Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6804 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-11
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Orange County Register, July 16, 2007
"[Freedman] says work will be essential for boomers. They have both a financial necessity and a psychic identity with work, he says...If the old notion was freedom from work, the new one should be freedom to work, says `Encore' author Freedman...Who says you can't carve a new life after 65?"

Review
The Wall Street Journal
“In the past decade, Mr. Freedman has emerged as a leading voice in discussions nationwide about the changing face of retirement.”

Kiplinger’s Best of 2007 List
“This book challenges baby-boomers to build a better world through a second career and provides concrete steps to help them find their next job.”

Library Journal (Starred Review)
“Freedman has written a wonderful…guide for boomers entering their next phase of life….This thoroughly readable book is highly recommended.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Freedman persuasively argues that later years can offer freedom to work in more flexible, meaningful ways, rather than only a time to be free from work.”

Marci Alboher, The New York Times
“Marc Freedman has become the voice of aging baby boomers who are eschewing retirement for…meaningful and sustaining work later in life.”

The Seattle Times
“Freedman presents a vision that is inherently optimistic, practical, productive and exciting.”

About the Author
Marc Freedman is founder and CEO of Civic Ventures. A former visiting fellow of King's College, University of London, a frequent commentator in the national media, and the author of both Prime Time and The Kindness of Strangers, Freedman spearheaded the creation of The Experience Corps and The Purpose Prize. He lives in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

An encore performance for us all
Tabloid-style headlines have infected even mainstream magazines and newspapers in recent years. Articles about the coming "Social Security Disaster" vie for attention next to those on industry's inability to overcome the "Loss Of Baby Boomer Talent" or even fears that "Baby Boomers Will Retire Into Poverty." And these are not all the ravings of radio talk show hosts trying to build audience share. Experts like the Federal Reserve's Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan have aired similar views on occasion.

Now comes author and social entrepreneur Marc Freedman to suggest that such doom and gloom are not necessary. In his new book Encore, Freedman insists that demography is not destiny. Sub-titled Finding Work That Matters In The Second Half Of Life, this excellent volume describes a number of alternative futures that could benefit us all. Freedman argues that actions we take today could simultaneously improve the national economy, strengthen our society, and improve the lot of aging Boomers throughout the land:
. For the sake of the economy, he asks that Boomers choose to - and be allowed to - remain productive;
. For the sake of society in general, he encourages Boomers to continue sharing their talents and experience; and
. For the sake of individual Boomers, he recommends changes that will allow them to remain gainfully employed, self-sustaining, and engaged in meaningful roles.

Today individual choices are often limited either to: a) 30 years of mind-numbing TV, golf and shuffleboard in the "Golden Years;" or b) greeting bargain-seekers as glorified doormen in the "Wal-Mart Years." While such retail sector bridge jobs might provide needed sustenance, they do little to maintain self-esteem or to benefit society in general. Freedman shows many ways in which tomorrow could be better than today, through a series of individual portraits of new American pioneers. As he describes them, "Instead of the freedom from work, they are searching for the freedom to work; instead of saving for a 'secure retirement,' they are underwriting an encore career."

So what could Boomers do in Freedman's bold new world? As he shows in his examples, they could:
. Stay on in their current roles instead of retiring, perhaps with more varied schedules or lesser work demands;
. Turn to helping professions such as teaching or nursing, which desperately need staff in many parts of the country;
. Learn and grow into entirely new careers, either in new interest areas or simply in response to changes in the economy; or
. Take on social entrepreneuring activities, much as Freedman has himself, in order to improve the world around us.

He also suggests ways in which today's rules about retirement could be modified, in order to help everyone involved. For example, retirees may now earn additional Social Security benefits by working from age 65 to age 68, but gain nothing more by continuing past that point. Further, they are discouraged from doing so by being forced to pay into Social Security even when they could be receiving payments from it. Similarly, employers are forced to provide equal benefits for all, even if some could be covered by Medicare. Changes to each of these policies, among others, could encourage both employers and employees to rethink today's typical forced-retirement scenarios.

Those facing medical or other issues should certainly be protected by the same options and benefits available today. Others, however, might value the opportunity to continue as productive citizens. Many, in fact, will have no choice but what Freedman calls "the practical necessity of extending working lives" - there's certainly more than a few grains of truth in all of those stories about Boomers not being financially ready to retire. Even those who do have adequate funds might not want to be set out to pasture, however. Leading-edge Boomers today, as a group, are healthier than any such age cohort which has come before them. They are likely to remain physically and mentally able to be productive for ten, twenty or even more years into the future.

Marc Freedman, by the way, does put his own energy where his mouth is. As founder and CEO of San Francisco's Civic Ventures, he has helped establish new activities including the Experience Corps, the Next Chapter, the Lead With Experience Campaign, and the Purpose Prize. You can learn more about these and other new ideas at his website, www.civicventures.org.

His book is a clearly-written and exciting vision of an alternative future that we can begin building today. Buy it now and start own encore career!

Best book since Good to Great
This is an amazing book with anecdootes and resources for anyone looking for an encore to their life's adventure. I recommend this to everyone and appreciatethe focus and passion. It is a perfect complimant for Three Cups of Tea!!!

A discussion, with case histories, of how to begin a new service career in your 60s
Society may never see another demographic group like the baby boom generation - people born between 1946 and 1964. During the 1950s, their great numbers dramatically changed everything, from manufacturing and construction to education and health care. The boomers' idealism and social activism branded the 1960s and 1970s. In subsequent decades, baby boomers changed the workplace and all other areas of life. Now, as this generation enters its retirement years, it is shaking things up again. Unlike previous seniors, boomers are not content to trudge quietly off the stage. Instead, many are choosing second careers in public service. In the process, boomers are redefining not only retirement but also work. Marc Freedman discusses this phenomenon and what it means for society by presenting profiles of baby boomers who took up second, service-oriented careers when they reached retirement age. Their stories are inspiring. getAbstract recommends this book to professionals in their late 50s and beyond who want to put their hard-won expertise to work on behalf of others.