Over-50

A Funny Thing Happened to Robert Pemberton on Way to Retirement: Parent PLUS Loans, Now Totally $265k

Robert Pemberton is in his 60s - 64 to be exact. That's the time in his life when he should be heading toward full retirement or at least semiretirement. 

But, he tells Insider he will probably be working into his 80s. He had accumulated $265,000 in Parent PLUS loans. He took them out for his two children when his company merged and his financial situation changed. He could no longer pay out-of-pocket the tuition and other expenses. At the time, he contends, he really didn't know what he was getting into.

Parent PLUS loans are the most expensive out there. For this academic year the interest rate is 6.28%. Other forms of undergraduate loans usually have a lower rate of interest. And it is the interest which is so overwhelming to Pemberton. 

Yet, all the lobbying for relief on educational loans is focused on students, not the parents. 

Obviously, the pickle Pemberton is in is a cautionary tale for all parents (as well as grandparents). With employment situations so wobbly there is no guarantee that the well-paying job or gig situation will hold on. Parents might not even be able to make the monthly nut. Currently, he's employed at a $10 p/h job.

The bigger message here is: Beware of all kinds of debt. Perhaps society should return to The Great Depression ethos of only purchasing what can be paid right then in full. That used to even include buying a house. 

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The Death of the "Fun" Workplace

A blast of arctic air should be going through the U.S. business community. And law firms which have proven-out ESG (Environmental Social Governance) practices will be doing breakthrough kinds of assignments.

AAll this has been put in play by the extraordinary probe by the SEC of video-game maker Activision Blizzard. 

Bloomberg Law reports:

" ... the latest probe from the country’s securities regulator raises the stakes for the company’s leadership, with the SEC subpoenaing current employees, including executives, to put them on the record about what they knew about Activision’s workplace culture, and opening the door to more lawsuits from investors and alleged victims about the company’s internal response."

The executives such as Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick are being investigated.

It could be discovered that they knew about the workplace toxicity. That toxicity is being positioned and packaged by the feds as an actual health and safety issue. Yes, that's the lens through which the federal government is viewing cultural matters. No longer is there just something rotten in the state of Denmark. It is affecting the health and safety of those who are working there.

If the Activision Blizzard executives knew about the rot and made public statements denying those realities then they could be accused of misleading. In addition, investors could and probably will pile on them for allegedly misusing funds in the process of scrambling to clean up this legal, stock price, and public relations mess. Expect a string of C-Suite resignations.

The board of directors isn't sitting pretty either. What did the members know? Expect too resignations there. And what was the general counsel doing or not doing? Recently the general counsel for Blizzard Entertainment Claire Hart had stepped down. 

Observers of this move by the SEC into the cultural matters of a corporation speculate this could be the beginning of greater federal involvement in workplace issues. The key issues could be harassment and bias. As is well-known, the Biden Administration is focused on workplace cultural matters ranging from inclusion to employee well-being. 

The pickle Activision Blizzard is in could have been prevented. The scandal at Fox News triggered by sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes in 2016 should have been a cautionary tale for supposed "fun" workplaces. They could have parachuted in consultants to reset the culture.

Obviously way back in 2016 values were beginning to change. Constituencies, ranging from investors to advertisers, were no longer going to ignore exploitative behavior. Overall, the new expectations of what was expected of corporate conduct went under the umbrella concept of ESG. 

Paul Weiss had picked up on this developing ethos earlier than other law firms. Back in April 2020, its Chairperson Brad Karp launched its Sustainability & Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Advisory Practice. Its mission covered all what-ifs, as you can see here:

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

In terms of intense federal involvement in workplace culture, Activision Blizzard is the canary in the mine.

Those observing what is happening right now and what could happen can't miss this: Not paying attention to the values disruption put in play way back with the ouster of Ailes can be catastrophic.

By time the extent of the problem became evident to the Activision Blizzard brass and it called in WilmerHale for an internal investigation it was too late. 

Already the stock price had taken a hit. It hasn't recovered. How many investor lawsuits will there be about that?

Executive careers are derailed. 

Talent is likely to flee.

Competition is gleeful. 

The media centers have grabbed onto this story and they won't be letting it go. 

One definite takeaway: Call in your outside law firm's head of the ESG practice today. Fix what can be fixed. Prevent further fallout. 

