The budget battles of recent years have amplified the warnings of
demographic doomsayers who predicted that a wave of baby boomers would
bleed America dry, bankrupting Social Security and Medicare as they
faded into an impoverished old age. On the contrary, argues
award-winning journalist Chris Farrell, we are instead on the verge of a
broad, positive transformation of our economy and society.
The old idea of "retirement"--a word that means withdrawal, describing a
time when people gave up productive employment and shrank their
activities--was a short-lived historical anomaly. Humans have always
found meaning and motivation in work and community, Farrell notes, and
the boomer generation, poised to live longer in better health than any
before, is already discovering unretirement--extending their working
lives, often with new careers, entrepreneurial ventures, and volunteer
service. Their experience, wisdom--and importantly, their continued
earnings--will enrich the American workplace, treasury, and our whole
society in the decades to come.
Unretirement not only explains this seismic change, now in its early
stages, it provides key insights and practical advice for boomers about
to navigate this exciting, but unsettled, new frontier. Drawing on Chris
Farrell's decades of covering personal finance and economics for
Bloomberg Businessweek and Marketplace Money, this will be an
indispensable guide to the landscape of unretirement from one of
America's most trusted experts.
