Within the last couple of weeks some of our favourite people have spoken out (some colourfully so) against retirement.

Frank Langella, actor, 73, in a recent interview said, “It’s the greatest decade of my career, my seventies. When you start out as a young actor, you think, thirties is old, then forties and fifties come, and there are so many wonderful parts to play. And something has happened to me in the last five years… a kind of ease with myself…” Langella is also stretching in new directions, writing, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women as I Knew Them.

Dame Judi Dench, 77, told Charlie Rose she doesn’t like to talk about getting older or even the word, ‘old.’ “It’s do with that thing you get, ‘Are you going to retire? Are you going to retire soon?’ And you think, ‘What for?’.” (Charlie agreed with her, having recently taken on a new role as co-host of CBS This Morning at 70.)

Tom Jones, 71, told the Daily Star, “I hope my life comes to a natural full stop so maybe it’d be easiest if I fell down dead on stage. I hate the thought of not being able to sing – I’ve no idea how I’d fill my time. It’d be terrible if I had to sit around listening to other people’s records, thinking: ‘I can’t do that any more.’ It could happen that I’ll just get too tired to tour any more and it’ll be time for a long sit-down. But having it forced on me, sat at home with regrets? F*** that.”

Paul McCartney (who turns 70 in June), told Rolling Stone that even before he turned 50 he was being pressured to retire. Twenty years later, he has no plans to stop touring or recording. “You get the argument ‘Make way for the young kids’ and you think, ‘F*** that, let them make way for themselves. If they’re better than me, they’ll beat me.’”

Marta Eggerth, 100, shared this thought with CBC Radio’s Michael Enright, “Never retire.” This opera and film star also said she feels much younger than her years and would “have to live to 200 to tell you what it’s like to be 100.” (Eggerth’s is the second interview in this podcast.)

We sense a trend. The finish line is moving. And may just disappear altogether.

Make no mistake – it’s not just about working forever. It’s about finding the sweet spot where work and life grow together – where we don’t simply endure one in order to squeeze in the other. Where we discover something that so inspires and challenges us that we want to keep going – and going – without thought of our age.

Think only the rich and famous can think such thoughts? Look no further than Ireland’s Bealtaine Festival for evidence of what’s possible. It’s a month-long celebration of ‘creativity as we age.’ In this video, sent to us by the festival’s director, Dominic Campbell, they ask creative people two questions, “What kind of old do you want to be?” and “What kind of world do you want to grow old in?” It’s all hugely entertaining and fascinating – including what young people have to say about the years after 50.

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We’re developing our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

Author George Sand put it this way, “Try to keep your soul young and quivering right up to old age, and to imagine right up to the brink of death that life is only beginning. I think that is the only way to keep adding to one’s talent, to one’s affections, and to one’s inner happiness.”

Painter Robert Rauschenberg, when asked by his lunch guests if he really wanted to go back into his studio on such a lovely day, said “I don’t want more time off. I want more time on.”

Is what you’re doing now something that can stretch and grow with you? Are you looking for new work that is fresh and bold and will help you feel fully alive?

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

“Take only pictures, leave only footprints.” It’s a classic ‘70s slogan, but it could have been used as the title of a new white paper released by the MetLife Mature Market Institute that reflects on the impression a generation has made on the world. “How Boomers Turned Conventional Wisdom on its Head,” by W. Andrew Achenbaum, professor of Global Aging at the University of Houston, takes the unusual step of looking back from 2112, or a hundred years from now when our generation is long gone.

It’s an interesting report – and a curious sensation to read your own obit while you’re still breathing – but as a performance review, it’s not all glowing. In fact, if it were a report card, we’d get at least a few Cs – for growing complacent (or as he says, “copping out,” “dropping out” or “joining the Silent Majority”), or turning ultra-conservative, or just turning to flab (or far less fit than our parents were).

Summing up, however, Achenbaum says, “This age cohort deserves much credit for orchestrating social change. It helped young and old everywhere to think about how they see others, how to make a difference.”

What you begin to realize while reading is this ‘difference’ is not so much about the big things or the major events – civil rights and the women’s movement, anti-war demonstrations and gay rights – but how they manifested into everyday occurrences or rather the accepted norm. Mixed-religion marriages, interracial marriages, gay/lesbian marriages, common-law partnerships, divorce, women in the workplace or on the board of directors, women in the housing market, men taking parental leave – when you think about it, there isn’t a facet of how we live our lives today that hasn’t been transformed. (Certainly Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, both Boomers, changed communication forever, but we can’t all take credit for that.)

Given his 2112 perspective, Achenbaum also imagines our future (including our health issues, our living arrangements and long-term care), and forecasts “Boomers in late life had another chance to expand a common good to be shared with peers and strangers. Preserving social insurance, valuing young and old, and saving the earth actualized Boomers’ longstanding quest for inclusivity at home and across national borders.”

