bottom line." According to a
survey conducted by Towers Perrin, employees 55 and older were found to be more
engaged and committed to their work than their younger colleagues. Yet, few
companies have figured out how to share knowledge among employees or to pass it
on when workers retire or change assignments.
Agno cautions the mature adult to take stock of yourself and your life during
this mid-course career correction before jumping into a new job. A financial
planner can help you to map out your retirement needs and a career coach can
help you inventory your signature talents and discover how to apply your
knowledge and experience in a way that works best for you and your family.
Managing money well is important. But for many people, the most important
investment they can make during their working years is in gathering the skills,
education and contacts they need for the work they want to do in retirement.
As Bernard Baruch once said, "Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A
man can’t retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with
less energy and time."
Knowing who you are and what you want to achieve in your second career matters.
All of the above text is a press release provided by the quoted organization.
globalagingtimes.com accepts no responsibility for their accuracy.
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