Introducing Dr. Joe Coughlin

Roger introduces Joe Coughlin of the MIT Age Lab to discuss longevity, technology, and retirement identity.

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Episode notes

How are you going to redefine yourself in retirement? Retirement means making the life transition from a full-time career to full-time living on your own terms. Although this is exciting, it can also be scary. During this series, you’ll learn how to create a framework to do this successfully. Learn how to figure out your identity and who you want to become. Are you ready to redefine yourself in retirement? Listen to this episode of Retirement Answer Man to begin to make this huge transition in your life.

Who are you?

We get so wrapped up in our professional titles that now in retirement you have a void to fill. Not only do you have to figure out the logistics of money, healthcare, where you’re going to live, now you’ll have to figure out your identity. Some people can lose direction when they retire. They think about who they were rather than who they want to become. Creating an identity from a completely blank slate can be a challenge. People don’t do well with blank slates. We prefer multiple-choice questions and don’t have the skills required to choose from such a broad palette. Do you know who you are? Do you know who you want to become?

Why did I shift the focus of this series from finding your purpose?

I had originally planned for this month to be all about finding your purpose in retirement, but then Mike the listener had an objection. Mike feels that there is too much pressure in finding your purpose of retirement. You probably won’t solve the problem of world hunger. Retirement is like the start of college, it’s the beginning of another round of self-exploration. Unfortunately, the analogy ends there since college has a structure and pressure. A well-funded retirement is free of pressure and structure. How will you grow and change in the absence of pressure?

How can you hack longevity?

It used to be that you might get 10 years of retirement in to simply sit on the park bench. Nowadays ⅓ of your adult life consists of retirement. The pattern written by previous generations doesn’t hold up for this new generation of retirees. This new stage of life has to be reinvented. Just because you stopped working doesn’t mean that you stop everything. People are beginning to hack their longevity by identifying their interests early on in retirement. These interests will carry them for the years of their retirement.

Are you ready to redefine yourself in retirement?

When you retire, you can’t just run away from work, you need something to run to. It's not the absence of work that people desire in retirement, it’s the flexibility. Before beginning your retirement it’s time to start thinking about who you really are. What’s your reason to get up in the morning? What will be your storyline? How can you use the skills you have accumulated over a lifetime and translate them into the new game of retirement?

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT