Some people want an encore career that combines combine income with personal meaning and also contributes to society. Others think that’s a pipe dream, and that simply making ends meet is going to be a challenge. And still others at the end of their midlife careers want nothing to do with work at all.

The Internet is abuzz with reactions to the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Career Survey, which found that an estimated 6 percent to 9.5 percent of Americans ages 44 to 70 are already working in encore careers. The survey also found that, among those people not already in encore careers, 50 percent said they want to have one.

What if 100,000 people launched 10-year Encore Careers? “That would mean one million years of service dedicated to areas like education, poverty and the environment,” say Marc Freedman and Phyllis Segal of Civic Ventures, in the introduction to the 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey.