Over-50

Retirement & Relocation - "Affordable" Can Mean High-Crime, Lousy Weather

The dream of retirement on the cheap is darkening.

As MarketWatch points out to "Mo" who writes in, living on $800 to $1,200 monthly can mean high crime and lousy weather. MarketWatch makes suggestions outside the U.S., ranging from Mazatlan, Mexico to Merida, Mexico. Factor in crime and heat.

I would add, within the U.S., cities in Ohio such as Youngstown and Toledo. In the latter, two police officers were fatally shot when doing their jobs. In both, you endure the brutal midwest winter. 

Since making it on peanuts is increasingly impossible - at least if you want to be safe and like the weather - an option is not to plan to retire. Instead, when your career is nearing its end, prepare to simply keep working for income. That could include any kind of work or training for jobs in demand. Your new direction could be it freelancing in what you used to do, taking on gig assignments and/or reskilling for long-distance truck driving or being a substance-abuse counselor.

According to the research by ProPublica, the odds are that you will be forced out of that good job - yes, because of age.  Also, if you do land another full-time job, it's unlikely to pay what your earlier job had. Only one in 10 match their former compensation.

The good news is that beyond the usual parameters of career paths, work is plentiful. That is, if you are willing to give up on status, high pay and security. Here is my bible on getting, holding and moving on to better work, at any age - a free read Download Outwitting ageism. In addition, reskilling can be low-cost online, at a trade school or at a community college. 

For instance, learning to drive a rig interstate can only represent an investment of $1,500. Often, though, it is about $7,000. Loans are available. If you receive financial aid that's free. Also some businesses will pick up the entire expense if you agree to drive for them for two years. 

If you are willing to embrace hustling, you have the option of aging-in-place. You don't relocate. Since you know the ins and outs of where you have been living it will be easier for you to find work or start a business. What you avoid having to do is the tough challenge of making new friends. It's documented that with aging it's difficult to acquire a new social network. The reality is that people's social circles rarely change after they are 30. 

Should you age-in-place there are myriad options to keep housing costs manageable. One is co-living or renting out rooms in your home. You recruit boarders who can pitch in with maintenance. Among the renters could be a landscaper and a plumber. Another option is to put yourself on the waiting list for subsidized senior housing. A third is to downsize to a studio apartment. Donate your furniture to charity. 

Back around 2014, some media outlets were gushing about older Americans living in Ecuador for only $700 a month. It was also possible for retirees to participate in the national healthcare system.

However, International Living now provides the cost breakdown for a couple at about more than $20,000 annually. In addition, there is the matter of crime. Non-natives are targeted. A third issue is the ability to adjust to a very different lifestyle. The strong pro about relocating to Ecuador, though, is that many expats start online businesses. 

Retiring used to be an event - analogous to graduating college or experiencing the birth of the first child. Now it is more and more a state of transition. That can be ongoing, extending for the rest of your life. 

A typical scenario: The career is losing traction or is already over. Since longevity could go on to over-100, the angst is about running out of money. There are more and more approaches to address that fear. In the process, you could land a solution which makes you a "late bloomer." The ways of earning income you try out could unleash talents you never had been aware you had. After all, traditional career paths can stuff you into a narrow box.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Broken Networks - Bob Dilenschneider Lost Larry King, Jack Welch and Roger Ailes

In business, whether we are legit professionals or gangsters, we are our networks.

Unfortunately, as we age, too many of key players on those networks die.

That's what has been happening to public relations representative Bob Dilenschneider. He had headed Hill + Knowlton Strategies. Then he launched his own firm The Dilenschneider Group, with offices in Manhattan and Chicago. Of course, his networks were golden. On them had been Larry King, Jack Welch and Roger Ailes. 

Those three have died. 

The double whammy is that death not only puts gigantic holes in a network. With aging, it's more difficult to find and nurture fresh contacts. 

Voids like that can make older players vulnerable to attack by upstart competitors. The now-dead members of the network had constituted a kind of moat, stocked with alligators, and the drawbridge pulled down. 

Takeaway: Treat your networks as assets subject to profound change.

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Creating Rental Property - Re-think that Source of Retirement/Semiretirement Income

"[Having rental property] ... is a calculation that requires careful analysis of the risks and rewards that come with being a landlord. Tax consequences, cash flow, management and maintenance costs, and, above all, the inevitable headaches that come with having renters. It all has to be put on the table and weighed." - Katy McLaughlin, The Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2021. 

The idea seems like such a good one. You're thinking of buying a smaller house and not selling the one you have. Instead, you will turn it into rental property. Or, you and perhaps a few others decide to pitch in together and buy up residential property for rentals. What a wonderful solution to the inevitable cashflow strain which comes with retirement/semiretirement.

However, as The Wall Street Journal warns, that source of income is fraught with risk as well as headaches. To put it simply, when rentals go well, it's easy money. When the property taxes surge, the furnace goes kaput or the deadbeat tenants won't move or destroy the property, there could be lots of money going down a black hole. In addition, factor in sleepless nights.

Yes, there are those who thrive financially as landlords. Usually, they have the infrastructure of knowledge of real estate, handypeople who can do the maintenance, affordable legal counsel, a reserve of funds for increased taxes and the social skills to manage difficult tenants. Frequently they come to own a number of properties. So, if one or even a few become problematic, the others which are producing revenues can compensate.

Rental property, of course, represents an investment. No investment is without risk.

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Aging & Haven't Made It Big Yet - Maybe You Don't Understand American Ethos of Success

Some people just got an instinct for success. 

Obviously, make-believe heiress Anna Sorokin aka Anna Devey is among them.

Sure, she wound up in prison for her attempted con of securing a multi-million-dollar loan and actually living the good life without paying the bill.

But in October she obtained parole and could be released next month. That will dovetail with the release of a Netflix film about her amazing life. For that she had been paid about one-hundred-thousand bucks. However, the law mandates the funds circle back to the victims she hoodwinked.

In the process of the Netflix undertaking, of course, she has strengthened her brandname. America, founded by a bunch of misfits who couldn't cut it in the old country, loves its outliers.

Her touch, this time on the legal side, will remain magic. The American Way is supposedly boyscoutish/girlscoutish. But the reality is that most who who made it big knew their way around the official rules. Those who stayed big did that within the parameters of the U.S. legal system - sometimes with the help of prominent lawyers.

Likely Sorokin has learned much about all that in a short time. Also, she has acquired the resources to operate within the system. Although born outside the United States, Sorokin had a deep understanding of its complex success ethos.

Of course, in prison she was no slouch when it came to creating a platform for her future. She launched a personal blog, reports Daily Mail. It's called "Anna Devey Diaries." That name, in itself, has become a powerful kind of trademark.  In it, she complains about the lack of luxury items such as gourmet salad dressing. Likely, when on the outside, she will start a podcast. Here is my article, published in Odwyerpr.com, on how that medium is doing in 2021 and how to make yours noticed.

It is never too late for the aging in America to shake off all the misleading success advice foisted on you since high school. For most of us, that kept us servants of the system. Not masters of it. 

It's not unthinkable that in time Sorokin could reimagine herself into a great philanthropist. Her legacy could be one of extreme service to humanity. That's also embedded into the American ethos of success. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

2021 v. 1967 - The New Eden

Some personally remember what could be thought of as "The Fire This Time."

In 1967, urban areas such as Detroit, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey went up in flames. The front lines of those uprisings were alleged to be people of color.

Currently, the insurrections are very different. Instead of fire, there are firearms and bombs. Instead of people of color there allegedly are those championing the white race. Likely more lives will be lost this time around than back in the late 1960s. In addition, there could be greater fear of society unraveling. The veneer of civilization becomes just that - clearly an illusion.

How well the guardians of civilization - law enforcement - can uphold that concept will be on trial during the transition in Administrations. That will be played out both in D.C. and in the states.

What could attract more interest is the saga of a modern-day hermit who turned his back on the nuisances and comforts of civilization. That had been Christopher Knight. His story is told in "The Stranger in the Woods" by Michael Finkel. In 1986, he entered the woods of Maine. Until he was discovered there in 2013, Knight got by without human companionship, a job, medical care or technology. At 133,490, the book remains a best-seller.

