Give your Life an Encore

The life expectancy among the senior population has increased and individuals are now living longer and in good health, which often means working past retirement age. With this trend, a new opportunity for reinvention has also sprung up for seniors.

Instead of continuing in their current line of work, some seniors are deciding to change things up and pursue alternative career paths. Marc Freedman explains this decision further in his book “Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life,” where he provides a number of examples of older adults who are changing their careers later in life.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average life expectancy is into the late 70s. Plus, a significant number of Americans are expected to live into their 90s. In fact, Americans who reached age 65 in 2011 are projected to live another 21 years to age 86, on average. If these same Americans reach age 86, their life expectancy would extend to age 93.  This in turn gives seniors an opportunity to pursue aspirations and goals that may have been of interest in the past or to explore new interests. Freedman calls this an “encore career” and argues that if seniors are going to continue to work they should work and participate in something meaningful and with purpose.

One example in Freedman’s book that stood out most was of a woman named Mary who had always dreamed of becoming a nurse. As a child she wore a handmade nurse’s uniform and dispensed care to neighbors. But as an adult, she ended up in office management. Once Mary reached 50, she decided to make a change and do something that she had always wanted to do, something that meant something to her . . . become a nurse. After finishing nursing school in her mid-50s, she now works as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit of a small rural hospital.

Mary made herself a new life map. She realized that her lifespan had increased and with it so had her ambition and need for a meaningful life. A nursing career at 50 fit the bill.

At Senior Community Centers, we are seeing an increase in our clients using the computers and Internet access in our Bud & Esther Fischer Cyber Café, to update their resumes and apply for job openings. In fact, our resume building classes are always full to capacity. These older adults are reinventing themselves and looking to find purposeful employment that could be for financial reasons, but to support their growth as they age, such as volunteering. The positive changes with our clients are indicative of the “encore career” and shift in perception about the working older adult.

As a nation we need a call to action to support our new opportunity: the “encore career,” a stage of life characterized by purpose, contribution and commitment, and an opportunity for society to "grow up" along with its population. Investing in this stage of life won’t happen by itself. The new stage could be the ultimate destination of sorts, the stage in life where you finally arrive and gives you the utmost satisfaction.

This new path for seniors will present our society with a shift. This shift will affect our culture, public policies, social thinking and more. We will lay the ground for future generations with the “encore years” the time between middle adulthood and anything that represents retirement. Let’s embrace the “encore years”, a time dedicated to seniors and our purpose in life.

Paul Downey is the president and CEO of Senior Community Centers, a nonprofit agency dedicated to keeping San Diego seniors healthy and independent. Learn more at www.servingseniors.org.