There's a lot we can learn - and relearn - from the younger people in our midst. They do many things in a way that's highly beneficial for older adults. Dr. Hasan Merali is the author of the new book, Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas, which shows us how toddlers bring out the best in humanity and how we can, too. It’s a whole new way of looking at and learning from toddlers. He joins us from Ontario. __________________________ Bio Hasan Merali, MD, MPH, is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University and a pediatric emergency medicine physician at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on child injury prevention in low- and middle-income countries. He has published more than twenty-five peer-reviewed journal articles, and his writing has been featured in Science, The Boston Globe, NBC, CBC, and Popular Science. Dr. Merali lives in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife and their toddler daughter. ____________________________ For More on Hasan Merali Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas Website ____________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode Chatter & Your Inner Voice – Ethan Kross Auburn Sage Who Has the Secret to Well-Being? The Answer May Surprise You. Old People's Homes for 4 Year Olds ___________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Power of Fun – Catherine Price Emeralds of Oz – Peter Guzzardi ___________________________ Wise Quotes On Sleeping Like a Toddler "I think sleep is one of the most important ones, and for anyone interested in wellness or improving their life, I would argue that sleep is the most important one to start with. I think it's a foundation for everything else to build on. And I like the toddler routine because it is so simple and it works. And so the Toddler bedtime routine is a very easy thing to do. And if we all did it, we would all sleep better like they do, and so what you do is you set a bed time, you kind of stick to it. You got to be regular about that time. Start an hour before. None of this involves any screens, so those screens are completely off. One hour before, you're either taking a hot bath or shower and what that does actually is cool down your body and your body needs to be cooler when we sleep and so that kind of gets your body into that mode. The next thing you do what toddlers do is they have lotion put on them and certainly that's something we could all do. It feels good, massage is good but really any hygiene related activity is fine. And then finally I think we're going to talk about this later too is reading and that is the best way to end your night. It's no screens. If it's an e-reader, it is fine, but there's no other distractions. And it s a way to consolidate all that knowledge we're getting because if you read and then sleep, you're going to retain a lot more of it too." On Laughing Like a Toddler "If you look at a graph of age across the spectrum and how much we do an activity, there is the first cliff that we go off is really humor and laughter. And there are a whole bunch of other ones. Reading is another one. Play is a another. And some of them do come back when you're retired, which is wonderful. You know, for reading, it comes back for example when your 65. But laughter is definitely one of them that we can never reach the same level that we did have when we were toddlers. So toddlers left to themselves and they're miked up. They're laughing almost one time a minute. So nearly 60 times an hour. And adults, at most, will get to half of that level. And so this amount of laughter is good for them and us for a lot of different reasons. It's everyone knows this it's a stress reliever. It makes us feel good. And one of the things that I mentioned that toddlers are always ...

We're surrounded by uncertainty and we don't like the feeling of not knowing. But there's often hidden strength in some things that make us uncomfortable. Maggie Jackson's new book explores the research that shows that uncertainty is not a weakness, but instead can be a powerful tool for navigating complexity with creativity and adaptability. Maggie Jackson joins us from Rhode Island to discuss her new book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure and why we should embrace uncertainty as a catalyst for curiosity - and more. ________________________ Bio Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her prescient writings on social trends, particularly technology’s impact on humanity. Her new book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure has been lauded as "remarkable and persuasive" (Library Journal); "trending" (Book Pal); "incisive and timely-triumphant" (Dan Pink); and "both surprising and practical" (Gretchen Rubin). Nominated for a National Book Award, Uncertain was named a Top 10 Social Sciences book of 2023 by Library Journal and a Top 50 Psychology book of the year by the Next Big Idea Club. The book inspired Jackson's recent lead opinion piece in the New York Times on uncertainty and resilience. Her acclaimed book Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention sparked a global conversation on the steep costs of our tech-centric, attention-deficient modern lives. With a foreword by Bill McKibben, the book reveals the scientific discoveries that can help rekindle our powers of focus in a world of overload and fragmentation. Hailed as “influential” by the New Yorker and compared by Fast Company.com to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Distracted offers a “richly detailed and passionately argued … account of the travails facing an ADD society” (Publishers Weekly) and “concentrates the mind on a real problem of modern life” (The Wall Street Journal). The book is “now more essential than ever,” says Pulitzer finalist Nicholas Carr. Maggie Jackson’s essays, commentary, and books have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New Philosopher, on National Public Radio, and in media worldwide. She wrote the foreword to Living with Robots: Emerging Issues on the Psychological and Social Implications of Robotics (Academic Press, 2019) and has contributed essays to numerous other anthologies, including State of the American Mind: Sixteen Leading Critics on the New Anti-Intellectualism (Templeton, 2015) and The Digital Divide: Arguments For and Against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking (Penguin, 2011). Her book, What’s Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age, was the first to explore the fate of home in the digital age, a time when private life is permeable and portable. Jackson is the recipient of numerous grants, awards, and fellowships, including a 2016 Bard Graduate Center Visiting Fellowship; Media Awards from the Work-Life Council of the Conference Board, the Massachusetts Psychological Association, and the Women’s Press Club of New York. For a National Public Radio segment on the lack of labor protections offered to child newspaper carriers, she was a finalist for a Hillman Prize, one of journalism’s highest honors for social justice reporting. Jackson has served as an affiliate of the Institute of the Future in Palo Alto; a Journalism Fellow in Child and Family Policy at the University of Maryland; and a Scholar-in-Residence at the Museum for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. Her website has been named a Forbes Top 100 Site for Women three times. Jackson is a sought-after speaker, appearing at Harvard Business School, the New York Public Library, the annual invitation-only Forbes CMO summit, the Simmons and other top women’s leadership conferences, and other corporations, libraries, hospitals, schools, religious organizations, and bookstores.

