Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life

by Marc Freedman

Book Overview

In one of the most significant social trends of the new century, and the biggest transformation of the American workforce since the women's movement, members of the baby boom generation are inventing a new phase of work.

Encore tells the stories of encore career pioneers who are not content, or affluent enough, to spend their next thirty years on a golf course. These men and women are moving beyond midlife careers yet refusing to phase...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586486349
• ISBN13: 9781586486341
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life

More and more Baby Boomers are foregoing retirement to fulfill their career dreams. It is a trend that we are hearing a lot about lately. To me, it makes perfect sense. For the majority of people, raising our families, trying to pay off the mortgage, and just trying to survive financially forces us into jobs that pay the bills but leave us feeling cold and uninspired. Many often fantasize about retirement but in reality the dream falls flat. Having a rest from the chaos of the rat race sounds wonderful and it is, at least for a while. Then, the realizations set in. Retirement was meant as a temporary situation, a nice little vacation before you died. Just a few decades ago, that was usually less than a decade. Now, with life spans ever increasing retirement could last 20, 30, or even 40 years, most of which the retiree will be quite healthy and mobile. Who can play that much golf? Who wants to do absolutely nothing for 40 years? Who can even afford that? Enter the potential of a second career. Now that little nest egg can be used to finance needed schooling, the start of a new business, or serve as a subsidy for lower paying but more heartfelt work. Encore not only discusses these important trends in retirement but shares the stories of individuals who followed their career dreams in the second half of their life. This book is definitely filled with important information for us all, whether we plan to retire in the near future or are just considering our options for the future.

To this Encore, I say bravo.

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

Very important book for all of us - perspective from a 30-something

Freedman offers an important perspective for those Americans approaching retirement or second careers. But his analysis and stories may prove as important for those of us at earlier life stages. I'm in my early thirties. My generation will face enormous fiscal challenges as a result of the demographic shift Freedman discusses - this much is clear. Yet Freedman's book is important to me and my peers in several other respects: we are helping our parents make a transition from a first career that has shaped their identity for decades into something new and engaged and fulfilling; and we ourselves need a new lens through which to preview our own lives-to-come and frame our career and life decisions now. As Freedman suggests, a new life map - and the societal supports to allow it - is needed for all of us. I especially appreciate that Freedman's astute observations and lively, humane storytelling offer up a hopeful shift, and one full of promise for all of us. The book helps me look forward to my next career(s) and allows me to relax into knowing that there is ample time and no shortage of exciting social challenges to tackle. Lastly, we are seeing a significant demographic shift globally and I would hope to see Freedman, a first-rate social entrepreneur, lead a global movement to reframe retirement, linking with actors in India, Brazil, Europe, and so on. This book speaks to a historical moment of global significance and opportunity. I absolutely welcome this book and would encourage others of my generation to dig in. We've got quite a big and joyful project ahead of us.

A great and important book

Most of what you read about the aging of America suggests that this event is likely to be a disaster, especially a financial disaster. Marc Freedman has a fresh approach and a big idea about how the aging of the boomer generation may actually be an occasion for great new personal and professional adventures that produces huge results for society. Freedman sees a future that is better for individuals, for communities and for the nation. He foresees a new phase of work, which he calls the Encore Career, in which people who have finished their midlife careers engage in work that benefits society. If you like the thinking of creative optimists like John Gardner, Sargent Shriver, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harris Wofford, you will love Marc Freedman. And if you like good writing and good storytelling, you will love Encore: Finding Works that Matters in the Second Half of Life.

Valuable Food For Thought For The Baby-Boomer Generation

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.