More of the wealthy are doing a less radical version of what Knight pulled off. They are pivoting out of sophisticated urban areas and putting together a lifestyle beyond the parameters of what had been considered The Good Life. The New Paradise is a large ranch in Wyoming. Telecommuting makes that more and more possible. 

I found my Eden in the small town on the border of Mexico: Sierra Vista, Arizona. My vehicle had been vandalized in Toledo, Ohio. During the 1967 riots my parents' car had been pelted with rocks. The local police station had been invaded. Fires raged on main streets. 

A liberal arts major (along with picking up advanced degrees in literature and language) I align with the world view of William Shakespeare. He saw mankind as "cankered in the grain." In his tragedies and history dramas he captured that dark side. 

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When the "Inner Voice" Hammers You about Aging

That "inner voice" has many nicknames.

Those range from The Inner Terrorist to The Harsh Critic. And, in aging, as we adjust to that stage of life, that phenomenon can impede our ability to get, hold and move on to better work. That monster of the mind can torment us with all the reasons those hiring us won't. Or if we are forced out of our current work situation, the monster assures us that we will never land another income-producing whatever.

In The Guardian, psychologist Ethan Kross explains how important it is develop a good relationship with that inner voice. Of course, that's not a piece of cake. Most relationships are difficult in themselves. And as they change they become even more challenging.

What I recommend to those over-50 who consult me about work is to listen to the voice. That's the first step. Find out what it is saying. Then do a message audit. What aspects of the statements are true? For example, The Harsh Critic warns you will never be hired because we look so fat and old. That may be a useful observation, delivered in an ugly manner. But it should not be ignored. Time has come to reimagine your appearance. Being attractive distracts attention from no longer being young. 

The next step is to learn to create an off-switch for the voice. If your assignment is over and you have no new ones in the pipeline, you probably lack the strength to absorb the negative. Tell yourself, you owe it to yourself to screen the messaging from within, for the current time. Meditation can still the mind. So can prayer. Exercise is nature's tranquilizer. 

A third step is to sort out what are old tapes, which no longer apply. Sure, you made the mistake on the first job of confiding to the wrong people. When the content of those conversations were disclosed, you came across as a complainer. Not good. Since then, you have mastered the art of coming across as open but actually being quite circumspect. 

Here, a free read, is my book on those monsters of the mind.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Time to Think about Unretiring - Inflation Crept Up 0.4% in December 2020

Obviously, gas prices are up. Here in southwest Arizona, where they are usually below average, those for regular unleaded are at about $2.17. That eats into fixed budgets. And those budgets may be yours.

MarketWatch reports that last month, inflation had gone up 0.4%. That was primarily because of what had been happening in gas prices. The concern should be: What will be the next shoe to drop? 

You should be wary of how the cost of your lifestyle could be affected. That moment of clarity might have hit: I have to earn more income.

According to the Federal Reserve, about one-third of retirees return to work. The term for that is "reverse retirement." Sure, some of them are bored. But most simply need more money. 

The challenge, though, is how to return to work after being out of the labor market for months or years. Skills atrophy. Technology changes. Those doing the hiring don't welcome gaps in a work history.

So, what do you do? 

What I recommend to those I coach is this: Be ready and willing to start over. The situation is analogous to that rite of passage when you graduated from high school, college or professional programs. The rite of passage from formal education to earning a living was usually difficult. Going to school is, you might say, one kind of game. Getting, holding and moving on to better work is another. 

Returning to work, be it as an employee, independent contractor or self-employed, represents another rite of passage. Yes, you have to learn what will probably be a game that is new to you. You are older. And so many other factors have also changed.

Here is the bible on working when older, a free read Download Outwitting ageism.

To get up-to-date about the context of work currently, "What Color Is Your Parachute?" is useful. Here, you can order a used copy from Amazon. Or you can find it in your local public library.

The best mindset? It's presented by Willis Towers Watson. Careers per se are going the way of the landline phone. Instead, those in the labor market put together portfolios of skills and experiences. Those will probably not be linear. Tomorrow you could be excelling in a grocery company manager training program. Next year you could be applying those skills as an operations specialist in a rehab center for those with substance abuse problems.