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Succesful Pivots - The 3 Must-Dos

"I was off my game. I won't be offered the assignment."

That's what I assumed twice. Both were immediately after Zoom interviews for marketing-communications projects for large corporations in the industrial trades.

For me, doing those interviews represented a pivot. For decades, my target market had been professional services.

And it happens us all the time: I could no longer get lit about working with clients in the professional services box.

No, not burnout. More like what's being called "brown-out" or a losing fire in the belly. No longer was I dreaming up strategies for those professional-services clients when driving to the grocery store. 

Welll, I landed the first assignment.

Then I leveraged that experience and portfolio of samples to nail the second assignment. It has turned out to be a long-term retainer contract.

In retrospect I know this: I successfully pivoted exactly because I was off my game. The old one. Those tired stale pitching formulas and stuck thinking. What an existential professional hell. 

Instead, from instinct, I was developing a new game, in the real-time of a Zoom interview. It included conjuring up marketing ideas. Obviously, they loved the ideas. And my enthusiasm. Takeaway: Step out of the comfort zone of the old game.

The second factor in this successful transitioning is this: having a cheerleader. Mine came from my former field of expertise. That is professional services. 

Through analyzing law firm Paul Weiss' ESG practice and social-justice initatives, I looped in with the Chairperson Brad Karp.

(Of course, way too much much so. Yeah, I have OCD and can be a pain in the neck. I expect a lawsuit with Paul Weiss as plaintiff, contending I have been a public nuisance and seeking injunctive relief.)

Karp encouraged. He listened. And he shared my joy when this happened: Two different executives from the first project let me know how pleased they were.

I was on my way.

Now, I am there.

The third factor is laid out in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. Research has documented the positive effects of "spirituality." That's defined as surrendering to this: There is something bigger than ourselves.

Label that entity the "universe," "higher power," or "God."

How to do that surrender? Meditation is one way. Another way is simply admitting to ourselves we are not fully in charge.

Those who give it up can be freed up from that mentally hazardous habit of ruminating. Yes, we can detatch from the old narratives. Those can include any professional identity we need to shake.

I am back in the money.

There's also the wonderful humility of having so much to learn in this industrial-trades niche.

On the way to the grocery store I play with ideas for presenting the financial benefits of solar panels with provocative human touchpoints.

What puts me over the moon? That I now know that if this current good fortune dries up, you bet, I can pivot again. All that takes is being off the old game, making a pest of myself grabbing support, and meditating two hours a day.

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Hustling for Work Post-50: The New Game Plan (hold the whine)

"Why won’t anyone hire this 60-year-old?" - MarketWatch, August 16, 2021.

Answer: Maybe that 60-year-old just isn't approaching the search for work post-50 smart. 

That 60-year-old is Michael Lubell. He whines about not being able to pick up enough assignments in marketing communications and so on. As ProPublica documents, his career-path job ended prematurely. And, as it also documented, the odds are against his earning comparable money after that. Only one out of 10 are able to pull that off.

However, the age bias that is rampant doesn't have to mean not being able to earn income from working. That might be a full-time job, part-time work, gig assignments or operating a small business. Also, it doesn't have to mean a loss of dignity in finding, holding, and moving on to better work. BTW, here's my free guide on that Download Outwitting ageism

What Lubell and many of those over-50 have to get is this: It's a new game. It requires a new game plan. 

That's the rub.

Just as when the Lubells transitioned from their formal education to building a career, everything is new. That requires observing and decoding what is going down, trying out behaviors, and doing rapid damage-reduction course correction when in the soup. In addition, everything kept changing. Therefore, the Lubells had to keep changing as they journeyed on their career paths.

That same applies to earning income from work "after a certain age."

The shift begins with the mindset: Expect age bias. Then figure a way to bypass it. Yes, those hiring can be distracted from the age issue. 

One real estate expert I coached did this by steering interviews to this: Here are the results I will get for you. This is what I had accomplished for X firm. And, can I make some recommendations how we can do that together? He was never without assignments. Of course, he had surrendered to the reality that no one would hire him for a full-time position. That train had left the station.

The next step is through research and trial and error to determine what's marketable. It might not be skills and experience from the career days. And that might mean reskilling. Through certifications and low-cost associate degrees at the community college it's possible to emerge marketable again. You bet, it's the law of supply and demand. Maybe there is no longer a big market for expertise in A or B. 

