A 53 year old was just forced to retire from AT&T. He wants to work with Bonnie CLAC and do something meaningful in life.  The financial crisis might present the social sector with opportunities for new talent. 

Robert Chambers
President
Bonnie CLAC
www.bonnieclac.org

Yes, we are going through a crisis in the financial sector.  And yes, it may have profound impacts on a large number of institutions and individuals for years to come.  However, what we are really talking about here is change.

Change is a constant.  We either move forward, or we move back – there is never true stability in the workforce or marketplace, just more or less change affecting us directly as individuals at any given time.

What that means to me, is that now is the time for innovation, improvement, and reinvention – in our economy, in our businesses, and most importantly, in ourselves.  We must ask ourselves these questions, "What is the most appropriate response to these economic troubles?  What is MY response?"  

Some folks will respond by taking their money out of perfectly safe, FDIC insured bank accounts, sticking it in their mattress, and hoping for the best.  Warren Buffet is responding by investing billions.  Politicians will respond by making speeches, passing legislation, and moving tremendous amounts of capital around.   

Some people will move towards this flow of money, others away from it.  What is important to remember is that our response is a choice.

I hope that many people will take Terry’s advice and see this crisis for the wake up call that it is.  Challenging economic times don’t create the need for change, they reveal it…

This is the theme of the Sept-Oct issue of Networking Times, which includes an interview with Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author of Age Wave and Executive Producer of The Boomer Century.  Every article in this issue resonated with me, especially after spending a weekend in Los Angeles at Larry Benet’s Connection Mastery Event, which brought together entrepreneurs who are all about "doing well AND doing good".  There are no age limits to what can be offered via the internet, and lifelong learners with experience, knowledge and relationship skills can work from anywhere, regardless of age.  Case in point:  Ken Varga, who perfected the art of customer creation and retention is now helping others translate this into success via the internet.  It is an exciting time for those of us who are eager to learn new ways of doing things!

For those either already in retirement or facing retirement, these ‘circumstances’ do not HAVE to be viewed as a crisis.  Instead you can choose to see them as an opportunity.

 What the news isn’t talking about is how many people are having their most profitable years EVER.... There are no mentions of how people are driving more traffic to their websites than ever before… And there are no mentions of people spending fortunes to attend marketing events around the world, take their families on vacations, and are truly living the life of their dreams. 

Why isn’t the media talking about these people? 

And more importantly, why aren’t you one of these people who have completely recession-proofed your life and businesses?

There are more opportunities than ever before for people, especially the generally well educated and grounded retiree to create 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th order income sources which leverage current events to their favor.

The key to seeing this is in breaking free from the stifling structures that got you into this problem to begin with. 

The idea that people should work longer doing what they have always done, funneling more money into relatively valueless 401k plans (which have clearly failed to deliver the security intended) is a clear illustration of that old adage:

"Keep doing what you have always done and you will keep on getting what you have always got"

or worse

"Doing the same thing over and over and over again expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity".

If you take a hard honest unemotional look at what was being expect of the financial markets you can see how crazy the expectation really was.   When retirement savings only need to last 5 to 10 years the odds were reasonably good that economic conditions would not fluctuate so radically as to create the kind of hardship being reported. 

But when that need gets expanded to 30 or even 40 years, the odds diminish rapidly. 

I mean really, that is almost 25% of the age of this country.  What else has remainded stable and unchanged in that amount of time?

In my opinion, as a boomer with nearly 4 decades of business building success, the breakthrough strategy is to divorce yourself from dependence on the infrastructure that has led to this debilitating disappointment. 

Rather than seeing your only option as being relegated to ‘going back to work, or working longer doing more of the same’, find ways to use your unique knowledge, skills, and talents to create new opportunities for yourself. 

This generation of retirees has more to offer in terms of knowledge, wisdom, and talent than any other at any time in history.  It is my opinion that the very reason we are in this ‘crisis’ is to stimulate and catalyze this profound shift in attitudes within the most influential generation in history.

This does NOT have to translate to more years of unfulfilling labor and sacrifice. 

Instead, you can create something new, something stimulating and fun, something that ignites your passions and delivers the satisfying, accomplished, and successful life you have always intended.

 Whether on a full time, or part-time basis, the opportunity in this is for you to tap into your passions, and refocus your attention on the pursuit of purposeful life accomplishment…..expressly NOT relegated to the same old thing, just a little bit longer.

There is an interesting article about a gentlmen who love to fish.  He started a little fishing charter while completing he final few years of employment, retired and now earns a small fortune doing as much of what he loves as he likes – fishing

http://www.theperfectbizfinder.com/blog/murphys-law-for-fishing/

As I write this, the challenge that very likely comes up in you may sound like – “It’s too late for me to start a business” or “Business ownership is too risky” or something like that.  At one time this may have been so, but not anymore. 

These are the beliefs that sabotage your retirement dream.  They are sourced by experiences of the past, but they are not truths.

Let me encourage you NOT to fall victim to the crisis mode mind set.  Don’t believe you do not have choices.  You do.

 Steve Little:  ThePerfectBizFinderwww.theperfectbizfinder.com I’m standing for all that is possible for you in life and business.

We have always advocated for working longer at something fulfilling and meaningful, so our message is unchanged in the face of the current financial crisis.  That is not to deny the very real pain many of us are going through, or the deep problems in an economic system that rewards the well-off at the expense of the rest of us.  Our experience as Purpose Prize Fellows reminds us that the real wealth of this country is in the experience, knowledge and motivation of the NGO and nonprofit sectors.  We must keep on keeping on.  

It is affecting me in two ways:  1) I determined today to withdraw all my funds from everywhere except my credit union.  I believe there will be a banking collapse.

2) I have been working even more diligently at my encore career — criminal justice reform — and it is wonderful!

Brook

With the growing filings of bankruptcy for those 55+ (ARRP “ “Generations of Struggle” study 2008), good paying jobs being outsourced (State Department unwilling to release details), and San Diego (where I live) having 40% of jobs paying below a sustainable living wage whether renting or owning a residence, it is a real crisis! While I am outraged that taxpayer monies will be used to bailout Wall Street, I feel as helpless as others who share my opinion.

Those of us who reach their 60s in good health are likely to live another 30 or 40 years. The ongoing financial meltdown and current panic is going to upset many retirement plans, and require many to work beyond their traditional retirement years. Yet, the US labor market has been in a continued decline for almost the past decade. A further decline in Main Street will assuredly wreak havoc on those who need an encore career to avoid bankruptcy court. But where will those jobs come from? Certainly not from Wall Street where stocks rise when productivity is gained through the offshoring of jobs.

A post on the BullsEyeResumes blog makes the financial fallout seem like a favor to people who need a kick in the pants to begin thinking about an encore career. Marcia Robinson writes:

How many of us wish we could bail out of our own careers right now? How many of us would be devastated if we had to stay in our current job longer than planned? How many of us think our current work feels like a prison sentence and would stress significantly, if we knew we had to stay longer?

If you are considering exploring your career options and executing a personal career bailout you should know that the government will not – I repeat – will not, come to your rescue. No. Your successful career bailout from an unhappy workplace will have to come as a result of your own honest self evaluation; your own decision to no longer be shackled by work that paralyzes rather than excites and your courage to map a new journey for yourself.

As an eternal optimist, always thinking of possibilities, a tight economy or heaven forbid a layoff, could be the career awakening that many dissatisfied workers seek. It has worked for many people. This could be the time to reexamine not only one’s finances, but one’s life work and make a commitment to move towards more satisfying careers.

So, in addition to planning for life after layoff, we should also be thinking about life if we have to stay in our jobs longer than planned.