Takeaway: Working gets you more and frequently better work. Not working can worsen financial insecurity.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Retirement: The Rollercoaster Rite of Passage

On MarketWatch, Mike Drak points out what the retired have already discovered: That transition from work to leisure is a rollercoaster ride. 

The state of being starts out with anticipating the good life.

Next, usually comes the realization how much you depended on working for everything from solid compensation to identity.

Then, come the initiatives to escape the wild ride and put together a stable lifestyle. 

In my coaching, it's at the third phase of the rollercoaster existence that men and women in their 60s and 70s come to me. They had tried a number of tactics to bring income, professional satisfaction and/or a post-career identity to their lives. Often, those had failed. And they are in angst that their lifestyle will never improve. As Drak hammers, being trapped in an unwanted retirement can be "hell."

Actually, those who have already experimented with solutions are on the right path. They have "owned" that retirement, unlike what they had assumed, is a problem to be solved. That solution might require several or even a large number of "pilot programs."

The most useful mindset for dealing with the whole notion of ending a career is as a rite of passage. It is as disruptive, soul-wrenching and, yes, exciting as other milestone developments in a life. Those range from pivoting from formal education to the world of work to starting a family to dealing with the empty nest.

The only way you got through those transitions had been by walking through them. Sure, you could tap into expert opinion. You could seek out psychotherapy. You could create informal support groups among friends. But, the "task" was your own. 

Usually, there were bumps in that road. Fortunately, most of them were wonderful learning lessons. Yes, on the job, you had to come to understand the rules of a very different game than succeeding in academics. And you achieved that. Of course, that usually came with emotional pain. But most "sins" of inexperience are forgiven, including by yourself.

The same process plays out in exiting retirement hell. You have to admit the situation is new to you. You have to be open to new games. You have to forgive yourself (self-compassion) for mistakes. 

And, you have to approach all this long-term. That reduces the sting of being reprimanded in the part-time gig assignment by a 25-year-old. Just position and package that as a tutorial on this brave new world you have chosen to enter. Part of the long-term perspective is that any income-producing situation isn't your last one. It is just one. Many other options are there for you. I explain that in the bible of how to land, hold and move on to better work at any age, here a free read Download Outwitting ageism.

Along the way, you could develop a kind of fresh career track. You get certified in counseling those with addictions. Soon enough, the rehab center which hired you part-time notices your business skills. You are promoted to the full-time job of Intake Manager. They put you on the board of directors. 

What can be jarring is that your work experience likely will be much different than the one you had in your youth and middle years. What can help you embrace those changes is the recognition that even if you time-traveled to your 40-year-old professional self, you would also be encountering massive changes in everything from hiring to promotion to being let go in a reduction-in-force.

The elephant in the room on all retirement issues is: Should you do volunteer work? The answer is: That depends.

If you don't need income or the fixed identity of a professional, sure, volunteer.

However, if money has become a challenge and/or your ego requires a standard workplace title with pay, volunteering may toss you into a deeper level of hell.

However, volunteering is a proven way to rebuild a resume with marketable skills, reconfigure a network and restore confidence.

Reflection: You can prevent getting on that rollercoaster by anticipating the extent of the adjustment traditional retirement requires. Therefore, you opt out. You make the decision not to retire. That means continually searching for work and performing those tasks in a way that pivots you to better work situations. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Your Personal Branding - How Much Will It Continue to Depend on Social Networks?

 "Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. halted support for Parler, dealing a major blow to a social-media service that has soared in popularity among conservatives and escalating a campaign by tech giants to regulate content they see as dangerous in the wake of the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol." - The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2021.

Now, it's Parler. Admittedly, that far-right social network has been perceived to be platform for accelerating polarization (and perhaps justification for violence) in America. However, these moves by BigTech also send a powerful message: The future of social networks is in play.

The implications are huge. For example, will business continue to increase its investment in digital marketing? Will cause-oriented groups remain as effective on social networks? And will Everyman and Everywoman feel the compulsion to "have to" participate in social networks as part of their personal branding? Visualize a new era without likes, shares, retweets, sends and comments.

Twitter and Facebook reined in U.S. President Donald Trump. The elephant in the room on that one is: Who's next.

