Brain drain.
Those scary words describe what the aerospace and defense sector is facing as hundreds of thousands of scientists and engineers reach retirement age.
“The problem – almost 60 percent of U.S. aerospace workers in 2007 were 45 or older – could affect national security and even close the door on commercial products that start out as military technology,” according to an Associated Press article by Joelle Tessler that ran in Monday’s papers. A link to the story appears below.
The looming labor shortage that will inevitably result as the Baby Boom generation moves out of the workforce and into retirement is one of the main reasons we started www.rebootyou.com. We want to help mitigate the shortage by helping as many people as possible extend their productivity beyond retirement.
There are a lot of ways to reboot. Staying on the job (if given the opportunity), continuing to work as a consultant, working part time, and opening one’s own business are all avenues to continued contribution.
We predict that many aerospace and defense companies will come up with ways to encourage members of their senior workforce to stay on the job for three to five years or more beyond age 65.
As a nation we can’t afford to have everybody walk off the job at the same time.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEFENSE_TALENT_DRAIN_WAOL-?SITE=RIPRJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Rebooting, British style
When it comes to rebooting, the British are just as good at it as the Americans.
An article in The Sunday Times of March 2, headlined “Starting a business at retirement age,” says “There is no age limit to setting up in business to exploit your experience. The golden rule is to do something you enjoy.”
The article tells the story of several rebooters, including Rayment Kirby, who started his own business making cameras from traditional designs when he was in his sixties. Now 75, he makes a range of modernized versions of traditional camera designs by hand in his home workshop in Heathfield, East Sussex. He sells them at the auction house Christies and on his own website, www.raymentkirbycameras.co.uk.
Frances Kay, editor of a publication called The Good Non-Retirement Guide, says more and more older people are setting up businesses. “They are doing it because at a certain stage in life they want autonomy and they don’t necessarily want to be working in an organisation for someone who is half their age,” Kay says. “People are living longer and are healthier so you probably have 25 years between 55 and 80 when you can get a heck of a lot done. There is a lot you can achieve and it can be hugely satisfying.”
Colin Weatherspoon, chief executive of Cobweb Information, a research firm providing information for startups, says, “Consultant-type businesses are a popular choice. Social enterprises and charities are also common – anything that involves advice… There is a market out there for experience.”
You can read the complete article at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3465326.ece
An article in The Sunday Times of March 2, headlined “Starting a business at retirement age,” says “There is no age limit to setting up in business to exploit your experience. The golden rule is to do something you enjoy.”
The article tells the story of several rebooters, including Rayment Kirby, who started his own business making cameras from traditional designs when he was in his sixties. Now 75, he makes a range of modernized versions of traditional camera designs by hand in his home workshop in Heathfield, East Sussex. He sells them at the auction house Christies and on his own website, www.raymentkirbycameras.co.uk.
Frances Kay, editor of a publication called The Good Non-Retirement Guide, says more and more older people are setting up businesses. “They are doing it because at a certain stage in life they want autonomy and they don’t necessarily want to be working in an organisation for someone who is half their age,” Kay says. “People are living longer and are healthier so you probably have 25 years between 55 and 80 when you can get a heck of a lot done. There is a lot you can achieve and it can be hugely satisfying.”
Colin Weatherspoon, chief executive of Cobweb Information, a research firm providing information for startups, says, “Consultant-type businesses are a popular choice. Social enterprises and charities are also common – anything that involves advice… There is a market out there for experience.”
You can read the complete article at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3465326.ece
Friday, February 29, 2008
Endless possibilities
I continue to be fascinated by the amazing reinventions I hear about. Here are three (and I'm hoping to get their stories on www.rebootyou.com).
- A physician in his 50s who gave up his practice to go back to his alma mater and study philosophy, then teach medical ethics at the college level.
- An electric lineman who retired from a utility and became a policeman, going through the Police Academy with all the other rookies. (True personal note: I'm writing this in a Starbucks and Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" is playing on the store's audio system!)
- An audiologist who is giving up her practice to become a minister and provide pastoral services to people in prison.
The possibilities are endless. What's your rebooting story? From what to what? We'd love to share it with others. Go to our website and click on the link in the "Share Your Story" section.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Use it or lose it
On our website, http://www.rebootyou.com/, we offer help in finding an attorney, a financial advisor and a personal coach. In the next day or so we will be adding another important resource: help in finding a personal trainer.
I used to think that having a personal trainer was a luxury that only the very wealthy, or top professional athletes, would have. That was before I began working out with a trainer.
I've had the pleasure and good fortune of working with four highly dedicated and skilled professional trainers over the last 10 or 15 years. And I'm here to tell you that a good one is worth every penny of his or her fee.
These folks are experts on your physical body, just as financial advisors are experts on your money matters and attorneys are on legal issues. They assess your starting condition, help you establish goals for improvement, then take you through a very measured and effective program for achieving them.
Yes, a trainer will push you harder than you will push yourself, but a professional will never push you beyond your safe zone. And that push the trainer provides will give you an edge you probably wouldn't develop by yourself.
A good trainer will boost your self-confidence as well as your physical condition. And it's OK if you're overweight and out of condition to start. The important thing is to start and to stay with your program.
Your body in some ways is like your car, your house, your financial security. They all require maintenance. The old saying, "Use it or lose it," was probably first used to describe your body.
So use it! And have fun in the process!
I used to think that having a personal trainer was a luxury that only the very wealthy, or top professional athletes, would have. That was before I began working out with a trainer.
