The Platinum Living Network

One of the main tenets of the Platinum Living Network is that "getting the best out of the rest of your life" involves the discovery, cultivation and pursuit of one's passion(s). Just about everything I have read, or written, on this topic, includes "passion discovery" as a basic step in the retirement process, and a key to answering that all-important question, "What do you want to do with the rest of your life?" When I covered this topic in February, I shared some simple tests which are designed to eliminate the perceived constraints of money or time in order to help you discover your true passions. Recently, however, I was reminded of another effective method of self discovery, which comes at this target from the OPPOSITE direction under the premise that an equally effective way to discover what you LOVE might be to look at what you HATE. When I first heard of this, I have to admit that it was one of those "light dawns on Marblehead" mom

I knew I would probably recommend this book from the moment I read the title. But the subtitle put me over the top - " 5 Steps to Fulfilling Work That Fuels Your Passion , Suits Your Personality , and Fills Your Pocket " In setting forth these three attributes, the authors, Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners, apply their 25 years of experience in personal and professional transition counseling to identify the key ingredients of a successful "second half of life." I have written pretty extensively about the importance of pursuing our passions at all stages of life, and we have dabbled with personality issues, particularly through our recommendations of the book Authentic Happiness and the associated website, www.authentichappiness.org , where you can find a number of free personality tests. And although I have not written directly about filling our pockets in retirement, or "rewirement," this idea is implicit in my encouragements not to take social security

I grew up in a family that had to be pretty careful with money. I remember in early elementary school when school lunches were 23 cents, my two brothers and I each brought home our two pennies and deposited them in a jar which was earmarked for our first trip to a restaurant. We finally had our first restaurant meal as a family when I was about twelve years old ... at a local restaurant's "2 for 1 night." Actually, we didn't quite make it as a family. My older brother was so nervous about eating at a restaurant that he developed an upset stomach at the last minute and had to stay home. Then I married Melanie, the "Platinum wife," whose money experience was, let's just say, the opposite of mine. Although her family was not wealthy by any means, her Dad always showered her and her siblings with pretty much whatever they asked for. This made for an, um, "interesting" first few years of marriage for us. Yet despite our differences, there is o

A while back, I saw an article that labelled early retirement as "selfish and unpatriotic." I didn't pass it along at the time, as I felt that people shouldn't be made to feel guilty about checking out of the workforce and living the traditional retirement. I want the Platinum Years Network to be about helping people pursue their passions, and ultimately that is a much better motivator than guilt. But this article keeps popping up here and there, and often generates some pretty passionate responses, and tonight I came across another such article, so I thought I would open it up for discussion. The first and older article is called, " Early retirement is an act of selfishness ," by Andrew Yarrow, vice president and director of the Washington, D.C., office of Public Agenda, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. Yarrow urges the nation's 78 million baby boomers to forgo traditional or early retirement and work for a few more years, for their own s