Erik O. Strid - Exploring: Replacing an Outdated Paradigm For the Retirement Years, and Exploring a New Phase of Life

We have a longevity paradox. Now that we have achieved what humankind has tried to achieve since it has walked living longer we really dont have a good idea of what to do with all that additional time.

Dr. Joe Coughlin, PhD, Director
of the MIT AgeLab

T he MIT AgeLab has come up with an interesting model to describe the basic math about modern lives. Lets assume that a person, with a college education and good income, is now likely to live well into their 80s. This persons life can be divided into four segments, averaging approximately 8,000 days, or 22 years, each. Your first 22 years of life are spent Learning, primarily attending school. You graduate from college when you are right around 22, and you enter a period when you are Growing. Perhaps you get married, and take on a first job, you buy your first home and start raising young children. Then right around the time you hit 44 or so, you reach a period we traditionally call Middle Age, when you are Maturing: your kids are getting older, and probably heading off to college. Your professional capabilities are really growing, as are your financial responsibilities. Finally, right around age 66 comes a time we traditionally call Retirement. We can think of these life segments in the following way:

Learning (Birth to Age 22)

The first stage of our lives is mostly about learning, and our primary focus is on obtaining new skills and knowledge to prepare us for the challenges and opportunities we will face over the rest of our lives. During these years, we spend most of our time in school, and are taught and mentored by our parents, grandparents, teachers and coaches.

Growing (Age 22 44)

In the next stage, we begin to build upon all that we learned in the first 22 years of our lives. This is the time for us to strike out in the world and use that knowledge to build our own lives. We begin our professional career, establish a relationship or find our spouse and marry, possibly have babies and raise young children, and buy our first home.

Maturing (Age 44-66)

Between age 44-66, we are hitting our stride professionally and experiencing our peak earning years. That is a good thing, because our lifestyle is also becoming more expensive. We may now be paying for college for our children, or even supporting our own aging parents. We buy a nicer car, a bigger house, and perhaps a vacation home. We may even welcome grandchildren. These are busy years in which our responsibilities are at a peak: our professional responsibilities are the most demanding of our lives, we are focused on the task of raising adolescent and teenage children, and we may even be responsible for caring for our own parents.

Exploring (Age 66-?)

Finally, we reach the Exploring stage of our lives. During this time, which has been traditionally known as Retirement, our responsibilities to others begin to diminish, and we are afforded the opportunity to enjoy and explore our lifestyle more than ever before. By this time our children have grown and are on their own, our financial and professional responsibilities become easier, and we have the time and the money to take a step back and enjoy life on our own terms.

The focus of this book will be to discuss and understand the challenges and opportunities which are presented in this final phase of our lives, in hopes to help readers to better prepare for these challenges and opportunities, and maximize their happiness and satisfaction during these years.