The third step is to hustle. Have a quick eye for opportunity and pounce on it. Someone on Craigslist wants email blasts configured right now. Right now is when to parachute in and do the assignment. Money is made in the now. Not in the planning to make money.

And, fourth, consider relocation to where there is less age bias and more possible work. Lubell is based in Westport, Connecticut. That's in the youth-oriented New York Metro area. To save my two businesses - communications and coaching - I pulled out of that region in April 2014. Once in the southwest where the median age was higher those enterprises caught fire. No longer was I on the defensive. 

Along the way to working until the 70s, 80s, and beyond (Fox's Rupert Murdoch is 90 years old), there's no settling in. What was a gold mine two months ago can be a black hole of no work today. Assuming you can center yourself in a comfort zone is not smart. Here is my e-book on exiting that smug spot.

In May, I celebrated one of those omg I'm-in-my-70s birthdays. Yet my two businesses continue to be busy. Ageism is a challenge we can manage. Hold the whine. 

Let’s talk about success. How can you boost that in your own career and the trajectory of your business? You owe yourself a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail (no selling).

 

Beyond the Getaway in the Hamptons - The Tough Game in BigBanking and BigLaw

Most recently, JPMorgan Chase's head Jamie Dimon had been in the media for two reasons.

One, he reupped for that job.

And, two, he, like Morgan Stanley's Eric Grossman, made the pre-COVID type statement about where work should be done. He positioned and packaged full-time back-in-the-office as necessary for professional development. Yet, all that often went quite well away from the office since March 2020.

Now we get to view Dimon through a different lens. It's in his pursuit to be more of player in BigTech's financial doings. To gain enhanced branding in that niche, JPMorgan Chase was among those in BigBanking who competed for the WeWork proposed IPO. Remember WeWork? It was right up in media gush with finger-prick startup Theranos. Both had crashed. 

The peek inside the world of BigBanking comes from the new book "We: The Cult of We" by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. It's an expose about how the greed and delusions of WeWork's founder Adam Neumann resulted in the BigPoof. 

In Chapter 30, the book describes how JPMorgan Chase's pitch for the IPO fell flat, at least compared to how the team from Goldman Sachs dazzled. 

For one thing, Dimon didn't come along to do the pitch. The BigEgo of a Neumann wouldn't like that. In addition, it assumed since Neumann referred to Dimon as "his personal banker" that it was in the bag. The energy wasn't in the proposal.

However, the fun was just starting for Neumann. Instead of declaring a  winner in what Wall Street calls a "bake-off" he played them all. Yes, those guys and girls in BigBanking can be played. Here is an excerpt from page 301:

"He [Neumann] wouldn't officially appoint any bank the left lead 'underwriter' until as late as possible. It was a decision that would pit the banks against one another for months to come ... Banks would continue to do blackflips to win him over ..."

So, what might be a stunner for those outside BigBanking is that those inside are as subject to client and prospect whims as working stiffs are to bosses and small businesses are to customers/clients.

No, there is no sense of being in-control at the top. Therefore, the scramble to get there might not be worth it. Not in power and not in feeling secure in professional life. Needless to say, though, the money is great. So many of the meetings with Neumann took place in the Hamptons. Those in BigBanking can afford to entertain there in their getaways. 

Ironically, those in the gig economy might be in the catbird seat - compared to the players in BigTime. They are "free."

The gig market is decentralized so reputational blunders don't hit the media. Or wind up in blackballing. There is growing demand so there is usually plenty of work. It is unusual for freelancers to be pitted against each other. The game, as Willis Towers Watson points out, is pivoting away from careers per se and toward developing a portfolio of skills and experiences. That approach to work likely will not be linear. Yes, it's possible to start all over again. And over again.

After his reup contract is fulfilled, should Dimon go gig? He is only 65 years old. More and more are working into the late 70s and even early 80s. As a gig player Dimon could be more in control. 

Incidentally, the book "The Caesars Palace Coup" provides a peek into the BigLaw playbook.

There, at least according to authors Sujeet Indap and Max Frues, clients are  also in control. Lawyers, no matter their track record or their brilliance, have to serve clients on the clients' terms, including an almost impossible timetable. The scene isn't pretty.

