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Baby Boomers Reimagining What Retirement Really Means

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla.-- Move over Millennials. Another generation is jumping into the job market.

This other generation is no newcomer to the labor force. They're Baby Boomers who've decided to retire but have found retirement isn't what they expected.

Redefining Retirement

With an aging population living longer and healthier lives, more and more seniors are redefining what it means to retire.
 
"I know a lot of people's idea of retirement is they want to go on a cruise - go around the world and stuff," retiree Linda Rodante said. "That's never been on our radar."
 
At 67, Ms. Rodante falls at the early end of the Boomer spectrum, born in the post-World War II years of 1946 to 1964.

She retired as a college financial aid assistant in February 2015 and enjoys having flexibility in her schedule. That's not to suggest she keeps herself any less busy.

"I would say I still feel like I'm working full-time," Rodante explained.
 
In her short retirement, she has written three books. Her Christian romance novels draw from her experiences as a volunteer in human trafficking and work at a pregnancy crisis center.

The storylines delve into tough topics like domestic violence and rape, often considered taboo in Christian literature.

"Sometimes people aren't going to pick up a how-to book, but they would pick up something that's fiction that helps them," Rodante told CBN News. "Either [it] helps them know about the situation, or even to an extent can point them toward God to help them through a situation."

While writing was a childhood passion, she followed a different professional path with careers in finance and education.

Now in retirement, Rodante, who cherishes her role as a wife, mother, and grandmother, is also living her unfinished dream as an author.

"I feel like I've really been blessed," she said. "Praise God! I'm doing something I'm enjoying."

Encore Career

The decision to switch gears, like Rodante did, has a name. It's called an "encore career."

Encore career • n. \ˈän-ˌkȯr - kə-ˈrir \ work for people in their 50s and 60s that combines purpose, social impact, and a paycheck. (Investopedia)

"The word 'encore' is amazing," said Dr. Rich Feller of the Life Reimagined Institute, a nonprofit subsidiary of AARP. "It's like coming back, or thinking again, or becoming invigorated."

"This notion of an encore is a way to identify. I'm rethinking who I am. I'm taking a second chance, third chance, fifth chance to redefine who I am," Feller explained.

Feller, an expert in counseling and career development, told CBN News the traditional idea of retirement working until you hit some magic number or the body wears down no longer works, especially for Baby Boomers.

"There's 10,000 people retiring every day, and people are not going to just stop working," he said.

"We're also going to live 30 years longer," he added.

Lack of finances after the 2008 recession forced some retirees to go back to work. But according to Feller, a Boomer himself, the phenomenon also comes courtesy of the Information Age and a desire to stay connected and find greater meaning.

"We're all transitioning. Not only because work is so dynamic, but also because our families are mobile," Feller explained. "We are growing in so many different ways. We want to keep learning."

According to a Careerbuilder.com survey released in February 2015, more than half of seniors age 60 and over indicated they plan to continue working after they retire. That is a nearly 10 percent increase over the previous year. 

Reverse Mentoring

Some recent news articles suggest a turf war has developed between older and younger Americans fighting over the same jobs. But Feller believes each age group can benefit from the other.

"Many times young people coming in [the labor force] are very alert, recently trained, and are really friendly with technology," he explained. "So I think the value of a young person understanding that and adopting and integrating people who might be a little bit older you might even call that a reverse mentoring opportunity. The key then is how to value what people bring to us."

Paulette Brown, 63, a former school teacher, is another example of a Boomer who refuses to quit.

"I'm never going to say retirement. They're my best, my latter days because it's invested in people," Brown told CBN News.

She now fills her time writing books, resumes, and business plans in addition to spending time with her 11 grandchildren.

"As you get older, you need to move physically and spiritually and mentally," Brown said. "You have to move and keep yourself surrounded by young people."
 
These are themes experts say are common among today's retirees: mentoring and giving back.

For Rodante, who's guided by her Christian faith and the idea of finishing strong, some of the profits from her book sales support the local pregnancy crisis center where she once volunteered. They also help one of her sons who is a missionary in Botswana.

"You get to a place in your life and you think, I only got this many years left," she explained. "Do I have 10 years left? Five? Or like my mother and live to 89?" she pondered.

"I wanted to do something for God that would make a difference. And that's what I'm hoping my writing does."

Writing has also helped Rodante connect her encore career to that retirement dream of travel. She now plans to visit her son's family in Botswana.

"Yes, that's on my bucket list now, too  a trip to Africa!" 

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About The Author

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John
Jessup

John Jessup serves as the main news anchor for CBN, based at the network's news bureau in Washington, D.C. He joined CBN News in September 2003, starting as a national correspondent and then covering the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. His work in broadcast news has earned him several awards in reporting, producing, and coordinating election coverage. While at CBN, John has reported from several places, including Moore, Oklahoma, after the historic EF5 tornado and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He also traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the height