Are you ready for the second half of life? Allen Hunt believes we should be more precise and instead concentrate on preparing for the fourth quarter of our lives once we hit our sixties. It helps us focus with a heightened sense of urgency and it can inspire us to be more intentional about the things that matter most. Allen Hunt joins us from Atlanta. __________________________ Bio Allen Hunt is The Fourth Quarter Guy. He helps people discover how to become the best-version-of themselves in the Fourth Quarter of life. A four-time #1 Amazon best-selling author, Allen collaborated with Matthew Kelly to write No Regrets: A Fable about Living Your Fourth Quarter Intentionally. In that fable, they share the ground-breaking secrets of the Fourth Quarter: the 5 Keys to Living and Dying with No Regrets. Those 5 keys then led them to create The Fourth Quarter of Your Life: Embracing What Matters Most, a workbook to help people do just that: Discover and plan how to intentionally live their fourth quarters with confidence, boldness and passion. Allen earned a Ph.D from Yale University. He enjoys hiking, literature, spirituality, history and good food. he and his wife, Anita, live in Georgia. They have two daughters, two sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren. ____________________________ Website - The Fourth Quarter Guy - Allen Hunt You Tube Channel No Regrets: A Fable about Living Your Fourth Quarter Intentionally The Fourth Quarter of Your Life: Embracing What Matters Most _____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller Independence Day – Steve Lopez Taking Stock – Dr. Jordan Grumet _____________________________ Wise Quotes On the Fourth Quarter of Life "And so when you turn 60, you really are three-fourths of the way through, and you're in that fourth quarter. And as I've kind of accompanied folks on that journey, I've realized your perspective really changes at that point in different kinds of ways. Your values may not, but your perspective and your point of view does. And certain things become more important. Other things begin to kind of recede into the background. And like my co-author, Matthew Kelly, and I say, death is the one unavoidable truth. And in the fourth quarter, you begin to realize that at some level. And then once you actually really realize that and accept it, then you can truly begin to live. It's almost liberating once you realize, and this thing is going to, there is a termination date. " On Regrets "How do you redeem those regrets and turn them into dreams? You know as we talked with hospice nurses and as we worked with people who were preparing to die and listen to some of their regrets one of the greatest regrets people expresses I really wish I had expressed my feelings more. And so if that's a regret that you anticipate that you might have or that you have up to this point so okay how can I how can I turn that into a fourth quarter dream instead of letting that regret kind of hang on me like a wet sweater. And one way to do that is to think about three simple statements I love you, I forgive you, or please forgive me. And who do you need to say those things to? And begin to think about who do you need to thank? Who do you need to express love to? who do you need to forgive and who do you actually need to forgive you? Who do you need to say I'm sorry to and begin actually acting on that. And you'll you'll not only begin to avoid regrets, but you also begin to experience a freedom from the past and a lightness and a liberty in the in the fourth quarter." On Being Intentional in Your Fourth Quarter "...intentionality matters in every aspect of your life, whether it's your physical health, your mental health, your spiritual life. And so just to put together a simple one step, this is the next step I'm gonna take, and then see what God begins to do in your life as you do that,

A lot of our day-to-day behavior comes from habits. They create useful short cuts. But while they're efficient, many lack something important - meaning. That's where rituals come in. From the civic and religious rituals that commemorate key milestones and special events to our morning routines, they add a valuable emotional dimension to our lives. Michael Norton, author the new book The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions, has studied rituals and joins us to share what's he's learned about how we can be intentional about rituals, both ones we've inherited and new ones we create. He joins us from Cambridge, Massachusetts. ____________________ Curious? Take the Habit or Ritual Quiz _____________________ Bio Michael Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has studied human behavior as it relates to love and inequality, time and money, and happiness and grief. He is the author of The Ritual Effect and the coauthor—with Elizabeth Dunn—of Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending. In 2012, he was selected by Wired magazine as one of “50 People Who Will Change the World.” His TEDx talk, How to Buy Happiness, has been viewed nearly 4.5 million times. He is a frequent contributor to such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Scientific American, and has made numerous television, radio, and podcast appearances. __________________________ For More on Michael Norton The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions Website _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Tiny Habits Can Lead to Big Changes – BJ Fogg How to Live a Values Based Life – Harry Kraemer The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace The Second Curve of Life – Arthur C. Brooks _________________________ Wise Quotes On Rituals & Emotions "I think one thing that I like about rituals is that they're a bit domain general, in the sense that we don't just use them in one domain. So imagine the only thing we use rituals for was to tie our shoes before a big race or to try to calm down before a big event. We for sure use them there. But then we use them in all these other domains of life as well. We use them in our marriages, we use them with our kids and families. We use them at work. So we really think about this idea of rituals allow us across many domains of life to change our experience in one way or another. We're often looking for an emotion when we engage in rituals. Like if I'm doing something with my wife that we do on date night, we're doing the ritual in order to feel closer. If I'm tying my shoes, I'm doing it in order to feel calmer. So we have these ways of using rituals to try to get us to an emotion that we think at least would be helpful in that moment." On Rituals and Retirement "And I think that can help us then have a better demarcation between what we were and what we're going to be. I was a full-time employee. I was a parent, now I'm retired, or now I'm an empty nester. How are we helping people transition from one to the other? Because it's a huge transition. When we go through any of these transitions in life, we have, when we look at rituals, there's many different types." On Inherited Rituals "We have just two broad categories are rituals that we receive or inherit. They could be family rituals, they could be cultural rituals, they could be religious rituals that we get from our parents, from our grandparents, from our faith. And those rituals play an enormously important role in our lives. And we know what they are, and we know how meaningful they are when we do them. Weddings and funerals exist for a reason." On Taking an Inventory "I think the last thing that anybody wants to hear is add 10 more things to your life. That's not a good selling point.

Doesn't everyone deserve a dignified retirement? Rather than fixing our retirement system, working longer is often seen as the solution to finance retirement. But for people with physically demanding jobs or people grappling with health issues or disabilities, working longer is not an option. Teresa Ghilarducci joins us to discuss her new book Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy and her proposal for a Gray New Deal to fix the retirement system in the US. Teresa Ghilarducci joins us from New York. _________________________ Bio Teresa Ghilarducci is the author of the new book Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy. A labor economist and nationally-recognized expert in retirement security, she is the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz professor of economics at The New School for Social Research and the Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and The New School’s Retirement Equity Lab. As a labor economist, she has spent her career working to ensure retirement security for all American workers. She joined The New School for Social Research as a professor of economics in 2008 after teaching at Notre Dame for 25 years. She frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress and serves as a media source to popular and online news outlets about pensions, labor economics, and older workers. She also frequently publishes in economics journals and edited volumes and has authored several books, including How to Retire with Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is and Rescuing Retirement, co-authored with “Tony” James, who was Executive Vice Chairman of The Blackstone Group at the time and co-authored In an unusual partnership, they outlined their bold policy vision to create Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) for all American workers. ____________________________ For More on Teresa Ghilarducci Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy How to Retire with Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is Rescuing Retirement: A Plan to Guarantee Retirement Security for All Americans ____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott When Will You Flip the Switch? – Dr. Barbara O’Neill Why Retirement is About Much More Than Money – Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland ____________________________ Wise Quotes On the Pyramid of Retirement Security "Well, me and everyone else in this field knows that the building box of a good retirement looks like not pillars, but is a pyramid. There's a base and then there's a middle part, and then there's a tippy top part. I think of it as the food pyramid with the base as your fruits, your vegetables and your grains. That's a foundation and that's Social Security and that it doesn't provide all of your retirement income needs, for sure. But it's certainly a foundation. It's a foundation of security because retirement is for the lucky ones. A lot of people have missteps along the way that they have to take care of somebody and drop out of the labor force. So your family needs to be secured for that. So a spousal benefit is there, or you may be disabled, of course. And in fact, a huge percentage of people can't do their jobs mentally and physically starting around 50. And so official disability may not be in the offering, but kind of a partial disability is something that we all are at risk of having to manage. And so Social Security has to take into account the insurance system, a couple of missed quarters. We need social insurance against wild recessions where you might miss hours and work. And so you need that foundation." On Defined Contribution Plans vs. Pensions "And I think an unintended consequence of our do it yourself experiment we've had for 40 years in our country, there's no such thing as elders. You're supposed to stay young forever.