I've had the pleasure and good fortune of working with four highly dedicated and skilled professional trainers over the last 10 or 15 years. And I'm here to tell you that a good one is worth every penny of his or her fee.
These folks are experts on your physical body, just as financial advisors are experts on your money matters and attorneys are on legal issues. They assess your starting condition, help you establish goals for improvement, then take you through a very measured and effective program for achieving them.
Yes, a trainer will push you harder than you will push yourself, but a professional will never push you beyond your safe zone. And that push the trainer provides will give you an edge you probably wouldn't develop by yourself.
A good trainer will boost your self-confidence as well as your physical condition. And it's OK if you're overweight and out of condition to start. The important thing is to start and to stay with your program.
Your body in some ways is like your car, your house, your financial security. They all require maintenance. The old saying, "Use it or lose it," was probably first used to describe your body.
So use it! And have fun in the process!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
OK, I'm new at this!
Personal note:
So I missed a couple of responses to my blog. I apologize to those who stopped by and posted comments -- what lousy hospitality on my part!
The days of negligence are over. So please join in and post and I'll welcome your contribution.
Lee
So I missed a couple of responses to my blog. I apologize to those who stopped by and posted comments -- what lousy hospitality on my part!
The days of negligence are over. So please join in and post and I'll welcome your contribution.
Lee
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The End of Retirement
“The subject of my remarks is the end of retirement, and the profound effect this is going to have on all of us personally and on the marketing of goods and services in America and throughout the industrialized world.”
Say what? End of retirement? Who could possibly be saying such a thing?
None other than William Novelli, executive director and CEO of AARP. Even though he said this in a speech seven years ago, the message is even more true today. Novelli has written similar thoughts recently in AARP the Magazine and in the monthly AARP newsletter.
“Retirement as we have known it, as my Uncle Andy and millions of others practiced it, is largely disappearing,” Novelli said in his 2001 speech to the Institute of Public Relations. “And in its place there is a new, much more vital vision of how most of us will be living as we grow older.
“Now people are thinking of retirement as a beginning, not as an ending. We (AARP) did a survey recently showing that two out of three people 50 and older view this phase of life primarily as a time to begin a new chapter, start new activities, and set new goals.”
Novelli continued: “The most fundamental change in the concept of retirement is that it is likely to involve work. Our research shows that 80 percent of (Baby) Boomers expect to continue working in some form past the age of 65 – either for the money or for the fun of it. Many will start their own businesses. Others will work part-time. Still others will reinvent themselves and begin new careers, sometimes in order to give something back. This has implications for virtually every part of society: education, government, corporate America, the nonprofits, and religious institutions.”
What are you waiting for?
Say what? End of retirement? Who could possibly be saying such a thing?
None other than William Novelli, executive director and CEO of AARP. Even though he said this in a speech seven years ago, the message is even more true today. Novelli has written similar thoughts recently in AARP the Magazine and in the monthly AARP newsletter.
“Retirement as we have known it, as my Uncle Andy and millions of others practiced it, is largely disappearing,” Novelli said in his 2001 speech to the Institute of Public Relations. “And in its place there is a new, much more vital vision of how most of us will be living as we grow older.
“Now people are thinking of retirement as a beginning, not as an ending. We (AARP) did a survey recently showing that two out of three people 50 and older view this phase of life primarily as a time to begin a new chapter, start new activities, and set new goals.”
Novelli continued: “The most fundamental change in the concept of retirement is that it is likely to involve work. Our research shows that 80 percent of (Baby) Boomers expect to continue working in some form past the age of 65 – either for the money or for the fun of it. Many will start their own businesses. Others will work part-time. Still others will reinvent themselves and begin new careers, sometimes in order to give something back. This has implications for virtually every part of society: education, government, corporate America, the nonprofits, and religious institutions.”
What are you waiting for?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Boomers Hit Social Security Age
Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the nation's first Baby Boomer, today made history as the first of her generation to receive a Social Security retirement benefit. Having applied online for benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov, Ms. Casey-Kirschling, who was born at one second after midnight on January 1, 1946, today received her first payment by direct deposit.
As the nation’s first Baby Boomer, Ms. Casey-Kirschling is leading what is often referred to as America’s silver tsunami. Over the next two decades, nearly 80 million Americans will become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, more than 10,000 per day on average.
From a Social Security Administration news release, Feb. 12, 2008
* * *
In addition to collecting Social Security checks, many boomers will also be receiving income from gainful employment after reinventing themselves. And www.rebootyou.com is here to help them do that reinvention into a new phase of work.
It may be the same work, or a new career. But the key fact is that it will be a fresh start, a new beginning.
For many, the receipt of that first Social Security payment could be called a commencement exercise. Only this time, without the Pomp and Circumstance.
As the nation’s first Baby Boomer, Ms. Casey-Kirschling is leading what is often referred to as America’s silver tsunami. Over the next two decades, nearly 80 million Americans will become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, more than 10,000 per day on average.
From a Social Security Administration news release, Feb. 12, 2008
* * *
In addition to collecting Social Security checks, many boomers will also be receiving income from gainful employment after reinventing themselves. And www.rebootyou.com is here to help them do that reinvention into a new phase of work.
It may be the same work, or a new career. But the key fact is that it will be a fresh start, a new beginning.
For many, the receipt of that first Social Security payment could be called a commencement exercise. Only this time, without the Pomp and Circumstance.
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