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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great for Baby Boomers, no good for Gen X, Millenials, July 11, 2010
This review is from: What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Hardcover)
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I found this book to be quite frustrating and tone-deaf in this economy. Judging from the subjects of most of the case studies, this book is written for the recent retiree who has a steady retirement income coming their way. For those of us who are in the generations that won't get a retirement, the book is almost offensive. It will also probably offend Baby Boomers who have lost their jobs to read about one hard-charging executive after another who decides they want to make wine or birth calves. Heck, the lawyer-turned-farmer featured in the book has NO expectation to make any money. To have that kind of security must be nice, but for 99.9% of the American population, we want or need to change careers to MAKE money. Hard-charging executives will always do fine - what about the rest of us who are left with dwindling fortunes to match our dwindling 401(k)s and home values?
The format of the book itself is very good, although I was initially skeptical. The book lays out case studies and then has a Q&A and a summary of tips in-between. The questions can use some work; the question "would you do anything differently" was answered the same each time - "nothing" - so it was useless. Using stories teaches the concepts and makes it much less text-booky. I would want to combine this book with a companion title that would be more methodical in walking you through an approach. Perhaps the famous "Parachute" book would do well. This book is more about teaching old dogs new tricks. I see this targeted to the generation where a one-company career was the norm, but with my generation we have no illusion of that; I have no problem believing I could make wine someday if I wanted to. If you don't believe that for yourself, than this book would be great.
In the end this wasn't the book I was hoping for. I was hoping for something that was more oriented on the challenges of the Second Depression and instead I got stories about retired Fannie Mae bankers, mortgage bankers, patent lawyers, and MBNA executives. The writer could have chosen more sympathetic subjects. Even the retired deputy police chief from California gets little sympathy from me after hearing about outsized retirement packages for public workers in California ($240k/year for one 50 year-old fire chief). How about writing about the young couple in Mint Hill, NC who left their teaching careers to start "Aloha Snow" in order to support their 8 children? (Best Hawaiian shaved ice in the 48 states, by the way.) They're doing it despite huge risks and no retirement checks reliably rolling in. Write about people like them, Ms. Hanson, if you can find them somewhere other than your local country club.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Stories of rich people taking on second careers, August 2, 2010
This review is from: What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Hardcover)
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I picked this up as a 29 year old thinking about what it would be like to completely change my career. I didn't realize, however, that I'd need to be:
- A retired military Captain with a pension
- A Microsoft millionaire
- A 60 something retiree with a pension
- A retired professor who goes into chocolate making with her physician husband
Basically, everyone in the book either has a pension, a wealthy spouse, or a huge nest egg already. It's not the most sympathetic group, and certainly not really applicable for the vast majority of people.
That said, there are some good parts - like questions and answers on how people did it, what worked well, what they wish they had done different. Still, for someone expecting grand stories of changes in career, this isn't the book.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More than just a self help book, June 14, 2010
This review is from: What's Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I got What's Next because that is what i've been saying to myself for a few months now. I took early retirement from my state job and now am trying to figure out what I want to do now. The book is a series of short stories about people who knew they needed a change and went for it. It includes quite a lot of information about career changes. Websites, books, and organizations that can help entrepreneurs get a leg up. I think those will be helpful to me in my search. The stories, maybe not so much because these people all were making great money and had a nice cushion to fall back on when they decided to make the change. They also knew what they wanted and had the confidence to take the leap. Not a lot of people I know have the luxury of a fat bank account to start a new business or move across the country. And also, many people, including me, don't have the sort of "I can do anything you can do better" attitude about themselves. Both of those things would be very nice indeed. If they make a poor person's version of this, I would be even more relevant to so many people who are struggling to move on and move ahead.
That said, it is well worth the time to read.
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