Are you ready to make giving back your second act? That's the question posed by AmeriCorps Seniors. While volunteering can make a huge difference in the lives of others, it offers many benefits for you too. Atalaya Sergi joins us to discuss how AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers are making a difference by redeploying their skills and experience, including through intergenerational volunteer programs. Atalaya Sergi joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia. __________________________ Bio Atalaya Sergi leads AmeriCorps Seniors, the federal grant making office of AmeriCorps that is focused on promoting and engaging people aged 55 and over in outcomes-oriented service. She has more than 20 years of experience in service, community engagement, and education, working in the public and nonprofit sector to bring private and public organizations together to ensure people of all ages, as well as those living in underserved communities, thrive. Prior to AmeriCorps, she served as vice president, strategic partnerships & programming at Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc., managing AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors programs as a federal grantee. She launched Jumpstart’s only AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program. Sergi co-founded Los Angeles Generation to Generation, focusing on engaging older adults in volunteerism to support young children across LA County. She currently represents AmeriCorps on the federal government’s Elder Justice Coordinating Council and Scams Against Older Adults Advisory Group. She has been recognized as a PBS Next Avenue Influencer in Aging, an Encore Network Champion, and was selected as a Co-Generate Encore Public Voice Fellow, using her time to write about the positive impact older adults can have in educational settings. Sergi earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University. _____________________________ For More on Atalaya Sergi AmeriCorps Seniors Atalaya Sergi on Next Avenue _____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Changing the World One Small Act at a Time – Brad Aronson The Best Day of My Life So Far – Benita Cooper Why Retirement is About Much More Than Money – Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland _____________________________ Related Blog Post Find the Volunteer Opportunity That’s Right for You _____________________________ Retiring? Check out our Best Books for Retirement _______________________________ Wise Quotes On the Benefits of Volunteering "One of the things that we have done some research on and learned about is the benefits to your health, and I'm not sure that everyone thinks about that. We did a research study where we looked over a three year period of volunteering, starting with volunteers who had never volunteered before and then following them over time. And we saw that of those that had volunteered for just one or two years, 84% of those volunteers reported improved or stable health. 88% reported decreased feelings of isolation. And we know how important that is given all of the work that our Surgeon General is doing. And 78% reported that they also felt less depressed after volunteering. And I think that getting out, getting moving, staying connected to your community and to others in your community really has a positive impact just on your health." On Volunteering & Lifelong Learning "I think another thing that volunteers may sometimes not expect is that they learn new skills. So we're talking about adults that are volunteering, that have lots of lived experience, lots of career experience, but we always hear from volunteers that they learn new skills when they're out volunteering from the training they receive. If they're doing something that's different from what they did in their career, they learn new skill sets." On Foster Grandparenting

What will you be retiring to? Don't just wing it. Design it. Join our next Design Your New Life in Retirement small group program starting on April 26th. There's one spot left... _________________________ What lessons learned can you glean from a top financial advisor who's helped many people successfully retire? Scott Hanson, of Allworth Financial, joins us to share his insights and discuss the Four Pillars you'll want to put in place to build the satisfying retirement you've earned. Scott Hanson joins us from California. _________________________ Bio Scott Hanson is a founding principal and Vice Chair at Allworth Financial. A nationally recognized financial expert, he’s been named to Barron’s list of the Top 100 Independent Wealth Advisors in America numerous times and has been listed as one of the 25 most influential people in the financial services industry nationwide. For over 28 years, Scott has co-hosted Allworth Financial’s Money Matters, a call-in, financial topic radio program and podcast, making it one of the longest-running shows of its kind in America. A frequent guest columnist for several national financial publications, Scott is the author of Personal Decision Points: 7 Steps to Your Ideal Retirement Transition and Money Matters: Essential Tips & Tools for Building Financial Peace of Mind. In 2010, Scott was recognized as the Outstanding Philanthropist by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, California Capital Chapter, and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, California State University, Chico. It 2021, he was recognized by Investment News as one of the 10 “Icons and Innovators” of the financial services industry nationwide. In 2019, Scott was the inspiration behind the founding of Allworth Kids, which has provided laptops, overnight kits, and financial assistance to over 200,000 foster kids to date. Scott and his wife Valerie reside in El Dorado Hills, CA and have four children. ____________________________ For More on Scott Hanson Allworth Financial Allworth Financial’s Money Matters _____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Life in Retirement: Expectations & Realities – Catherine Collinson Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller Independence Day – Steve Lopez ______________________________ Wise Quotes On Work as an Option "So I think it's really important that people get to a point where retirement's an option and where work is an option, not an obligation. When people get to that point where they have the financial independence, I think it changes their mindset and they can look at work a lot differently. They have other options available to them. And so for us, for financial advisors, it's really about getting to that point where you've got that independence where you can choose your own future." On Planning for Life After You Retire "A lot of people think 'Well, as soon as I retire, I'm going to get rid of all my responsibilities and just going to have all kinds of blank space and a blank canvas to build from.' That's not always a very healthy way to approach retirement. I'll never forget, years ago, I had a client, she was an executive, a CEO of a mid-size company with a couple of hundred employees, and she had done a nice job saving. She'd come in and we'd talk about her retirement preparedness. So we're having the same conversation again - our annual review. And I said to her 'Stacy, let's assume you're retired today. Tell me what your next few weeks look like. How are you spending your time?' She says 'What do you mean? 'I said 'Well, your entire career, you've been coaching people, mentoring people, you've been involved in strategic plans, you've been working as teams. What are you going to do in retirement to still have some of those activities? 'And she sent me an email two weeks after our conversation and she said: Your questions haunted me.

