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66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only Part of the Picture, September 2, 2007
This review is from: Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (Hardcover)
Like many books targeted to mid-life professionals, Marc Freedman addresses retirees who are physically and financially in a position to make choices. He makes an appealing yet dangerous assumption: Older people will be drawn to opportunities where they can make a contribution. They're more concerned with contributing than earning. They're cooperative, not competitive.
To be sure, many people over 40, 50 or 60 are eager to help. Many want to be teachers, nurses and social workers. But some of us are just not suited to the helping professions. And some of us actually believe that, no matter how old we are, we want to get paid based on contribution. We want to get raises, rewards, promotions and perks.
One reason so many mid-life career changers end up self-employed is that there's no other way to follow the profit motive. I recently met a lawyer who finished law school in his late 40's. Now in his early 60's, he has always worked for himself and done very well in a niche specialty. If he tried to work for a law firm, he'd be lucky to get hired as a part-time paralegal.
Along with the nurses and teachers, Freedman introduces us to a former teacher who now works as a greeter at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, these stories reassure potential employers: "See, older people don't care about money or status."
Freedman provides a list of resources. Instead I would encourage mid-life career changers to seek one-to-one consulting from career coaches or else undertaken their own programs. If you're considering a business, go to the SBA or take entrepreneurship classes.
Towards the end of the book, Freedman identifies elements of the infrastructure (taxes, health insurance and more) that no longer make sense and actually harm older workers. He quotes statistics showing that older workers use health care "1.4 to 2.2 times" as much as younger workers. It's not clear what orders of magnitude are associated with those numbers. I buy my own health insurance (you can always choose to opt out of an employer's system) and pay very little because I have a big deductible. I've reviewed several books, here on amazon, that encourage everyone to take a skeptical look at those "essential" medical tests.
Bottom Line: Encore features some very impressive baby boomers who have made significant changes in their lives. Those who want to work for money fulfilling social responsibilities by donating to worthy causes, will have to look elsewhere.
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73 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable Food For Thought For The Baby-Boomer Generation, June 7, 2007
This review is from: Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (Hardcover)
How times have changed! When I was a mere youth back in the 1940s and 50s, all that the "old folks" talked about was how they would retire someday, draw their Social Security, and spend their time idly pursuing idle pursuits. Of course, most of them expected to be gone from planet Earth sometime within their sixties. Things are different now, of course, and the game of life in regards to retirement has radically changed. And this is the main thrust of Marc Freedman's "Encore." Now that people are living longer and healthier, and some are being forced into retirement at an earlier age, and many (if not most) of these retirees are still physically and mentally capable of working and contributing to the body-politic, and, moreover, they don't want to sit around in the rocking chair waiting for the grim reaper, the question is: what are we going to do with them now? Or better, what are they going to do with themselves?
This is an important issue, not only for the so-called "baby boomers" as Freedman's book mainly emphasizes, but, in my view, it is also an important issue for those of us who are "pre-boomers." After all, I am (all too rapidly, I might say) approaching my biblically-sanctioned three score and ten and, yet, yet I don't consider myself as "retired." After all, what really is "retirement"? Retired from what? Retired when? Does the traditional concept of "retirement" actually have any meaning today? In fact, I and many of my personal colleagues have never retired, strictly speaking, although we now work in different capacities from what we did previously. Freedman proposes the idea of the "Encore Society," that is, as the subtitle of his book states, "Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life."
The author of "Encore," who is the founder and CEO of Civic Ventures and spearheaded the creation of Experience Corps, wrestles with the entire problem of retirement as it was conceived in the past and how it might be redefined in contemporary society and our current and future economic marketplace. Let no one doubt it; the whole picture of "retirement" is undergoing a fundamental modification. And that is why this book can be so valuable to readers that may be approaching the time of retirement decision-making. While many are dreading a confrontation with the issue of freedom "from" work, Freedman offers the alternative of freedom "to" work.
A special highlight of "Encore" is the author's inclusion of true stories of people who have chosen not to retire from working itself, but to change careers and many times for the better, particularly for work that is personally meaningful and self-satisfying. Here are the practical hints and tips for the transformation that millions of our baby boomers may want to or have to make. This book is an interesting read and presents much valuable information and advice.
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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To this Encore, I say bravo., July 12, 2007
This review is from: Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (Hardcover)
In sharp juxtaposition to "The Golden Years" legend embraced by our parents' generation - the housing industry-inspired mythology that serves up retirement as a time for carefree, unending play - Marc Freedman suggests something else: "If graying continues to mean only playing, it will mean paying...
"We can't afford a leisure class that makes up one-fourth of the population."
In his new book, Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, Freedman asks: "How could the best thing that has ever happened to us as individuals - the dramatic extension of life and health - amount to the worst thing that has happened to us as a nation?"
To encapsulate what he means by "the worst thing," Freedman identifies eight factors contributing to a gathering "perfect storm," the first four of which are darkly ominous.
First, Freedman drives home a message being carried by many thought-leaders today: inexorable demographics. By 2030, 25% of all U.S. residents will be 60 and older. Never before in the history of the nation, or for that matter, Western society, will so many people have reached the 7th decade of life.
Second, not only is the nation growing older; Americans are living longer. By mid-century, average life expectancy in the longest-lived countries may exceed the century mark. According to my analysis of census bureau statistics, by 2065 our nation will be home to at least 2.1 million centenarians.
Third, huge numbers of aging adults and increasing longevity imply that many will face the prospect of financing 30 or more years in retirement. Aside from the wealthiest of the generation, few Boomers have saved enough for so many years without added income. My research has disclosed that roughly 25% of the Boomer generation is technically broke today, with net assets of $10,000 or less.
Fourth, the retirement safety nets relied upon by our parents -- Social Security and Medicare -- are in severe danger of collapse. I have had an opportunity to hear disconcerting presentations by David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States. The total future unfunded liability of the U.S. government, including entitlement programs, is $46.4 trillion. Unimaginable national debt will inexorably lead to disastrous consequences for our economy, for us, and even for our children's children.
One way to think of an encore is as repetition, a repeated musical performance for example. Marc Freedman is in one sense calling on Boomers to repeat their careers again for perhaps shorter stints after the time of traditional retirement. This paradigm shift can go a long way in quelling the storm by increasing the number of years we are making instead of just consuming money.
But the book title has another, much larger implication. It is important that we realize something is greater at stake then just keeping Boomers busy, longer.
If that's all we need, then probably the so-called "bridge jobs" would be sufficient. These are the myriad retail and customer service jobs, such as Wal-Mart greeters, that employers are eager to fill with over-qualified Boomers at low wages. These McJobs also answer the yearning for "busyness," a sense that all's right with the world because we're busy, busy, busy.
Freedman isn't just suggesting an encore in a literal sense. If you haven't guessed by now, he is calling on his generation "to a gathering movement whose larger purpose is to solve the greatest problems facing humanity today."
Many books are now being published about the Boomer generation and what the aging of this segment means to the economy, to the healthcare system and to the future of aging. Some of these books simply rehash similar concepts and insights.
Marc Freedman's Encore offers a fresh approach by not only identifying potential problems of population aging but also creating a coherent vision for how we can transform "the problems" into unparalleled opportunities for businesses, nonprofit organizations and our society as a whole. It's a clarion call to a generation and an optimistic portrayal of how Boomers can make our "long, strange trip" even better.
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