The Fatal Flaw

Traditional notions of retirement have evolved into something more. When people today talk of retiring, they are rarely speaking about retired living; they are usually speaking of emancipated living. They want to be free to pursue their goals, at their pace, and free to find a sense of balance in their lives.

Hundreds of personal interviews with professionals revealed two underlying problems:

1.  Many people are indulging in their every material whim with little or no regard for their future, because they see no point in waiting until they are old to enjoy themselves.

2. Many others are burning the proverbial candle at both ends in jobs or environments they hate in order to get enough money to someday cut the cord and do what they want.

Both of these scenarios lead to the fatal flaw in traditional retirement – that work and enjoyment are compartmentalized into separate stages of life. I found people who had solved the retirement riddle by doing something they enjoy, feeling no need to quit (only slow down) and wanting to balance their lives among family, career, labor and leisure. They discovered a New Retirement Story in which they had nothing to retire from. And, they found the life they once thought was reserved for retirement.