What are you retiring to? Don’t drift into it. Design it. Join us in the next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program starting April 26th. __________________________ I've just completed my second year as a grandfather. Like anyone finishing their sophomore year, I know twice as much as I did a year ago, but still have a lot to learn. In my quest to learn more, I came across this article in the New York Times - How to be a Better Grandfather - and discovered Ted Page. When he became a grandfather at 55, he looked online for guidance and discovered - well, not much. So he created the website and blog Good Grandpa. Ted's writing a book that's coming out next year sharing stories and wisdom from grandfathers on the #1 thing they've learned that will help nurture the next generation. Ted Page joins us from Massachusettts. ________________________ Bio Ted Page is the creator and editor of Good Grandpa. Ted Page is a storyteller, performer and marketing executive. His non-fiction stories have appeared in Boston Magazine and the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, and his book of true family stories, The Willoughby Chronicles, was published by 3 Swallys Press in 2017. Ted is a Co-Founder of Captains of Industry, a leading boutique marketing consultancy based in Boston. Ted won a Telly award for The Institute for Back-up Trauma, starring John Cleese—who looks stunning in a red dress. Ted and his colleagues at Captains of Industry created The Climate Declaration for CERES, which was signed by over 1,700 corporations globally including Apple, Nike, Starbucks, GM and Levis. Ted lives outside Boston with his wife, Nancy, who continues to put up with him after 35 years. They have two children and four grandchildren. _________________________ For More on Ted Page GoodGrandpa.com What's the #1 thing you've learned that can  help the next generation? Contact Ted Page: ted@goodgrandpa.com _________________________ Mentioned in This Episode The Parrot Sketch ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Long Distance Grandparent – Kerry Byrne PhD The Mindful Grandparent – Dr. Shirley Showalter _________________________ Wise Quotes On the Next Generation "The mission of the blog is to nurture the next great generation. So I'm a Boomer, sort of at the tail end of the Baby Boomers, born in 1959. And for us, we always just kind of looked up to our parents as what Tom Brokaw had dubbed the Greatest Generation. He wrote this terrific book, The Greatest Generation, and that's very understandable. They won World War II, they survived The Great Depression. They were great. They were fantastic. And I revered my father and mother. I revered the one grandfather that I knew. But when I saw these little kids starting to appear on the scene, our grandkids, I thought: What if they're going to be the greatest generation of all time? And what can we do to help them become the greatest generation, not just here in the United States, but around the world. We have tools that our parents didn't have." On Continuous Learning "But then of course, I said, Well, John, let me tell you what I'm up to. I'm writing a book and I'm gathering wisdom from elders and asking everyone what the number 1 piece of wisdom is - and he just jumped in and he said, 'Well, that's easy. I'll tell you.' And I'm like: Great! Mr. John Cleese, one of the greats, is going to share his number one thing. And he said: 'It's more important to find the truth that it is to know the truth.' And when I asked him to unpack that a little bit, he said, well, Newtonian mathematics and physics was accepted without question for hundreds of years. And that along comes Einstein, and it's all upended. And then just within Einstein's life, there's quantum physics. It's the constant learning that matters. It's the seeking the truth. And sometimes when you believe something's the truth,

Don’t drift into your retirement. Design it. Join us in the next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program starting April 26. __________________________ Today's Building Block: Wellness What will your life in retirement really be like? Will you flourish or languish? Our guest today is Corey Keyes, a renowned expert and author of the groundbreaking book Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down. Corey explains what languishing is and the five essential "vitamins" for flourishing, derived from extensive research, offering practical strategies to improve well-being. Corey Keyes joins us from North Carolina. _________________________ Bio Corey Keyes is professor emeritus of Sociology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA where he held the Winship Distinguished Research Professorship. He was a member of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Aging. He has been called on to participate in several U.S. National Academies of Science initiatives – “The Future of Human Healthspan” and improving national statistics to measure recovery from mental illness. His research introduced the concepts of social well-being, flourishing, languishing, the two continua model of mental health and illness, and his work is being used to prevent mental illness via the promotion of positive (flourishing) mental health. He has been selected to give several honorary lectureships, including the Dorosin Memorial Lecture for the National College Health Association, The Chesley Lecture on Aging at Minnesota State University, and the Anita Spenser Lectureship in Clinical Behavioral Sciences at McMaster University. _________________________ For More on Corey Keyes Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer The Self-Healing Mind – Gregory Scott Brown, M.D. Chatter & Your Inner Voice – Ethan Kross The Power of Fun – Catherine Price ______________________ Wise Quotes On Flourishing and Languishing "....the good news is that flourishing is at its peak during what most of us would consider the first decade of retirement. So roughly between 60 to 74, it is at its peak and before you retire and throughout your adult working phase, it starts out pretty low in early to late twenties, but it's steadily increases and increases so that as you get settled into your career and become senior and established, you tend to on average leave your career on a high note. You're flourishing, but it gets better. And that's the point I want to make, that it's the first decade at least of retirement. People are doing really well on average. It's the problems that come with if we live long enough. And by that I mean roughly past the age of 75 plus and more and more of us are. We see a downturn in flourishing and an increase in languishing towards the end of life." On Activities That Promote Flourishing "... five of the activities stood out among people who were flourishing, who they did more of the following. They engaged in more forms of helping behavior. It might be volunteering, helping people, or even living your purpose. Go out there and help someone or help something in the world and make it better. The second vitamin, that flourishers did more of was that they connected, prioritizing warm, trusting relationships. Relationships where they had a sense of belonging, where they were part of a community and relationships where they mattered. And by that I meant they were needed. And in my measurement of flourishing, the sense of contributing worth and value to the world is baked into flourishing. So the second thing they did more of was connect around warmth, trust, belonging, and mattering. The third was they were very active in learning something new and prioritizing personal growth.

Don't drift into your retirement. Design it. Join us in the next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program starting April 26. _____________________ Who knows more about whether or not you're ready to retire? Your financial advisor - or you? While you're diligently planning for your retirement and dreaming to retire happy, the retirement landscape keeps evolving around you. Let's take a look at what's happening in the world of retirement with Nate Miles of Allspring Global Investments. He joins us to the discuss key trends highlighted in their latest study on retirement, including happiness in retirement, retirement readiness, what retirees regret - and more. Nate Miles joins us from North Carolina. ___________________ Bio Nathaniel (Nate) Miles is head of Global Client Strategy at Allspring Global Investments. As the leader of this business, Nate leads a team of investment specialists centered on client-type expertise, which enables Allspring to be more relevant and impactful with clients. Client-type areas of expertise include Defined Contribution, Pension/LDI, Insurance, Liquidity, Foundations and Endowments, and Wealth. Nate joined Allspring from its predecessor firm, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). He joined WFAM from WisdomTree Asset Management, where he served as U.S. head of retirement solutions. In this capacity, he oversaw the creation and execution of marketing strategies and distribution for retirement business across all platforms. Prior to this, Nate worked as a managing director at State Street Global Advisors and as head of U.S. investment strategy with its defined contribution team, where he began his investment industry career in 2005. Nate earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and financial management with honors from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation and is a member of CFA Society Boston. _________________________ For More on Nate Miles The 21st annual Allspring Global Investments Retirement Survey: A Clear Vision of Retirement Allspring Global Investments _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Life in Retirement: Expectations & Realities – Catherine Collinson Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson _________________________ Wise Quotes On Happiness in Retirement "The one thing that we found out every year is our study says and relates how happy retirees are. So that wasn't new, but we are trying to get to the why. And one of the things we found this year for the first time was that on average retirees could have their spending decline by 25% before it significantly impacted their happiness. So that was a bigger number than I expected, but was corroborated by the fact that when we asked them about their spending on things like their needs, wants and wishes, that only tallied up about 64% of total income. So those numbers actually jive together and I think are a nice story and a nice finding from this study." On Retirement Readiness "Advisors ranked their clients as 40% of them being generally ready for retirement. Near retirees were down below 40%. So there was actually a positive spread. I would say advisors believed them to be a little more prepared, but retirees were up around 77%, so clearly much happier. So overall we had advisors at about 50% of their client base being ready for retirement versus a total population of 64%. But that's really broken down between those two groups where the retirees were much more confident than near retirees." On Regrets "It was a little bit harder to find regrets because our retirees tend to be generally pretty happy. They don't tend to have much complaint about retirement. It is generally better than they expected. One was the too early crowd. We saw some that retired before age 50, 38% suggested that it was too early. They wished they would've hung on and worked a little bit longer...

Looking for an active retirement? Design it with others. Join us in the next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program starting April 26. Today's Building Blocks: Fun and Wellness Spring is right around the corner and it’s a great time to explore new outdoor activities and re-energize your routines by trying something new. Caroline Paul’s newest book, Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives As We Age, delves into the science and psychology of the outdoors - and our place in it as we age with real-life stories of women living it today. Caroline Paul joins us from San Francisco. ________________________ Bio Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure. Now 60, she expects this new stage of life to be every bit as invigorating and full of high adrenalin escapades as the last. But as she skateboards, paddles a SUP, or surfs in cold winter swell alongside many men her age, she sees fewer and fewer older women. Isn’t the outdoors a vital elixir? Shouldn’t adventure be something we pursue as we age? Caroline grew up in Connecticut, graduated from Stanford University and originally planned to be a documentary filmmaker. In her adult life, Caroline has been an extremely active athlete: she's not only been a white-water raft guide and a private pilot, but also has competed in the U.S. Nationals for the sport of Luge, mountain-biked in such places as China and Vietnam, flown her para-glider in Brazil, sea-kayaked in Alaska, and skied the back country of Denali and the Sierras. One of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Department, Caroline wrote the book, "Fighting Fire", about her experiences as a firefighter; this book was published, to great acclaim, in 1998. Caroline is also the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure" and "Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology", which has been translated into fifteen languages, the middle-grade book "You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World", and the novel "East Wind, Rain". Her TED Talk, “To Raise Brave Girls, Encourage Adventure,” has been viewed over 2 million times. A longtime member of the Writers Grotto, she lives in San Francisco. ________________________ For More on Caroline Paul  Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives As We Age carolinepaul.com ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Joy of Movement – Kelly McGonigal The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer Growing Old, Staying Rad – Steven Kotler The Power of Fun – Catherine Price ________________________ Mentioned in This Episode https://www.retirementwisdom.com/podcasts/breaking-the-age-code-dr-becca-levy/ Caroline Paul on The Tim Ferris Show (2016) ________________________ Wise Quotes On Outdoor Adventure "Everything about outdoor adventure hits all the pillars that we need for fulfilling aging and - all in one fell swoop. So I realized during the research of this book that we need to have community as we age. We need to have purpose as we age. We need to have novelty. And of course there's health. And then the final one, which is lesser known, is the positive mindset about our own aging. And if you go outside you actually in one fell swoop hit all of those." On Awe "There was adrenaline, but that wasn't the actual experience. And what I found was that what I was experiencing was awe. And by the time I handed in my book in there had been other books about it, but I did not know much about it at all when I was writing it. And I realized that awe is what you experience in the face of something bigger than you. And it's mostly considered a religious word most of the time, but we're bringing it more into our vocabulary. But all is something obviously that the outdoors often inspires and turns out it's really good for you.

Join us in our next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program. _________________________ Today's Building Block: Personal Growth If you're planning for retirement, you're well-versed in figuring out how to balance work and life. You may be tempted to think you won't need to worry about that once you retire. But not so fast. If you're planning an active retirement, you'll need to be thoughtful in balancing the different domains of life and creating harmony among them. Several practices from Stew Friedman's Total Leadership model can help you be  intentional about your next phase of life. Start with Stew Friedman's free tool at Total Leadership.org: Create Your Four Circles Picture Stew Friedman joins us from suburban Philadelphia. _________________________ Bio Stew Friedman, founder and CEO of Total Leadership, is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been on the faculty since 1984.  He worked for five years in the mental health field before earning his PhD from the University of Michigan.  As founding director of The Wharton Leadership Program, in 1991 he initiated the required MBA and Undergraduate leadership courses.  He also founded Wharton’s Work/Life Integration Project in 1991.  Friedman has been recognized by the biennial Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers every cycle since 2011 and was honored with its 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award as the world’s foremost expert in the field of talent. He was listed among HR Magazine’s most influential thought leaders, chosen by Working Mother as one of America’s most influential men who have made life better for working parents, and presented with the Families and Work Institute’s Work Life Legacy Award. While on leave from Wharton for two-and-a-half years, Friedman ran a 50-person department as the senior executive for leadership development at Ford Motor Company. In partnership with the CEO, he launched a corporate-wide portfolio of initiatives designed to transform Ford’s culture; 2500+ managers per year participated.  Near the end of his tenure at Ford, an independent research group (ICEDR) said the LDC was a “global benchmark” for leadership development programs.  At Ford, he created Total Leadership, which has been a popular Wharton course since 2001 and is used by individuals and companies worldwide, including as a primary intervention in a multi-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health on improving the careers and lives of women in medicine and by 135,000+ students in Friedman’s first MOOC on Coursera.  Participants in this program complete an intensive series of challenging exercises that increase their leadership capacity, performance, and well-being in all parts of life, while working in high-involvement peer-to-peer coaching relationships. His research is widely cited, including among Harvard Business Review‘s “Ideas that Shaped Management,” and he has written two bestselling books, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life (2008) and Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life (2014), now being taught as a MOOC on Coursera. His third Harvard Business Press book was Parents Who Lead: The Leadership Approach You Need to Parent with Purpose, Fuel Your Career, and Create a Richer Life (2020). In 2024, The Wharton School Press published a new edition of his landmark study of two generations of Wharton students, Baby Bust, 10th Anniversary Edition: New Choices for Men and Women in Work and Family.  Work and Family – Allies or Enemies? (2000) was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the field’s best books.  In Integrating Work and Life: The Wharton Resource Guide (1998) Stew edited the first collection of learning tools for building leadership skills for integrating work and life. Winner of many teaching awards, he appears regularly in business media (The New York Times cited the “rock star adorati...

