
There are 121 million of us over-50.
And that only includes the 76 million Baby Boomers (born between 1945 and 165) and the 45 million Generation X (born between 1965 and 1981).
In addition, there are many members of the Silent Generation and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, their age group is projected to be among the faster growing part of the labor force.
Forever, we have been clubbed like baby seals by the media, financial professionals, and the front lines of digital. There's plenty of emotional, social, spiritual, and professional blood on the ice.
It's time we pushed back. That includes law firm partners whose financial planners are scaring the jesus out of you.
After all, the numbers are on our side. It was the sheer numbers of the Baby Boomer gen which blew up Puritan sexual mores and the ethos of family-first.
That brutal club comes down with stern warnings that we will outlive our money. Members of the media feature us in rusty mobile homes making the rounds of dumpsters to collect soda bottles we can trade in for nickels. Not being able to afford dentures, we gum dog food.
The reality, at least currently, is very different. Even for us to whom life has not been kind or the monsters in our mind triggered some very bad decisions.
A disbarred lawyer renting a less-than-600-dollar apartment in Eastern Ohio crows about his new minimalist lifestyle.
Post being a guest of the state he lives on Social Security. He's not sure if he wants to bother supplementing that with doing communications assignments for law firms. The book he's writing about how quickly darkness can fall may or may sell well. About that he's detached.
Before she became legally blind, a former resident in Bella Vista, New Haven, Connecticut subsidized housing took great joy in her $10-an-hour part-time job coaching the aging unemployed in computer skills. Her dead husband had gone through their money.
In 2003, I had lost my nest egg, business, and mind. My story about that has had more than a million downloads. Here you can read it. Funny, it was then that my little life started picking up. Before that, actually, things weren't going too hot, at least not emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
Even those of us who still have children to put through college and had lost a job here and there (mostly due to age bias) are confident about the present and optimistic about the future.
Before he landed his new job on Wall Street, a 60-something hustled paid assignments at the outplacement firm where he had landed after losing his previous one. He considered becoming certified as an executive coach. The next time the ax swings, he plans to sell the house to pay the college tuitions.
The mascot of our era had been Alfred E. Neuman. His meme had been "What - Me Worry?" Essentially, that's our mindset.
The ultimate symbol of our push-back will be the smirk. That showcases the residue of the smart-assed adolescents we once had been.
My resurrected inner rebel efficiently managed, in May 2014, Kathleen Huebner and three other ghosts from my Living-in-a-Fog Past. That I consider my number-one achievement in life, at least so far. This coming May I will celebrate the fourth anniversary by spending a week in Mobile, Alabama. There, I plan to semi-retire in eight years.
Every day I thank the patron saint of aging. That's, I've decided, Clint Eastwood. Hopefully, Pope Francis has him on the list for official canonization. Among the miracles Eastwood accomplished had been the film "The Unforgiven."
Coaching on all aspects of aging, from careers to retirement. Complimentary consultation. Sliding scale fees. Please contact aging expert Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com. Read her syndicated site http://over-50.typepad.com.
Satisfied clients –
Mark Misercola – Speechwriter
“For the past two years, Jane has helped me age more gracefully by opening my eyes to new opportunities and endeavors that will serve me well when I eventually retire. And some – like writing about my passion for collectible cars – I’ve already started on.”
Tara Belsare – Physician
“Jane encourages me to examine aging with depth and wit. She encourages me to write about the process. She has opened my eyes to the fact that I am, in fact aging.”