Retirement In The Age Of Coronavirus

Are people still talking about retirement in July of 2020? Today, as the novel coronavirus takes center stage in the minds and hearts of people across the globe, should we make room in our psyches to think about a post-coronavirus world and what retirement might look like for today’s retirees, the baby boomers? When coronavirus is in the rearview mirror, will the world have shifted enough to disrupt the momentum of the last ten years? 

It’s hard to answer those questions with the information available today, but assuming we can recover from this current crisis the way we have from previous life interruptions (two world wars, a depression and a major recession), I think retirement and aging will once again be on the minds of people over 60, specifically in the United States. But it’s not just those who are in the target age bracket who will be thinking about it; those who serve them (or want to) will be thinking about it as well. That is the topic of a new book by Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D. and Robert Morison. What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age, is the ultimate compendium of what today’s retirement generation, the boomers, have indicated they want––for today, as young, active retirees, and for their fast-approaching oldest years.  

Ken Dychtwald has, without a doubt, earned the right to write this book. For over thirty years, Dr. Dychtwald and his team at Age Wave, his California Bay Area based company, have researched and chronicled the boomer generation. With the 1990 publication of his seminal work, Age Wave, Dychtwald introduced us to the many ways boomers were transforming the world and how their actions and attitudes would impact their experience of aging and the business of those serving an aging population. With over a hundred clients, as varied as Merrill Lynch, MetLife

MET
, General Mills

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, Intercontinental Hotels

IHG
, Lincoln Mercury, Mars, Sara Lee, Siemens Medical, Walt Disney Co

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, and Costco, plus several dozen associations and government agencies, the Age Wave team has looked at the needs of an aging America from just about every aspect imaginable. The wisdom they have gained is compiled handily in this amazing new book. 

Co-author, Robert Morison, a senior advisor at Age Wave, has collaborated with Ken on several other books and is a first-rate academic and researcher.  Working together on this project, Dychtwald and Morison have compiled an impressive body of knowledge based on 30+ years of research, and presented it to us in a readable and compelling way. 

At the end of each chapter is a list of “actions and opportunities” for organizations and businesses in that chapter’s focus. The inclusion of this tool turns the book into a how-to guide for entrepreneurs looking for marketing opportunities. There are guidelines and suggestions for companies in leisure, health, family services, home improvement, the financial sector, nonprofits, and employers in general. The ideas on these pages are a treasure trove for companies willing to take the time reflect on how they can better serve (and do more business) with the aging generation.      

Treat yourself to a preview of What Retirees Want, written by the authors,in Forbes.com and you’ll get a feel for the richness and scope of this groundbreaking book. It was written for the benefit of the many businesses that serve the needs of older adults, but it is a terrific read for anyone who is just embarking on the second half of life, whether you call it retirement or something else.  Last year I posted a blog about the many wonderful books available to retirees who want to find ways to get the most out of their later years. Today, What Retirees Wantwould clearly be at the top of that list. 

One final note: Dr. Dychtwald has pledged his personal proceeds from the sale of the book to the American Society on Aging. He has been a friend and champion of the nonprofit association for over 30 years, and with the cancellation of their yearly conference earlier in 2020, they, like other nonprofits, are struggling to survive. 

The book is set for release today, July 15, 2020. You can purchase it at Amazon

AMZN
or other online retailers.