Let's delve into one of your most important and longest running relationships - your relationship with food. Like all relationships, it's emotional. Dr. Jud Brewer joins us to discuss his new book The Hunger Habit:Why We Eat When We're Not Hungry and How to Stop. He shares how to practice mindfulness, replace judgment with curiosity, change your habits and cultivate a healthier relationship with food. Dr. Jud Brewer joins us from Rhode Island. _________________________ Bio Jud Brewer, MD, Ph.D. (“Dr. Jud”) is a New York Times best-selling author and thought leader in the field of habit change and the “science of self-mastery,” who blends over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. He is passionate about understanding how our brains work, and how to use that knowledge to help people make deep, permanent change in their lives — with the goal of reducing suffering in the world at large. Dr. Jud is the director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, where he also serves as an associate professor in Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health and Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University. Additionally, he is the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare, the digital health company helping people manage all their health in one place, and a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, Dr. Jud held research and teaching positions at Yale University and the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness. Read more about his research. As a psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for treating addictions, Dr. Jud has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for anxiety, emotional eating, and smoking (Unwinding Anxiety, Eat Right Now and Craving to Quit). Based on the success of these programs in the lab, he co-founded MindSciences, Inc. to create app-based digital therapeutic versions of these programs for a wider audience, working with individuals, corporations, and health systems to put effective, evidence-based behavior change guidance in the hands of people struggling with unwanted behaviors and “everyday addictions.” Sharecare, Inc. acquired MindSciences in 2020. Dr. Jud has also studied the underlying neural mechanisms of mindfulness using standard and real-time fMRI and EEG neurofeedback, adding to the understanding of the brain’s “Default Mode Network” and the role of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in self-referential thinking.  He regularly gives talks on the intersection of modern science and ancient meditative practices, helping to expose a modern audience to specific techniques and insights first discovered 2,500 years ago. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, trained US Olympic athletes and coaches, foreign government ministers and corporate leaders. His work has been featured on 60 Minutes, TED, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, TIME, The Washington Post, Forbes, CNN, BBC, NPR, and more. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association, among others. In addition to The Hunger Habit: Why We Eat When We're Not Hungry and How to Stop, he is the author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love, Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017) and the New York Times best-seller, Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind (Avery/Penguin Random House, 2021). Dr. Jud and his wife Mahri live in Massachusetts where they enjoy biking, hiking, and meditating with their cats, Samson, Ananda and Julian of Norwich. ______________________ For More on Dr. Jud Brewer The Hunger Habit:Why We Eat When We're Not Hungry and How...

You’ll need more than a vision for a great retirement. Early Registration for our 2nd Design Your New Life in Retirement small group program of 2024 is now open. Starts on April 26th. Join us _________________________ Today Building Blocks: Wellness and Work Is there something you love to do that could help others? Harry King, 81, found a way to return to work part-time doing something he loves - helping others get fit. ________________________ Retiring? See our Best Books on Retirement here _________________________ For More on Harry King This 81-year-old fitness trainer rejoined the workforce after retirement: ‘We can do more than most people think we can do’ See Harry King & Team in Action on Good Morning America _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Joy of Movement – Kelly McGonigal How to Get Stronger After 50 – Dave Durell The Unretirement Life – Richard Eisenberg ___________________________ Wise Quotes On Purpose "You've got to have a sense of purpose to get up every day. That's important. If you can't define that, you're going to waste some valuable years. Our later years we can do so much and achieve so much and enjoy life so much. Look for things that you enjoy doing. Look for the things that affect you emotionally and define that purpose. Look for it and find it. What do you want to achieve? What can you do to make the world a better place? And do it. If you can get paid for it, that's great. If you do it as a volunteer, that's great too." On Challenge "We need to challenge ourselves on a regular basis. Let's not be complacent with our lives. There's so much out there, so much a life we have to live. And the more we challenge ourselves, those mountains we climb, not Everest, but the other mountains we have in front of us that we can climb, that make us stronger. Tthat makes us enjoy the victories and helps us enjoy the victories. We've got to pursue those things. That's my philosophy." On Working in Later Life "Just because we're aging doesn't mean we can't do different jobs. Today, we age a whole lot stronger. I started to say slower, but our mental capacity is stronger. I think for the most part, we're smarter. I think we're stronger physically, or we can be, and we should be. We're living longer, obviously, so let's give us a chance to be productive as we age. Help that employer...be willing to take a chance on that older guy." ____________________________ About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

You'll need more than a vision for a great retirement. Early Registration for our 2nd Design Your New Life in Retirement small group program of 2024 is now open. Starts on April 26th. Join us  ______________________ Who can benefit from your life story? What do you want your children and grandchildren to remember about you? The concept of legacy is being redefined and goes beyond financial assets to value hard earned life lessons and wisdom. Dr. Jandi Kelly, of A Talk to Remember, shares her insights on life purpose and ways to share your life story and wisdom across generations. Dr. Jandi Kelly joins us from Bend, Oregon. ________________________ Bio Dr. Jandi Kelly is the founder of A Talk to Remember, a boutique production company that helps families and organizations capture their legacies in documentary films and oral history projects. For the past fifteen years, Jandi has worked as a university researcher, instructor, and administrator at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan and her academic scholarship focuses on the topics of teaching and learning, life purpose, and identity development. Her research has been featured in The Journal of Higher Education and other publications. Jandi and her family live in Bend, Oregon, where she serves on the board of trustees for an independent K-12 experiential learning school. ________________________ For More on Dr. Jandi Kelly A Talk to Remember  ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like A Round of Golf with My Father – William Damon The Vintage Years – Dr. Francine Toder The New Age of Aging – Maddy Dychtwald Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD _________________________ Wise Quotes On Life Purpose "...it's helpful to actually define what we mean by life purpose...One of the definitions that I really appreciate is how our talents that we enjoy using intersect with the need in the world or our community that we find to be personally meaningful. And what I really like about that definition is that unlike some specific personal goals that we may have, it extends beyond aims of personal meaning to a desire that we want to make a difference in the world. And so therefore, it's self transcendent in nature. What the research demonstrates is that having a sense of purpose is associated with a host of benefits across the lifespan as well as later in life. When we think about how life purpose can be beneficial throughout our lives, one of the most overarching benefits is that it really helps us live with greater intentionality in how we spend our days and to remain true to ourselves while benefiting the greater good. And so, in a way, we can think about purpose as a guide that takes us in the right direction. And I know that you had one of your earlier conversations was with Bill Damon out of Stanford, the renowned developmental psychologist, and he likens purpose to an ultimate concern or a final answer to the question of why. So why am I doing this? Why am I striving to accomplish this end? And in that way, purpose is the reason behind our immediate goals, and it's a motive that drives most of our daily behaviors." On Storytelling  "...when we think about the contributions that we want to make through our stories, we not only have an ability to really impact youth when it comes to the wisdom that we're passing on, but we also see as we tell our stories that our lives have purpose....And with that, when we think about the stories that we have and when we are afforded time, especially later in life, to really do an inventory of our life, we have an ability to carry our life lessons and experiences with us. And not only do we bring them with us, but they provide a rich opportunity for learning about how we might want to build a rewarding future and repeat some of the things that worked well i...

