Leonard J. Hansen

As featured in Mature Outlook RETIRE IN (YOUR) STYLE

By Leonard J. Hansen

Imagine taking a trip without knowing where you’re going, where everything on the itinerary is exactly the same as back home, including the people, places and events you like and even those you don’t like. Not much of an adventure, you say. But, that is what most mature Americans do when they approach or are in retirement. They don’t have a vision or plan to make or take this phase of life to a new and enjoyable destination. The metaphor is not about a travel trip; but, instead, the new adventure and fulfillment possible, advises Mark Fagan, D.S.W., professor of social work at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Dr. Fagan is nationally recognized for his studies of mature lifestyles and, in particular, how retirees fulfill their desires by moving away from crowded, inhospitable cities and cold weather to smaller towns in the South and Southwest. "Whether it is a physical move or a change of attitude and the development of a new lifestyle plan and goal, mature adults can and should design a new direction for themselves. There is the freedom of time and the opportunity to reshape one’s future at any time in the maturing and retiring process." Over long years when employers or business commanded eight or more hours of each day, growing families demanded attention, and many other work, family or community-related activities seemed to sap all energy and every waking moment. But, step over the threshold to retirement. Kids are raised and gone. Jobs and their demands may also be history. Each retiree, therefore, has 24 hours a day under his or her control. Take out eight hours for nightly sleep, and the result is 5,840 hours each year, 58,400 hours in a ten-year span. What do you do with the time? "You’re now the boss," states Dr. Fagan. "Create a new direction, an adventure, new expectations and new ways to fulfill your life." Today’s 50-year-old pre- or early-retiree can expect to live, on average, another 35 years. Even a 65-year-old may anticipate 10, 15 or 20 years of future, as many as 116,800 hours over which he or she has control. To clinical psychologist Robert T. Lewis, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles, retirement is an awful word. In his book, A New Look at Growing Older: Reprogramming for the Years Ahead, he identifies the long-held assumption of "retire" to be two words, re which means again, and tire. "Literally, this means being tired again. That’s one heck of a way to look at this age of your life. It suggests lying in bed ‘til noon and spending the rest of the day watching television. That’s not the reward you deserve for all those years of hard work. Even if you’re tired of the nine to five routine, you should never opt for the tired again routine." Choosing a new direction for the best of retirement has little or nothing to do with money, particularly if you listen to Ralph Warner, founder and president of Nolo Press, the nation’s leading publisher of self-help law books. He writes in a new book, Get a Life: You Don’t Need a Million to Retire Well: "Popular advice that implores Americans to save piles of money for retirement is hugely exaggerated. Instead of focusing almost exclusively on our finances, we should instead be thinking about the things that will truly make a difference in our later years: our health, spiritual life; relationships with family and friends; and having a plate full of interesting things to do." In his book, Thirty Dirty Lies About Old, television newsman and host Hugh Downs lashed out at any assumptions that the age of retirement was concurrently the time to slow down and assume the worst. He quoted the great actress Helen Hayes and her statement: "If you rest, you rust." Downs is trained and experienced in news and broadcasting; but by choice and later educational endeavors, a graduate gerontologist. Now in his 70s, he has the wherewithal to retire to his ranch in Carefree, Arizona, but found after his first and second attempts at retirement that what fulfilled his life was broadcasting. Don’t expect him to sign off his career any time soon. Robert S. Menchin retired from the communications vice presidency of the Chicago Board of Trade ten years ago; and first thought he would be satisfied looking out at the hustle and bustle of the city from his Lake Shore Drive high-rise home. "It didn’t work. People told me to take up golf. But why? I asked. Because that’s what retirees are supposed to do I was told. To me, communicating with people had been vital to my life and fulfillment; I could leave a career in investment marketing but to leave communicating with and for people? Never." Retiree Menchin returned to work by writing books. Major publishers have recognized his work; and the prestigious Prentice Hall published his volume on how a retiree can return to the workplace in the kind of job and satisfaction he or she wants. New Work Opportunities for Older Americans also triggered a popular monthly column which runs in mature market newspapers throughout the nation. Not resting on his laurels, his new book, 101 Classic Jewish Jokes: Jewish Humor from Groucho Marx to Jerry Seinfeld," is currently in bookstores. "In retirement," states Menchin, "I don’t think about working; I think about and revel in communicating." In an intensive three-week Summer Getaway course for 43 mature adults from throughout the United States at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, the talk was about lifestyle, goals, opportunities, volunteerism, family and relationships, travel and new adventures. Finance and monetary constraints were not the focus - new directions and accomplishments in retirement comprised the major discussion. The satisfaction and rewards from volunteerism were recited by 40 of the participants. Murray Liebowitz retired at 55 from his Los Angeles-based shipping supply business in 1959, "because I was already following my dream of working to help the elderly, people with human service needs and community organizations." He and his wife moved to Palm Springs, California, where resting was nowhere in his plan. "My goal for retirement years was to help people in a meaningful way; and it still is." He bought a home on a golf course; but put away the woods, irons and tees to spend more time in community service. "Money was not a consideration in my retirement goal; I didn’t tie my life to a financial plan, and I sure am glad