SemiretirementYourWay

It was a heady time - that is, the counterculture. And the "street people" - that era's term for the homeless - primarily were young folks who could fend for themselves.  They knew, for example, to come to liberal sanctuaries such as university towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan which provided essential services as well as compassionate mental health outreach. Oh, and all the free concerts.  Some were runaways. Some were simply experimenting with an alternative lifestyle. Many would return to the conventional way of life of paying rent or, down the road, even buying a house.  Now, we Boomers who were free spirits during the counterculture, bear witness to a very different kind of homelessness. It lacks many support systems. It certainly isn't an adventure or a voluntary time-out. And since it includes so many aging, there may not be any way back to being able to have your own roof over your head again. MSN documents: " Single adults 50 or older  are now estimated to ...

 And we start out so wonderfully retro.

45,009.88 USD ▲  +287.82 (+0.64%) today November 29, 11:58 AM EST   ·   Market Open But we'll stay semiretired - not quit working to empty our nest eggs traveling the world.  

  Once entitlements Medicare and Social Security kick in there is the opportunity for us to blossom. Just as the artists like Michelangelo did during Renaissance, thanks to the patronage of the Medicis. We have the financial infrastructure to try out what we dream we can do. Of course, our new runway is even longer if we had been investing wisely all those years of nose-to-the-grindstone working. Remember how we Boomers used to refer to that previous professional existence as the "rat race" or "being the man in the gray flannel suit who boarded the Metro North commuter train into Manhattan day in and day out." The ethos was: Shun risk. If we did take a risk and it didn't pan out, society was quick to shame us. After all, our parents had endured The Great Depression. And then, wow, we were no longer tethered to whatever work situation helped defray the cost of medical care. Medicare + supplements such as provided by United Health Care or Humana covered so much. I...

 80 years old and savvy in the ways of the world political strategist James Carville says we need to dig deep into this question: Where do people get their information from?  In posing this question, Carville is referring primarily to the implications for voting. However, in coaching those over-65 who are semiretired and looking for work I see the relevance of the same question for getting, holding and even moving on to better jobs and contract assignments.  What I have observed is that those who are up on social media/networks, pore over comments following articles, gossip with God's Plenty, break through generational silos and listen versus pontificating are never without work when they want to work. Yes, they know what is really going on with those hiring and have insider intel on how to apply for whatever.  Incidentally, this goes back to the 1970s research of Mark Granovetter about the strength of weak ties. That is, jobs are bound to come through casual acquain...

  For those blessed with the ability to let the career go, semiretirement can be a time of emotional and spiritual abundance. If you play it smart in the labor market it can also provide a sense of financial security - at least as long as you continue to bring in income from work. That's the semiretirement dynamic: ensuring the continual inflow of revenue from laboring at something, anything.  That is symbolized in the tarot by the Seven of Cups. The card represents the new access to almost limitless choice. The world has opened to you in unexpected ways. The abundance can happen because you are empowered to transform back into the human being who might have lost so much control during what a career can do to you. In some Native American tribes there is this belief: Trauma or even simple adversity takes away a piece of you. If you are willing to surrender to an awareness of that loss the part can be grafted back on. Again you are whole + there is the gift of having learned imp...

  44,736.57 USD ▲  +440.06 (+0.99%) today November 25, 4:45 PM EST  ·  Market Closed With our investments doing so well during our semiretirement any gap between what we used to earn during our careers and now seems more easily absorbable. We Boomers may be a blessed generation. Transitioning to semiretirement? Intuitive coaching for all aspects. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com

 It was for the Boomer generation that the Career Guidance Industry came into being and exploded in growth. The post-war boom plus access to a college degree gave us Boomers unprecedented opportunities. Here we were the emerging Knowledge Worker. No longer was the focus on getting/holding jobs. It was all about careers. Inside the career box was the shot at movin' on up. The career experts were supposed to assist us in maxing those opportunities. There were "oughts" about everything from matriculating at night for the MBA to the importance of face time to dressing for success (including those cute bow ties for The Professional Women). Did all that help us with upward mobility? Or not? The reality is that once inside an organization you tend to learn fast how the game operates. So, come on, how much did we really require outside guidance? What most of us did derive from that abundant external expert prompting is the kind of daily angst our parents' blue-collar labor ne...

 It "felt wrong" that former US President Barack Obama was so front stage during the Kamala Harris campaign. What seemed palpable was a need to be highly visible yet again. More recently (November 19th) with his second memoir "Citizen," former US President Bill Clinton is again out there. The Guardian is not kind: "Like an old-time vaudevillian, the 42nd president, now 78, finds it hard to leave the stage." Although the book has a high ranking on Amazon, it comes across as more than 400 pages of platitudes. The style is out-of-date (that is, boring) and the content rings inauthentic. About the latter: "I had loved being president, but I supported the two-term limit and was determined not to spend a day wishing I still had the job." However, the whole Bill Clinton ethos can be experienced as a longing about "wishing I still had the job." Then there is Disney leader and author of bestseller "Ride of a Lifetime" Bob Iger who di...

   "This time, finally you are working for income on your own terms (more or less)." That's what I explain to the semiretired during tarot readings.  All too often, though, they are stuck in the Five of Cups Mindset: regretting supposed mistakes back in their former career days. That preoccupation with the past or crying over Spilled Milk - cups symbolize emotion - can extend from when they chose a line of work after high school/major in college to strategic decisions on the job/operating their own business.  Obviously, they are not in the now, being there to enjoy finally earning income more on their own terms. For instance, they are free to ditch that job or stop operating that small online business and take up another way to bring in some money. Yet, they don't own that new stress-free state of being. Actually they tend "apologize" for no longer being on a career track. They obsessively talk about what they used to do when at the peak of their earning yea...

"It's my age. That's why I can't find some work, any work." As an intuitive coach specializing in semiretirement, I hear that way too much. So, when I was a guest on an award-winning podcast I zeroed right in on how those who are aging usually shoot themselves in the foot. That's in everything from thinking about opportunities to how they present themselves on interviews. Here, listen to what I recommend.  And get to work. Over-65. Back working or wanting to get back. But on your own terms. Intuitive coach Jane Genova will help. Complimentary Consultation text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com)

  What we understand as "semiretirement" is laboring for income, without the pressure of being in a career box. That's even if you are doing what is related to what you had been doing when you were part of the "rat race," as we boomers used to call "managing our career path." (sorry for the cliche) What a wonderful state of being semiretirement is. And it doesn't even matter if you are working because you "have to," that is to pay the bills on time.  You still are doing what you're doing more or less on your own terms. There are plenty of non-career employment situtations out there.  Some are full-time.  Some are part-time.  Some are contract.  Some involve operating your own enterprise.  Don't like one? You search for and land another. That also applies to being entrepreneurial. Not every idea pans out.  Usually the motivation for being semiretired is a complex mix of, yes, needing/wanting added income, fleeing isolation, testing...