The lawyers in it might have put together a better gameplan if they had become entreprenurs developing an app, a new service, or a new product. 

The late Steve Jobs didn't have to take crap. 

Baby Booomers from Jersey City, NJ - Maybe We Never Have Been Able to Shake the Ethos of the Frank Hague Political Machine

Earnest

Visionary

And, in terms of implementation through more than a dozen federal agencies, a test of the political and management skills of the Biden Administration.

That's the Executive Order on Competition, which you can read here. Its 72 initiatives cover everything from non-compete clauses imposed on low-wage workers to mergers. 

The platitude applied to sum up its ethos is to circle back to the priorities of "trustbuster" Teddy Roosevelt.

However, the more insightful way to capture what it is about is to resurrect the spirit and the messaging of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

Essentially that 1939 film, directed by Frank Capra, celebrates the power of doing the right thing on behalf of Everyman (or what Joe Biden refers to as the "little guy). The movie's protagonist Jefferson Smith represents the ultimate whistleblower about what has gone so wrong in America. 

In the Capra world, those noble causes win out. Like now, back then it was a time of crisis. The background for "Mr. Smith" was The Great Depression. Now, the times are about the uncertainties of the Post-COVID economy (along with the return of COVID), surging inflation and hardened polarization.

Watching "Mr. Smith" this weekend can be uplifting. Downright inspiring. 

However, this weekend the little guy whom Biden is determined to help could be wondering what really will play out from the 72 initiatives. And how much will it improve the life of the little guy? 

Go to various "listening posts" around America, such as the check-out lines in Walmart (I take in what those I coach say), and it's likely that what will be picked up is the sense of powerlessness.

The tone and content mirror the resignation of those who endured the Frank Hague political machine in the mid 20th century. What resonates in my consciouness is the mantra: You can't fight City Hall. The residents of Hudson County, New Jersey, such as my immigrant family, accepted their powerlessness. Everything from jobs to getting your mother in a nursing home had been determined by the Machine.

Does the Biden Administration have the little people behind this EO? Do the people believe things can change?  Or will the loudest voice in the corridors of power be those of entrenched interests? The lobbyists reportedly are already busy conjuring up counterstrategies.

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Baby Boomer Women - Ethel Rosenberg Was So Much Like Us

"Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy" by Anne Seeba focuses on the female half of that supposed notorious spy couple. The message of the biography essentially is that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

But, along the way, we Baby Boomer females encounter a restless young woman, much like we had been in the late 1960s. 

At the top of the list of similarities is this: She disliked her mother. In fact, just like us, she strove to be not at all like her.

Here are those great lines from "Becoming Ethel" - Chapter 1:

" ... Ethel would confide to her friend that her greatest ambition was 'never having to live like her mother, forever going about the streets with a big shopping bag searching for bargains trading with the pushcart men.' Her disdain for her mother's way of life was becoming corrosive."

One day in 1969, my former roommate from college confided to me,"I overthrew my mother. Now I can find the right husband." She associated her mother and the life she had lived with having the wrong husband. The man she married became a successful lawyer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"Ethel Rosenberg" also brings back those old-line neighborhood values in lower-income Manhattan metro areas. For that alone it's a must read for the Baby Boomers who came of age in a world of ethnic self-hate and youthful wild dreams of liberation from all that.

Obviously, her story resonates. The book is 12,867 on Amazon.

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Retired and Worried about Money and the Still-Working

America has been further fragmented. 

There have emerged two cultures. 

One is the over-62 who has retired (usually taking Social Security early). 

The other is the rest of us aging who have chosen to keep working - or are financially forced to continue hustling for income.

Between the two there has been growing hostility.

For example, the retired seek out "playmates" to offset boredom. The reality is that it is usually challening to fill in all the time in the day that had been spent working. When we non-retired turn down invitatioins to take that church trip to X or Y location or not join in the early-bird special for dinner the retired can turn frosty. 

In addition, there seems to be a resentment that we still have money coming in from working. And they don't. Even those who aren't struggling financially have angst about outliving their ability to have a comfortable lifestyle. You bet, money is a trigger issue.

My solution? Distance myself from the retirees. We really do exist in two very different dimensions. Also, I have learned to keep what I do in terms of work under wraps. No longer do I go into detail. 

