Thinking About Retirement?: Think Again!

By Barbara B. Hildner

This is a practical guide to help mid-life and older adults evaluate their present status and explore life options. By means of a specific, step-by-step easily read style, individuals are guided in evaluating their assets and present status, exploring alternatives, setting goals and implementing specific job search, business, volunteer or other retirement strategies. New thinking is needed to assist men and women at midlife and beyond in dealing with new realities. The timelines of this book are clear and will provide the catalyst to get individuals started in thinking about their futures, and assist in establishing and realizing their goals. Interspersed with case histories presenting situations to which the reader can identify, the book should appeal to all those at a certain stage in life seeking a career challenge regardless of their occupational and educational skill level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9780883912935

Barbara B. Hildner

Author Barbara B. Hildner has years of experience in counseling, teaching, retirement planning and presenting workshops, which makes her an authority on employment opportunities for adults in mid-life and later. Hildner has developed programs for respected organizations in Kansas City including the Rehabilitation Institute, Hallmark Cards, Inc. and the Metropolitan Community Colleges on a wide variety of matters related to employment and retirement strategies for midlife and beyond. An article describing one of Hildner’s programs was published in the Journal of Rehabilitation. Hildner holds a Bachelor of Arts and master’s degree in psychology and is an educational specialist in counseling education with specialization in gerontology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Book preview

Acknowledgment

Many people and experiences over the years have influenced the knowledge and techniques I have developed that culminated in this book. As Supervisor of Testing at Washington State College, I was given the opportunity by Dr. Harold Pepinsky, Director of Counseling Services to develop my knowledge and skills in testing and evaluation. Mrs. Olive Banister, Director of Vocational Guidance and Rehabilitation Services in Cleveland, Ohio provided me the opportunity to develop in the areas of vocational counseling and vocational evaluation. Her colleague, Mrs. Vivian Shepard, Director of the Rehabilitation Institute in Kansas City, Missouri and later, George Gutknecht as Director, gave me the opportunity to hone my skills in the vocational evaluation, counseling, and rehabilitation of disabled persons

I am especially grateful to John Parker who, as Director of Vocational and Psychological Services at the Rehabilitation Institute, provided me with the support and feedback to create a new group program for those who were receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, the Groe (Group Orientation and Evaluation) program.

Howard Weiss, Director of Jewish Vocational Services provided me the opportunity to develop and implement a retirement planning group program and helped arrange for me to present that program at Hallmark, Inc.

Dr. Zelema Harris, President of Pioneer Community College, one of the Metropolitan Community Colleges, and Ashley Johnson, Dean of Educational Services at Pioneer provided the support for me to generate new programs for mature adults. They encouraged me to write grants and establish programs including Self Discovery Through the Humanities, a Senior Center Humanities Program of the National Council on the Aging, Inc. Later they made it possible for me to write a grant for the creation and organization of the 55+ Older Worker Program that directly contributed to this book.

Many thanks also to Jack Bitzenburg, former Dean of Continuing Education at Pioneer and President of MCC’s Business and Technology College for allowing me the flexibility to develop the Older Worker program into an award winning job search skills workshop.

And finally, I am most grateful for the competent editing of Natalie Jaffe, who helped to enhance the book’s easy readability and provided a great deal of support.

Preface

My years of experience counseling, teaching, and presenting workshops and classes in personal and vocational counseling have provided the foundation for this book. While in the process of creating and implementing a job search assistance program for midlife and older adults, I found that there was no appropriate resource available with detailed information for my participants to use as a quick reference guide. I found it necessary to put together my own handouts—forms, self-assessment aids, and techniques for career exploration, decision-making, job search strategies, and goal setting.

I then realized that such a guide would be useful for all persons at midlife and beyond who may want to take stock of their lives and are wondering about what to do in the next phase. Whether retired or not, they may be concerned about their financial futures, or want more meaningful and fulfilling lives. The redefinition of retirement continues to evolve, but in this changing face of retirement, there has been a lack of clearly defined workable and appealing roles, opportunities and assistance to those at midlife and beyond in setting their goals and implementing them.

Therefore, the decision to put these materials into book or guide form came into being. The book has been divided into two parts. Part I, Goal Exploration, leads the reader on a journey of self-discovery and life planning. Readers begin by evaluating the status of their basic needs including health, finances, relationships and self-esteem. They are then guided in assessing their abilities, interests, achievements, and personal qualities. Part II, Employment Strategies, spells out specific steps in implementing the reader’s goals that may include employment, volunteerism, continued education, self-employment, or traditional retirement. This format enables the reader to select the information that is most useful and helpful.

PART I

Goal Exploration

Employment Changes

Lifespan Changes

Are you working, unemployed, retired or have little work experience outside your home? Are you worried about the future of your job? Have you been retired for a while? Have you ever felt boxed in and wanted out?

You now have the opportunity to break out instead of being trapped in one of these cubbyholes–of education, work, or retirement leisure- -and experience a balance of all three at every period of your life. Your goal can be lifelong learning, lifelong work, and lifelong leisure.

The old patterns or boxes of life¹ were accepted as the norm for years because:

   Education was reserved for young people. Most adults were thought to be not capable of or interested in learning new skills or gaining new knowledge. The idea of lifelong learning and retraining workers had yet to be accepted.

   Work usually involved long hours, many in physically demanding jobs with little time for leisure activities. Additional education was rare.

   Retirement became more achievable in 1935 when the Social Security Act became law and more companies began offering pensions. Then it became financially possible for workers to look forward to leisure and a comfortable retirement in their remaining years.

The breaking down, merging, and overlapping of these confining boxes has occurred mostly out of practical financial necessity, but also from the desire for a more balanced, productive, and fulfilling life, one in which learning, work, and leisure are all lifelong. Some of the reasons for these changes are - - - -

  College students have found it financially necessary or beneficial for their personal growth to leave school for a while, work, or volunteer perhaps in their chosen major, then return to school with renewed vigor.

  Midlife and older adults have been taking courses part time to up grade their skills or enrich their lives.

  Employees have found it necessary, particularly as a result of layoffs, to seek further education and training to qualify for technically more demanding jobs.

  Retirees have found, in many cases, that they needed to return to at least part-time work to supplement their retirement income. They grew tired of a life of only leisure and wanted to feel productive again either through starting their own business or seeking paid or unpaid (volunteer) employment.

  Economists have proposed that people move in and out of the workforce, helping to prevent job burnout and to encourage postponement of retirement². Some changes already are occurring, and people are beginning to take advantage of such employment opportunities as job sharing, flexible scheduling, sabbatical leaves for study, maternity leave, or special projects.

Population Changes

   Average life expectancy in the U.S. has been increasing since the early 1900’s and continues to do so. In 1900, life expectancy was nearly 49 years, in 1940, 64 years, and in 2010, 78³.

   According to the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, a protected older worker was considered to be 40 years and over. This seems amazing today as our life expectancy continues to increase. But mandatory retirement is now illegal, with a few exceptions. Employers may however, coordinate retiree health benefits with Medicare.

   With the average age of our population moving upward, an increasing number of working people will