that I didn’t. What I want to do is far more important, far more rewarding," said Liebowitz in an interview. Visit Palm Springs and you’ll find Liebowitz most anywhere you go. He is chairman of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) - which assists budding entrepreneurs - and a leader in the human service programs of the City of Hope, the Exchange Club and the Palm Springs Stroke Center. "To me, retirement is the time and has the potential for the greatest fulfillment of a person’s dreams." Now 83, Liebowitz is enthusiastic when he talks about his new life work, his very active retirement: "If I had listened to the financial gurus about retirement I would never have accomplished this, the greatest time of my life." "Successful retirement is not just taking it easy or playing endless rounds of golf," says Dr. Fagan. "Successful retirement is also not the same for everyone. Each one of us is a different person, so our individual desires, talents and interests, our goals, life destinations and what rewards us, are all distinct. There is no mold into which we all fall or fit when our hair turns gray. "You can shed most everything you don’t want in your life - people, places and/or things - to make room for your vision of what you really want to do or be now that you’ve grown up and have the freedom to choose your own direction and timetable." Planning the direction, the itinerary to the best of retirement "Start with a clean sheet of paper to create your future," advises retiree and author Menchin. "It’s like that great moment and song in the Disney film, Pinocchio, when the puppet is transformed into a real boy. With new freedom from constraint, no longer controlled by others, he exclaims and sings: There are no strings on me. That is what retirement is about." For planning, Menchin recommends: Draw a line down the center of the paper; the process will actually take many sheets. On the left is where you are now. Start listing what is in present life, whether you are planning to retire or are already in retirement. List everything. Location, people, places, events - everything. After that is done, read and consider each item and whether you want it in your future and new lifestyle. Add to the right side of the list your thoughts on what you have wanted to do but somehow have not been able to do. Ask yourself how do I want to fill my days and time, because you are now the boss. "The right side of the paper will identify what, where and with whom you really want to be, what should make you happy. The result may surprise you," said Menchin. "From this basis you are creating the script for the best time of your life." "Anything can be changed," advises Dr. Fagan. "You have the freedom of choice; to move, launch new directions, careers - anything." Areas of concern to be considered in creative retirement planning, according to Dr. Fagan, include: Health: Have you maintained your health, and what can you do to better your health?Family and relationships: How do you want to shape your family relationships and interaction with them? Are there people you want to shed and new people you want to meet and share with? Location: Consider where you want to live for what you want to do. "You may opt to stay right where you are, or you may move across the country or halfway around the world," said Dr. Fagan. Activity: What current and new things do you want to accomplish; what do you want to learn; what do you want to share with others; what do you want to put into your days and years ahead? Challenges: What new challenges and growth do you want to achieve? Timetable: How soon do you want your new direction to start and in what stages? "Any change is fair game. We had been incredibly involved in the complex world of television and radio in Los Angeles; but we wanted a change in retirement," states Ray Parker, former chief writer for Art Linkletter and Hanna Barbera cartoons, and comedy writer for Bob Hope and scores of other funnymen. "The job was controlling us and limited what we could do for ourselves. Ethel and I started with a clean sheet of paper and designed what we wanted in our retirement and lifestyle. We didn’t want to just move away from where we were and the life we had, but to something we really wanted for our lives." Their new direction involved an 18-month odyssey by motorhome throughout the United States to find a small town, in a beautiful surrounding, and with a college or university for the cultural advantages. They not only found the place in Durango, Colorado, but the adventure and the freedom of exploring their choice of direction was captured in a very funny book, RV Having Fun Yet? which Parker wrote and self-published. In his new hometown, the writer has switched to acting, drawing rave reviews for his portrayal of Scrooge in The Christmas Carol; he heads community and cultural programs; led the team to revitalize the local United Way program; and mentors young writers." Parker adds: "In all of it, I don’t take myself seriously any more - and that’s a relief!" Parker’s advice to other potential and current retirees: "Know that you are the architect of what you want to do, be or accomplish. And, it is never too late to grow up to that level and freedom. Don’t rely on others to tell you what to do; don’t be starry-eyed about your goals; forgive yourself if you stumble or need to make a course correction; leave the yesterdays and what you don’t want behind you; and be as happy and rewarded as you want to be. Open your mind and chart a new direction and follow it to a new destination, the best years of your life." "You, yourself, are the only expert on what you really want in your retirement lifestyle," said Parker. "Your design for the future may call for changes, a move, a new career; but if you accept control of your time, you will be able to accomplish all that you want for the greatest time of your life." "If I had not opened my mind to the possibilities of retirement, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to write my new books and newspaper column," adds Menchin. "I am excited every day that I can help a new business turn a corner, counsel a woman to develop a successful business, or raise another contribution for the City of Hope," enthuses Liebowitz. "Doing what I want in retirement is what keeps me going." Retirement expert Dr. Fagan adds the challenge: "Draw your own roadmap; you’ll be surprised at what you can envision and the retirement lifestyle you want."