What me think about the future? You're kidding right?

This is the first in a blog series about mid-life and beyond issues.

We will talk about all the things you need to think about in preparing for the future, but we won’t spend a minute on financial issues, we will leave that for the experts.

The focus will be on the changing nature of the state of life we call retirement and how the Baby boomers and the Generation X’ers and Y’ers will change the landscape of a traditional “gold watch at 65” retirement mentality.

Bill Clarke is a semi-retired (which means he doesn’t have enough money to retire) management consultant who authored a book entitled, "Retirement Renaissance." As the title suggests, the world of retirement planning is changing rapidly. The traditional retirement of your parents and grandparents is being challenged by new generations who have their own ideas about retirement and what they want to do with their future.

What me think about the future? You’re kidding, right?

There are a great many things that happen to us when we approach the dark side of 40. First, we realize that we are now sliding down the other side of the mountain that we have been scaling ever since we got out of college.

Second, for many of us, our lives were changed dramatically when we became parents. Life used to be so simple, not any more. Next, many of us are also confronting the prospect that one day we will come face to face with the prospect of retirement. Good Heavens! I don’t think I want to talk about this yet.

Some of you will look forward to retirement as a goal or a happy ending for a career well spent. Others simply wonder if you will have the financial resources to sustain a lifestyle to which you have accustomed yourself.

Still others of you don’t want to think about retirement because you haven’t as yet accomplished all the goals you set out to achieve. And, down deep, a great many of you in the 40 and 50-something crowd really love your job and career and position in life and don’t want to change anything. But, your life will change in the future whether you plan for it or not.   

I was pondering my own feelings about retirement recently while I sipped a magnificent new Belgium ale at the on the Square in Decatur. My wife was visiting her sister in Florida and we are blessed with the long sought after nirvana of being “Empty Nesters” so I had the entire evening to sip ales and watch the crowd.

A person who reaches the state of being an “empty nester” is more than qualified to talk about future life things because we have experienced the “thrill of victory” when we saw our kids leave for college and the “agony of defeat” when they graduated and wanted to move back into their old room.

We have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of life after 40 and we have no axe to grind about any particular issue. We have simply accumulated a great deal of wisdom that might be helpful in guiding others through some difficult periods in their lives.

From my vantage spot of the circular bar, I could easily spot the 40-something guys and gals. They’re the ones who are at the pub to drink, eat and enjoy. The younger crowd is still more interested in seeing and being seen, between their texting and tweeting, and possibly finding a companion for the evening, or longer.

I began to wonder how many people in the pub have ever thought about what they want to do when they really grow up and retire. It’s not something that very many of us talk about. I guess it’s something that is reserved for a later time in life.

Now it’s at this point some might think I am setting you up for a sales pitch on financial planning, or the point where the announcer comes in and says, “Alright folks, it’s time to talk about 401k plans, etc. etc.. Then you will offer a collective sigh, followed by, “I’m out of here.” Well, we won't go there. 

The fact is that not many of us really want to talk about the future; we want to stay in the present and enjoy our next new experience. The thought being that there will be plenty of time to think about the future…in the future.

I think I’ll have another Belgium ale, thank you.

In the next blog, we will start to uncover the truths and realities about the “Ten Most Misunderstood Issues about Growing Older (and the future).”