Meanwhile, influentials the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, had quit social networks. That's both for personal and professional uses. About the latter, they will no longer promote their Foundation via social media. They cite hate messaging.

Poof. Could the time of social networks go, just as it had come? The whole niche of promotion, including advertising, could be disrupted. Brands would have to reimagine how to put themselves out there.

And, how much time should you continue to devote to nurturing your online presence via social networks?

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Older Professionals - How You're Reinforcing Age Bias

Age bias in the workplace is real.

Primarily because of it, documents builtin.com, by your mid to late 60s, 90% of you will stop working. That's despite the reality that most of you do not have adequate financial resources to see you through your 70s, 80s and beyond without bringing in more income from work. 

But, that's not the whole story.

The other part is how too many of you are shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to searching for work, pushing for a promotion, moving on to better work, starting a business and/or growing a business. 

In my coaching those over-50, I have observed five specific ways in which you are stuck in self-defeating patterns when it comes to work. 

Gluing the aging stigma onto you. You buy in. No need to. You know your value as a member of the labor market. In addition, that mindset hardens into self-hate.

Pivot from apologizing for "being old" to talking the language of results. Explicitly let employers and clients/customers know what you can do for them better, faster and more affordably than your competition. 

Sure, there will be lots of rejection. Just move on. Remember how much rejection there also had been when you were just starting out in the labor market. Also, when you aimed for promotions or to expand your business ventures. 

Feeling compelled to explain (usually with too much detail) how things used to be done. You may be assuming such a description showcases your deep knowledge of the industry. Instead, though, it can brand you as stuck in yesterday. Those in power probably conclude you might not be flexible enough to catapult into all the changes going in that work setting. Embrace as your new mantra: The past likely has become irrelevant. 

Still chasing status. Work has to become a matter of income. Not career paths and especially not prestigious ones. That's not only a situation with the over-50. Increasingly, predicts Wallis Towers Watson, careers are being replaced by what you put together as a portfolio of skills and experiences. The path probably won't be linear.

Members of all generations are finding that, to continue to bring in income, they have to start over, again and again. Their industry might have gone kaput. Their skills are no longer marketable. The region they're living in is losing jobs to other regions. That re-start likely lacks status. It may pay less. But, as the old adage goes: Nothing gets you work like work. Working is more productive than not working. Also, when not working skills atrophy.

Here, a free read, is the bible for the over-50 on landing, holding and moving on to better work Download Outwitting ageism.

Allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by technology. The reality is that you only have to know the technologies associated with your work or those which will soon enough be part of your work. You don't have to know everything. And, your objective in learning is not to become a whizz in tech per se. 

Technology is a tool. It's your responsibility to have all the tools you need or might need in your tool box. No employer or client/customer is requiring you to have the expertise or even the perspective of an insider in the tech industry. 

Never learning the art of self-compassion. The burden of your past setbacks, errors of judgments and actual crashes is what you continue to carry around. You are not alone in looping into the negative, without the ability to understand and forgive yourself. That's exactly why the emerging meme is self-compassion.

Capitalism is a brutal economic system. You can't expect others to nudge you on the path of accepting the past and your own role in what didn't pan or went very wrong.

That's an inside job. How to learn the fundamentals of self-compassion?

There are religions which teach those. Shop around for a religious organization which is a good fit for you. 

Also, meditation can clear the channel in the mind. You can learn that exercise free on the Internet. For example, here is American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron on YouTube guiding you how to calm the turmoil of the mind. In one school of Buddhist thought, the mantra is: Clear thinking, don't know. That helps you from assuming you should have been infallible in your past decisions.

There are free 12-step programs such as Emotions Anonymous.

If you have good medical insurance, your co-pay for psychotherapy can be low. 

Or, you can start your own support group for acquiring the art of self-compassion. You may be surprised that youth will want to join. 

If you can find your way out of these five self-defeating behaviors, aging can be a gift. You can enjoy working without being excessively driven. Also, you have the wisdom to know when to stay and when to leave. That gives you the edge in the entire process of earning income from work - as an employee, gig player or business owner.

You may even become a late bloomer. University of Chicago researcher David W. Galenson documented there is such an entity. The book he published on that phenomenon is "Old Masters and Young Geniuses."

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)