Fleetwood Mac or the Eagles

I recently attended a marketing conference for university people. During that conference one of hte general session speakers talked about finding our careers for the second half of life. I wondered about that until he explained.

The American dream is to retire young, in fact, most of us go before we are 65. The reality is that I will have a 50/50 chance of seeing 100 and retirement was not designed for 40 years. We live too long to sit idly by for half our lives, we are not programmed for it, we do not want it, but here is the golden piece.

While most of us will have to work in retirement, it will be on our terms. The kids are gone, the house paid off, we work when and how we choose. More and more retired Americans choose meaningful jobs, the ones they had to pass up when there were mouths to feed and more pressing financial obligations.

Yes, I really did say meaningful. So before you start to practice "Welcome to Wal-mart" consider this: resently, economists started to look at artists, did tye do their best work wehn younger or in later years. The results were split with clear stratifications. The research was expanded to include other professions with the same results. What does this mean?

The Eagles had 3 greatest hits alblums before they were 24, but Fleetwood Mac struck out for years. only when they were grey and "matured" did they come up with some of the best selling alblums ever. Again, what does this mean?

It means that it is OK that I am nearly 34 and haven't mastered the world. It means my best work may be yet to come, but probably not until I'm nearly 70 (translation - the kids are their own problem). That means I can take a deep breath, the pressure is off TODAY. Above all else, it means I have roughly 30 years before I decide what I wan tot be when I grow up.

Don't despair if you are not the Eagles, there is always Fleetwood Mac.