Will this fissure heal? I doubt it. Money is too major a matter, especially among those who "fear" still being on planet earth at age 100. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

No Age Restrictions on Epiphany Quitting

What is being labeled "epiphany quitting" is not a new phenonmenon.

What is new, as BusinessInsider describes it, is that it seems to be a collective trend in the labor force as a result of the national trauma of COVID.

Forever, though, on an individual basis, those who needed to earn a living often had that "moment of clarity" in which they decided that they no longer wanted to do and/or could do the work they had been. That can occur at any age, including near what used to be the traditional retirement age. 

A former lawyer, age 58, I recently had coached had been hospitalized with clincal depression. Her epiphany was that she had to find another less-stressful way to earn a living.

Note that in that, as in collective epiphany moments during COVID, there has to be a long game. The people still have to bring in income. You just don't have an epiphany and ride into the sunset from the reality of the need to support yourself and perhaps your family.

It can be an enormous relief to opt out of line of work that might not have been a fit for a long time. Yes, life is short. And even with high compensation, money isn't everything.

However, then comes the challenge of searching for what would be a better fit. That could take several tries. Call it the Career version of Goldilocks. 

This lawyer had experimented with photography. But the field was too competitive for her.

Then she piloted operating a car-detailing service. It's catching on. There is plenty of contract help in this southwestern part of the U.S.

Simultaneously she is exploring how her love for horses could lead to earning a good living.

The solution might be aggregating several income streams. That has become a growing way of financial security: Balance unemployment and underemployment risk with multiple earning platforms.

Takeaway: Epiphany quitting in only a step on the continuum of having to earn a living. The euphoria can be short-lived in the long game. The struggle to find a better fit can be traumatic. 

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Sure, Try Talking with The Chaplain

" ... demand for spiritual care in 2021 may seem surprising; religious belief is in decline across the U.S., and clinical therapy is becoming more widely available and increasingly destigmatized. But in secular institutions around the country—from the New York metropolitan transit system to universities, labor unions, and government bodies—chaplains have maintained a constant presence ... focusing on the intersection of spiritual and mental health." - Diana Kruzman, Vice, May 3, 2021. 

Remember when having the executive coach was a must-do? You might recall those days. They came after therapy didn't work, at least not all that well. 

So many on my networks looped into hiring an executive coach when Henry Cloud became a brandname. Probably his 2011 book "Necessary Endings" accomplished the branding part. The book remains high on Amazon - 11,464. So, his influence still resonates. Yes, there are those who still swear by their pricey exectuive coaches.

However, the "reign" of the executive coach might have peaked. There seems to be a shift to another kind of guidance: that of the chaplain. 

We went to the coach rather than the therapist because he or she operated within the career box. Therapists often were too much in the emotions box. Even the supposed cognitive therapist tended to be too emotion-bound. Not that was wrong. It just wasn't an effective and efficient way to decide whether to hang out a shingle or to opt for job security.

Overall, in what Vice refers to as these times of existential crisis, both the coach's and the therapist's frames of reference too often fall short. Like, the distress was still there. 

What the chaplain provides is more holistic. Its "it" manages to reach into the entire abyss of this thing we call "life."

At the end of Janaury 2021, I could not longer navigate the abyss. I was undone by a combination of relocating across the United States, not getting a major book ghostwriting assignment and the death of my dog. Instinctively (I had been a devout Roman Catholic until age 23) I decided to talk to a chaplain. I looked one up on the internet for the city of Sierra Vista, Arizona. She was a minister of the Unitarian Church. No, I hadn't tried to sort out the situation with the coach I had consulted with for about eight years. 

After talking with the minister - Tina Squire - on the phone for about 45 minutes I felt better. The distress was less, actually a lot less. In the Catholic religion we called that kind of transformation a miracle.

Also, Rev. Squire plugged me into a regular Zoom meditation group of church members. They turned out to be very good human beings.

I moved on to other situations I had to navigate. Maybe that's the new take on supposed "healing." We can at least pivot. We aren't stuck.

No, lawyers and law students don't "have to join a church." As yet, I haven't become a member of the Unitarian Church. Probably I don't have to. Probably we just have to know that there is a spiritual presence we can connect with. It's that simple. 

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