Boomers are starting stage two of retirement

The fact that the first of the Baby Boomers turn 72 this year may be of interest to the pundits and those who want to make more about the aging of the boomers. These people will carry on conversations that are of little interest to us.  What is exciting to me is that as we turn 72 many boomers are starting the second phase of retirement. 

A study found that there are four distinct phases of retirement, the third stage starts about 5 to 8  years into retirement, which is about when Boomers turn 72. When it comes to leisure, Boomers in this stage are most likely to exercise, shop, read, volunteer, take classes, and socialize with friends. As well spending on travel, and the pace of travel rises with more interest in immersive experiences. We want to make special new memories — particularly ones that are shared with loved ones. Voluntourism, cruises, adventure travel, international sightseeing, RV travel, and overnight spa trips are common. Only 9 percent of retirees in this stage are still working, often in different and more enjoyable ways than they did during their core careers. Also, in this stage, we continue to focus on the relationships in our life.

The Beatles had a song about turning 64, many think that song is about aging, but the song is about the sustaining of relationships not growing old. The lyrics are about how to keep love alive and the need we have to know that the relationship we are in is the correct one for us.

I had an interesting conversation with three young colleagues (two men and one woman), it was after school and they were talking about how to know if a relationship was good and what they could do to maintain. I was asked my views and I suspect they thought that they thought with the wisdom of age I would have the answer. Sorry to disappoint but we as boomers value relationships, but many of us are not good at keeping them. 

All I could talk about is the following:

The idea is that we need to be honest with our selves about what we want and what we need, at an emotional, physical, and intellectual level. To find out what we need requires hard thought, and self-investigation and is not something that is done easily. However, once you have spent the time and energy to find these things about yourself then be honest and communicate using "I language" to your partner what you need.

It may be that your partner cannot give you what you need at this time in your life. If this is the case move on. This is easy to say but hard to do, however, if you want to be happy then you may have to make tough decisions about the type of relationship you want.

Back to the Beatles, I saw the Beatles when they came to Vancouver in the 60's and enjoyed the show and love their music still today. Boomers may hold on to old memories but we find ways to make them come alive today. Music was an important part of my life and I have talked about this in an earlier post.