Early Registration for our 2nd Design Your New Life in Retirement small group program of 2024 is now open ________________________ Aging in place? Downsizing? Decluttering? Moving? These topics can give pause to those of us of a certain age. Syndicated columnist and author Marni Jameson reframes those terms with an alternative choice: rightsizing. So forget downsizing. Instead focus on what is the right size home for your lifestyle going forward. And Marni Jameson expands the menu of options to include upsizing, same-sizing and bright-sizing as you consider where to live next. Marni Jameson joins us from Florida. _________________________ Bio Marni Jameson is the author of Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow: A Motivational Guide for Those Seeking Their Ideal Home Later in Life. Marni is a nationally syndicated home-design columnist, award-winning journalist, speaker, and frequent TV guest. Her humorous and helpful column, “At Home with Marni Jameson,” appears weekly in two dozen papers nationwide, reaching several million readers and more through social media and her blog. Her fans include readers who have been following the author’s home adventures for two decades. She has been featured on such primetime shows as NBC Nightly News and Martha Stewart Living. As one reviewer wrote, “Think Erma Bombeck meets Rachael Ray in one humble yet helpful package.” She is the author of seven books, including Downsizing the Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go, a #1 Amazon bestseller that won numerous awards. _________________________ For More on Marni Jameson Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow: A Motivational Guide for Those Seeking Their Ideal Home Later in Life by Marni Jameson At Home with Marni Jameson _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff – Matt Paxton Where to Retire – Silvia Ascarelli Where Will You Live Next? – Ryan Frederick Thriving in Place – Lisa Cini _________________________ Retiring soon? Visit our recommended Best Books on Retirement ____________________ Wise Quotes On Rightsizing "It's really about what do you need in your life going forward. I like to define right-sizing as moving to or creating a home that is the perfect physical, emotional, social and financial fit. So I think about four puzzle pieces, the physical...the emotional... the social and  it's got to be financially comfortable for you, obviously, or that's not going to work. So all that has to click. What happens is that people get to the sort of freedom threshold, their late fifties, early sixties where they are no longer commuting to a job. They may have bought the house they live in because it was near their work or near their kids' schools or the schools they wanted their kids to attend. And fast forward 20, 30 years we're about where you are and the kids are out of the house. The schools don't really matter to you anymore or at all, and you are working remotely or you're retired or you're planning to retire or you can work from anywhere. And so why are you living in this house that has five bedrooms and you still have your kids' Cub Scout uniforms in the attic? I mean, this is nuts. So really start envisioning what would you do. What would it look like? What would your house be like? Do you want more bedrooms so you can have the grandkids stay with you? Do you want fewer because nobody's coming anymore? You want to lock and go travel?" On Challenges in Rightsizing "The biggest obstacles I hear people have are it's just too much trouble. I have too much furniture, or there are too many memories here. And this sort of complacency kicks in this inertia and people get weighed down by stuff. It makes me sad that their stuff would be preventing them from living their best life in the best place for them. But you look to a point, you need to learn how to let go and just keep evolving and stop living in the...

Today's Building Blocks: Lifelong Learning & Fun - Are you ready to age adventurously? If you're making plans to travel this year, why not combine it with a learning adventure? Road Scholar is a not-for-profit organization providing educational travel programs primarily geared toward older adults with an impressive range of options to explore the world. Kelsey Knoedler Perri and Kerry Bennett join us to discuss how Road Scholar can help you combine travel, learning and fun in 2024. _________________________ Retiring? See our Best Books on Retirement _________________________ Bios Kelsey Knoedler Perri is the Public Relations Director at Road Scholar, the nonprofit world leader in educational travel for older adults. She has worked in travel and tourism throughout her career and has been with Road Scholar since 2016. There she has developed her skills in and knowledge of communicating with and marketing to adults over 50 who #AgeAdventurously. She has special expertise in digital communications, social media, and public relations. She holds an MFA in creative writing and lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Kerry Bennett is a retired marketing professional from Northern Arizona University who lives in Flagstaff, AZ. Since retiring, she has become an avid traveler, volunteer, and lifelong learner. She has been on seven learning adventures around the world with Road Scholar, including her most recent: a service program on Chincoteague Island, Virginia. She also volunteers for Road Scholar as an Ambassador, helping spread the word about the organization’s mission through in-person presentations and events. __________________________ For More on Road Scholar Website ___________________________ Mentioned in this Podcast Episode Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller ___________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Learning is a Lifetime Sport – Tom Vanderbilt The Power of Fun – Catherine Price Lifelong Learning - Michelle Weise The Fun Habit – Mike Rucker, PhD _________________________ Wise Quotes On Learning Adventures "Our mission always has been and always will be education. So everything we do is about learning. But now our programs are more a mix of classroom learning and experiential learning. So not just lectures in a lecture hall, you're staying in a hotel room, you're not staying in a dorm anymore, which is nice. And so we've evolved into being more of an educational travel organization...When you travel with Road Scholar, you're really getting what you pay for and you're going to be there to learn. You're not there to sit on a beach and read a book or to go shopping. You're there to learn. And that's really what it comes down to. But we also offer financial aid. We offer caregiver grants for full-time, family caregivers. We have a scholarship for retired educators. So that's also part of our whole nonprofit thing." On Solo Travelers "30% of our travelers each year go solo. We have seen that trending upwards. We've seen more solo travelers in general over the past 10 years and 80% of those solo travelers are women. [We] see a mix of couples, solo travelers, friends who are traveling with other friends, siblings traveling together, parents with their adult children, also people who came as solo travelers on a pass trip and then they met somebody on a trip and then they went a trip together again.And I started to hear more anecdotally that there were a lot of married women who were traveling with us without their husbands. And I just thought that was really interesting. So I want[ed] to get down to some actual data on that. So I did a study and we looked at both data that we had in our system as well as doing a survey. And what we found was that at least 60% of our solo travelers are married people who travel without their spouse on World Scholar programs. I was really surprised by that. It was more than even I expected.

Today's Building Block: Work (yes, work...) What makes transitions so hard to navigate? Herminia Ibarra, a thought leader on leadership and career development and author of Working Identity, shares her insights on creating new options as you prepare for your transition to retirement. Herminia Ibarra joins us from London. ________________________ Comments? Leave a voice message here _________________________ Bio Herminia Ibarra is the Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. Prior to joining LBS, she served on the INSEAD and Harvard Business School faculties. An authority on leadership and career development, Thinkers 50 ranks Herminia among the top management thinkers in the world. She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, a judge for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, a Fellow of the British Academy, and the 2018 recipient of the Academy of Management’s Scholar-Practitioner Award for her research’s contribution to management practice. Herminia is a member of the London Business School governing body. She chaired the Harvard Business School Visiting Committee, which reports to the university’s board of overseers, from 2012 to 2016, having been a member since 2009, and served on the INSEAD board of directors. A native of Cuba, Herminia received her MA and PhD from Yale University, where she was a National Science Fellow. --- A second and updated edition of her groundbreaking book Working Identity was recently published by Harvard Business Review Press. Whether as a daydream or a spoken desire, nearly all of us have entertained the notion of reinventing ourselves. Feeling unfulfilled, burned out, or just plain unhappy with what we’re doing, we long to make that leap into the unknown. In this powerful book, Herminia presents a new model for career reinvention that flies in the face of everything we’ve learned from ‘career experts’. While common wisdom holds that we must first know what we want to do before we can act, Ibarra argues that this advice is backward. Knowing, she says, is the result of doing and experimenting. Based on her in-depth research on professionals and managers in transition, Ibarra outlines an active process of career reinvention that leverages three ways of ‘working identity’: experimenting with new professional activities, interacting in new networks of people, and making sense of what is happening to us in light of emerging possibilities. Through engrossing stories, Ibarra reveals a set of guidelines that all successful reinventions share. She explores specific ways that hopeful career changers of any background can. A call to the dreamer in each of us, Working Identity explores the process for crafting a more fulfilling future. ________________________ For More on Herminia Ibarra Website Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra Articles ________________________ Check out our Best Books on Retirement ________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode The HBR Guide to Designing Your Retirement ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Portfolio Life - Christina Wallace Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott Retire Happy - Dr. Catherine Sanderson Why Retirement is About Much More Than Money – Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland _________________________ Wise Quotes On Transitions "Transitions necessarily imply a loss of a sense of identity, a loss of something that has been meaningful and valuable. You're moving away from someone you've been, but the future you isn't clear yet, or the future destination or the next role isn't clear yet. So you're kind of hanging in limbo and that's very uncomfortable. We live in a world in which certainty is valued, know who you are and the nature of this process and part of what makes it productive is questioning who you are, but that's necessarily uncomfortable.

