STANFORD Magazine released an article a couple of months ago that began this way: “Today's youth likely have decades of ‘extra’ time coming to them. Psychologist Laura Carstensen wants them to spread those years out.”
The article is entitled “5 Ways to Prepare for a Longer Life” and it’s all about preparing young people for the 35 years they will have after retirement.
The Stanford Center on Longevity has created what's called “the new map of life” to address the critical question of how youth will manage all that extra time. Their team of postdoctoral fellows has reimagined a society molded around 100-year life spans.
On Creating Your Encore Career, I did an overview of the article and Stanford’s work on the new map of life. Here are some of the highlights.
Plan to Work Longer
Most of us retire by the age of 65. However, it is at precisely that age that many of us are “bursting with knowledge and… at peak performance in {our} careers.” There is also research out there showing there are higher rates of depression and physical illness for retirees.
Working longer may be the solution to these problems. This means we must change the way we live and work now to prepare for a longer career and shorter retirement.
Saving Money
One change we can implement is the way we save money.
Many of us are told that if we don’t save enough money in our earlier years, we’ll be poor in our old age. However, if we work longer and have a shorter retirement, we have the option of maintaining a smaller savings account.
Prioritizing Friendships
Another change we can make is in our personal lives.
During our busiest years of work, we’re often busy in other areas of life too. We’re having kids, building our careers, and letting our close friendships fall to the wayside. This is a major problem.
Instead, we should be putting friendships higher on our priority lists. This prevents them from slipping away and then being nowhere to be found when we need them most.
Envisioning a Long Life You Love
Finally, we cannot assume we have the same life expectancy as our parents. Our world is changing and people are living longer. Why shouldn’t the way we shape our lives be changing too?
Instead of tacking our extra 30 years onto the end of our lives, we should be taking advantage of those extra 30 years throughout our lives.
STANFORD Magazine’s article suggests picking up a new sport at 40, going back to school at 50, or starting a new career at 60. Things like this help us shape lives that we love.
Let’s embrace a new way of life and start fully living the 90-100 years we have today.
