The Retirement Detox Program

10 reasons to hire a baby boomer

This post, from azcentral.com, has received some flak for not being p.c. (via the comments section at the end of the article) but, if you're a boomer looking for a new job and feeling a bit battered by the process, read it.  It might help you feel a little better about yourself, your skills, your attitude and, yes, even your advancing years! :) 

New business ideas from Springwise.com

If you'd love to start a new retirement business in the New Year but are stuck for inspiration, have a look at this week's Springwise newsletter which lists 15 new business ideas gathered from different parts of the world. 

With ideas including gourmet popcorn, an online farmers' market for small wine producers and a service that connects people with a suitably-sized piece of land with those looking for a place to pitch their tent, there's surely something there to get the entrepreneurial juices flowing...

From banking executive to head chef at 64

Are you considering an 'encore' career?  Here's some inspiration for you...

When Joel Orner was offered a buyout from his job as vice president of a California bank at age 64, he jumped at the opportunity.  A keen cook, he enrolled in classes at the School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena and, despite having to study longer for exams (because of struggles with his short-term memory) and the fact that he was having to work harder than he had ever worked at any job, he loved every minute of it.

Four years later, Orner is an executive chef with the Los Angeles Yacht Club.  He earns 70% less than he did in banking and often works longer hours, but says he'll be a chef 'until he drops'.  Read his story here.

Myths about older workers by Dr Richard P Johnson

Myth #1: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Reality: Studies show only negligible loss of cognitive function of people under 70. While older workers take longer to absorb completely new material, their better study attitudes and accumulated experience lower training costs. The fastest growing group of Internet users is people over 50.

Myth #2: Training older workers is lost investment because they will not stay on the job for long.
Reality: The future work life of an employee over 50 usually exceeds the life of new technology for which the workers are trained.

Myth #3: Older workers are not as productive as younger workers.
Reality: Overall productivity does not decline as a function of age. Productivity can actually rise to greater worker accuracy, dependability and capacity to make better on the spot judgments. Older worker's production rates are steadier than other age groups.

Myth #4:Older workers are less flexible and adaptable.
Reality: Older workers are just as adaptable once they understand the reason for changes. They are more likely to ask, why, because they have often seen past changes in processes and procedures abandoned in mid-stream when they didn't bring expected rewards quickly enough.

Myth #5:Older workers are not as creative or innovative.
Reality: General intelligence levels are the same as younger workers. Eighty percent of the most workable and worthwhile new production ideas are generated by employees over 40 years old.

Myth #6: Older workers cost more than hiring younger workers.
Reality: While workers with tenure are entitled to more vacation time and pension costs related to number of years worked, replacing workers is not cost free. Aetna Insurance Company did a study of this issue and discovered those factors added 93% to the first year's salary of new employees.

Myth #7:Benefit and accident costs are higher for older workers.
Reality: Total sick days per year of older workers is lower than other age groups because they have fewer acute illness and sporadic sick days. While individual older worker' health, disability, and life insurance costs do rise slowly with age, they are offset by lower costs due to fewer dependents. Overall, fringe benefits costs stay the same as a percentage of salary for all age groups. Older workers take fewer risks in accident-prone situations and statistically have lower accident rates than other age groups.

Dr Richard P Johnson is the founder of Retirement Options, Inc., an organisation which is dedicated to helping people lead enriched lives in their retirement years through pre-retirement assessment and planning. Over 30,000 individuals have taken the Retirement Success Profile(RSP)© and LifeOptions Profile© as well as experienced the Retirement Options© program over the past 16 years. You can find out more about the product and program online at Retirement Options

Has retirement become a dirty word?

Has 'retirement' become a negative word?  Is it becoming unacceptable to say 'I'm retired' when someone asks you what you do?  According to 'Whatever You Do, Call It Work', more and more retirees in the US are hesitating to use the word 'retired', preferring to call themselves consultants, independent contractors, business owners, dedicated volunteers, portfolio managers and pro bono workers instead.

As a retirement coach and trainer, I'm more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of people feeling obliged to lie about or 'dress up' what they do in retirement, in order to make it sound more dynamic and acceptable to other people.

Please don't misunderstand me - I'm a great advocate for people starting second (or third) careers, setting up businesses or volunteering from dawn 'til dusk if that's the way they choose to spend their time and they are deriving enjoyment, satisfaction and fulfilment from their activities.  But I get very uncomfortable at the thought of people feeling compelled to do these things (or claim they do these things) in order to stop other people making negative judgements about them and they way they spend their time.

My working definition of 'successful' (at any age) is that:

•  you're glad to be you
•  you're enjoying your life and you wouldn't change places with anyone else
•  you spend your days doing the things that you enjoy
•  you live your life a) how you want to live it, b) with people you would choose to spend your time with, who, c) treat you as you want to be treated.

So I say, if pottering about in retirement makes you happy, then you should, by all means, potter about.  If you want to curl up with a good book, curl up.  If you want to sit in your garden shed contemplating the meaning of life, then fill yer boots!  How you chose to spend your time has nothing to do with anyone else. (In a healthy retirement relationship, partners tend to have 'your time', 'my time' and 'our time' and what one partner does in their own time is, surely, up to them.)  It's your retirement, not someone else's.  You've worked hard for it.  Spend your time doing what you want to do.  Not what you feel obliged to do.  And if you find, after the honeymoon period ends, that feelings of boredom or dissatisfaction are setting in, you can always change your mind and do something else, can't you?  It's your choice.

What do you think?

Do you have what it takes to start a business?

Passion for your product or service, perseverance, realism and the support of family and friends - these are all on the list of 'absolute essentials' for someone who wants to succeed with their own business.  To find out if you have what it takes to release your inner entrepreneur (and make a success of it!) check out Have you got what it takes to start a business by Rosie Beasley.