The day after one client ‘retired’ he took all his business suits to the charity shop. For him they were a uniform and this marked a clear ‘transition’ – the end of his ‘first career’ and a first step forward to what comes next. Another took over a decade to discard the last business suit […]
Traditionally, once you stop working, you enter ‘old age’ – and from there, there is no return! All that is changing and these days ‘old age’ subdividing into ‘old age’ (the point your first career stops) and ‘frail old age’ (when ‘whatever is going to get you’ starts to emerge). Old age is the world’s […]
When Bismark created the world’s first state pension scheme in the 1880s he never expected to pay out – it was simply a creative (and seemingly popular) tax raising exercise. Life expectancy in Germany at the time was 48, so 65 was selected for benefit payments to start, thus ensuring there were few, if any, […]
If the old saying is that ‘a picture can tell 1000 words’ – just imagine what a collage can do! One of my long term clients found that with each successive year he is embracing new experiences while continuing with the things he loves. Looking to illustrate the huge variety of these many activities I […]
Yesterday we said farewell to a colleague who started with me 25 years ago. For them the time was right. Management did a nice presentation at the start of the day and her friends and colleagues put on a wonderful informal lunch. Inevitably the conversation turned to the parallel subjects of Why now? and What […]
When it comes to life planning, deciding when and how to retire is likely to be the most important decision you ever make. For earlier generations it was easy – you worked through to your 65th birthday, probably in the same industry and maybe even the same employer. It was then time to collect your […]
In researching the impact of global longevity EML identified six key areas of life that together, differentiated those who were successful in negotiating later life from those who were less so. There was no silver bullet, no ‘one thing’ that will make all the difference, instead those who were seen by their peers as ‘doing […]
When EML started Colin was an early ‘client’. His ‘first career’, in the oil industry, ended with an industry downturn and he was looking at ‘what next’. Having seen the light, he now works ‘flat out’ doing all the things he enjoys but will still need to live to at least 120 – just to […]
While the focus of EML’s research is understanding living longer it is important to say that, at an individual level, life remains a lottery and there are no guarantees. Most of the change we describe reflect a change of expectation. Be it pension funds ‘expecting’ their members to be around longer, the Health Service expecting […]
This evening I met someone making the transition from their ‘first career’ to what follows next with ease – it was wonderful. Their first career involved setting up and running a company and the transition included closing it down and drawing a line. Although this has taken time all seems to have gone well and […]