Feedback or suggestions for this retirement podcast? Leave a voice message here Today's Building Block: Wellness What does an emotionally intelligent retirement look like? In this 4th edition of the Retirement Roundtable, two of our favorite previous guests, Kate Schroeder & Nick Wignall, return to discuss the questions to ask yourself now to be well prepared for the emotional aspects of the transition to retirement. ________________________ Bios Kate Schroeder is a psychotherapist in private practice. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and owner of Transformation Counseling, LLC. With over 25 years in the mental health field, her clinical background includes experience as a school counselor, mental health therapist in an urban university’s counseling center, individual, couples, group, and family therapist, and clinical researcher. Within these settings, Kate has provided individual, group and family counseling for clients experiencing difficulties in areas including depression and anxiety, adjustment and transitional concerns, C-PTSD, acculturation and multicultural issues, family and childhood conflicts, interpersonal relationships, grief and trauma, eating disorders, LGBTQ issues, self-efficacy, career exploration and various other interpersonal conflicts. Kate also holds certification as a massage therapist, physical trainer and physical education teacher. In addition to her private practice, she also teaches graduate courses to counselors in training. Kate joins us again from St Louis. Nick Wignall is a licensed clinical psychologist who is Board-certified in behavioral and cognitive psychology. He’s the founder of the popular newsletter, The Friendly Mind, with practical, evidence-based advice for emotional health and wellbeing. The newsletter is read by 50,000+ people each week and his writing has been featured in media outlets like NBC, Business Insider, Inc Magazine, Aeon and Medium. Nick is the author of Find Your Therapy: A Practical Guide to Finding Quality Therapy, .a guide to learning about the most important factors in choosing a therapist and how to go about finding a good one, either for yourself or someone you love. He did his doctoral training in clinical psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, including research in human genetics and psychopharmacology. Prior to that, Nick earned his Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s in English Literature from the University of Dallas. Nick joins us again form Albuquerque, New Mexico. _________________________ For More on Kate Schroder & Nick Wignall Kate Schroeder Nick Wignall First Visits to the Podcast: The Emotional Side of Retiring – Kate Schroeder Coping Strategies & Moving Forward – Nick Wignall & Verla Fortier __________________________ Retiring? Check our recommendations on the Best Books About Retirement __________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode Source: Our World in Data Who do we spend time with across our lifetime? ____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Self-Healing Mind – Gregory Scott Brown, M.D. The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace Chatter & Your Inner Voice – Ethan Kross Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta ____________________________ Other Retirement Roundtable podcast episodes Michelle Pannor Silver Ted Kaufman, and Bruce Hiland Fritz Gilbert, Dr. Barbara O’Neill, and Mark Shaiken Melissa Davey, Richard Haiduck and Thelma Reese ____________________________ Wise Quotes from This Retirement Roundtable On Exploring Who You Are "So much research out there now shows that adjusting to retirement has its own set of difficulty and challenges for many, many people, especially for a lot of people who've identified a lot with their work and they've gotten a lot of accolades and self-este...

Retirement offers a great opportunity to reset. It opens up new possibilities with resources to do what you've always wanted to do. But how do you approach it?  Christina Wallace, author of The Portfolio Life, knows how business frameworks can be used to design the life you want. For example, you likely have a diversified financial portfolio. It’s time to build a diversified life. Christina Wallace joins us from Cambridge, Massachusetts. _________________________ Bio A self-described “human Venn diagram” Christina Wallace has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School where she is co-course head for The Entrepreneurial Manager, teaches Launching Tech Ventures, and leads the MBA Startup Bootcamp immersion program. Her latest book, The Portfolio Life, was published by Hachette in 2023. Previously, Christina was vice president of growth at Bionic, an innovation consulting firm that builds startups inside large enterprises. Prior to joining Bionic, Christina founded BridgeUp: STEM, an edtech startup inside the American Museum of Natural History, was the founding director of Startup Institute New York, and the co-founder and CEO of venture-backed fashion company Quincy Apparel. She was also, very briefly, a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and began her career at the Metropolitan Opera. Christina holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and theater studies from Emory University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is an active angel investor in early-stage tech startups as well as commercial theater productions on Broadway. She regularly speaks, writes, and consults on a wide range of topics, ranging from failure and resilience to corporate innovation, from K12 computer science education to her viral TED talk detailing her successful approach to hacking online dating. Mashable called her one of “44 Female Founders to Know” and Refinery29 named her one of the "Most Powerful Women in NYC Tech." She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Quartz, Elle, and Marie Claire among others. Christina is the co-author of New To Big: How Companies Can Create Like Entrepreneurs, Invest Like VCs, and Install a Permanent Operating System for Growth (April 2019, Penguin Random House). She also hosted The Limit Does Not Exist, an iHeartRadio podcast about portfolio careers that published 125 episodes over three seasons, garnering over 2 million downloads.  ______________________ For More on Christina Wallace The Portfolio Life Website _______________________ Check out our brief summaries of the Best Books on Retirement ______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Power of Reinvention – Joanne Lipman The Future You – Brian David Johnson A Tapas Life – Andy Robin _____________________ Wise Quotes Christina Wallace on a Portfolio Life in Retirement "I think retirement, certainly as I've seen it with my mother-in-law, my friends' parents, as they're all going through this transition, they're not like leaving the world. They're just leaving that one thing that has been their big focus and has been their identity crucially for a really long time. And so it can be hard in that transition because not only have you lost the routine of what do I do with my day, you've also lost the community of here's who I talk to on a regular basis - and then you've lost this identity. How do I describe myself? Who am I when I get out of bed? And as terrifying as it is to go through that transition and losing all three things at the same time, it's a huge opportunity because for so many people at that cusp of retirement, they're thinking, I'm not dead yet. I've got a whole life ahead of me. I still have something to offer. And very likely,