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A New Retirement Movement

MusingsReinventing, rewiring, revising... whatever you call it, Boomers are determined to change the definition of retirement. One obvious reason is the extended life expectancy of most Boomers; in some cases, people may live for decades after they stop working at their full-time jobs.

Sociologist Donald Miller, who will turn 70 this year, is a recently retired professor who calls himself a PIP -- a "Previously Important Person" who is looking forward to his new stage of life: "Purpose Without Pressure." Miller writes on NextAvenue.org: "Our generation will counter the image of 'old age' as one of decline and instead transform it into a stage of opportunity that will connect us with the idealism of the 1960s and ’70s. Our encore careers will take many forms: part-time employment for pay, volunteer work and all-engaging social entrepreneurialism. The encore period is one that will allow our inner desire for human wholeness and community to be realized."

Miller asks an interesting question: Is it time for us to invent rituals for retirement? "After all," writes Miller, "we have rituals for birth, puberty, marriage and other important life transitions. Why don’t we have rituals related to retirement that would launch us into what might be the most productive and meaning-filled period of our lives?"

I think Miller is on to something. We have reached the stage where retirement should be more of a beginning than an end. Read Miller's insightful article here

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