Of course, this white paper is, in reality, an interim report. Obviously, we’re not dead yet and we’re not even remotely finished. There’s little doubt about Achenbaum’s positive predictions that we will rally for the environment and social insurance, and against ageism. But, as we see it, there’s more. While battling ageism, we will not only shatter stereotypes and prejudices of what it means to grow old – or yet again champion a marginalized, misunderstood segment of society – we will change the very concept of aging. Just as this generation created the category of ‘teenager,’ we will continue to alter the life course, or reinvent this next stage of life. In fact, this could just be our finest hour.

My Generation

Last note: We couldn’t help ourselves. C’mon, what other final note would you expect us to end on, or ‘Who’ else could be more perfect?

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We’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

Rethinking an entire culture isn’t something to do before breakfast. But doesn’t it sound like a tempting challenge to tackle over the next decade or two?

This week, consider what you might do to nudge the process along. Maybe taking something we once did in our sleep – ‘Question authority’ comes to mind – and give it a 21^st century spin?

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

It’s no secret that the world’s population is aging. What remains in question is how we’re going to respond to this new demographic reality. This week, we found two examples that sum up what we’ve come to think of as ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ thinking.

Old World: “Should job-hogging over-50s all resign?” BBC News Magazine

That’s the question Lucy Kellaway, the Financial Times commentor on office and workplace life asked in a recent piece for the BBC. She began with a stat about shockingly high unemployment rates for young people and proposed a radical solution. “The only way of solving the problem is to make everyone of a certain age, say over 50, walk the plank.” Bit of a wink, perhaps. But how about this thought? “The choice boils down to whether it’s better for people to have a decade at the beginning or at the end of their careers when they are demoralized and underemployed. The answer is easy. Surely it is better to be more active at the beginning.” Kellaway sums up much of the current thinking about the very different world that’s emerging.

New World: Oxford London Lecture 2012: The 21^st Century – the last century of youth?

Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University Of Oxford and Director, Oxford Institute of Population Aging, delivered this year’s lecture and takes a rather different view. She began her talk by describing the major shift that is underway. “Within 10 years half the population of Europe will be 50-plus. In 20 years, there will be more old people in Asia than young. And today, globally, there are more people over 65 than under five.” She then pointed out that most of the coverage of these facts focuses on what a burden this aging population will be.

She addresses the issue of young people – “generation inequity” – head on. “We need to help young people understand that to be part of a diminishing cohort is actually very positive.” If young people are educated and willing to travel, there are already huge opportunities. “And far from being reduced, your horizons will be broadened more than any generation before.”

Like you, we vote for the new world described by Professor Harper. We’re all for helping young people see what’s possible now and what’s coming. And for the creation of a world in which people over 50 can continue to grow and learn and contribute.

And now for something completely different. Two weeks ago, in Pulse No. 10, we posed the question, “Will Boomers save the movie industry?” Two new films offer dramatically different takes on life after 50 – and reason to cheer. If you like what you see in these trailers remember to vote with your pocketbook because that’s world changing, too.

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Pulse postscript: Reporter Judy Steed’s ‘Turning Point’ series continues in the Toronto Star newspaper until the end of June. She’s also blogging each day – sharing updates of the 10 people whose midlife reinvention she’s following, as well as ideas and information that will help your own journey.

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RIPE Review

We’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

Julia spoke at the ICAN Women’s Leadership Conference in Omaha last month, attended by 2000 women from across the American Midwest. Her RIPE speech was standing-room-only and you could have heard a pin drop. It’s clear that as we re-invent this phase of life, individual interest is at an all-time high. And younger people are beginning to understand the positive implications for their lives, too.

Given the question posed by this week’s Pulse, how might each of us help drive the social change Professor Sarah Harper talks about? This week, why not make a list of 10 things you could do to make a difference? Everything from writing to world leaders (and forwarding Pulse to them!) to delivering a lunch-and-learn session to your colleagues.

Then, pick one thing from your list and do it. Send us your activist actions – and results – and we’ll share the best examples in a future issue.

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

When polled, more than 60 percent of us say we’ll keep working past traditional retirement age. It’s an interesting fact. Even more intriguing, however, is the latest news from Sun Life’s Antiretirement Index. Their findings? One out of five or 20 percent of working Americans now say they’ll never retire. Not ever. If this is the future, then the Vita Needle Company in Needham, Massachusetts – where the median age of employees is 73 – gives us a preview of what tomorrow looks like.

In her new book, Retirement on the Line: Age, Work, and Value in an American Factory, released earlier this month, cultural anthropologist Caitrin Lynch takes us inside an organization that manufacturers needles and tubing for medical, auto and other sectors, with a workforce composed mostly of senior citizens. “The first impression is gray hair and industriousness,” says Lynch, who spent five years studying the factory and one summer working on its production line. “But, it’s an oasis of meaning for older adults.”

The meaning she refers to is, in a sense, the meaning of life. Much more than earning a paycheck, what Vita Needle’s senior employees earn is a sense of importance, of purpose, and – working alongside their younger colleagues – a sense of interaction and community.

“The workers very much want the kind of work arrangement they have found at Vita Needle. It meets the goals they have for work at this stage of life – supplemental income, flexible tasks, flexible hours,” Lynch says. In other words, they can fit working life around other parts of their lives, be it watching an afternoon baseball game, watching the grandkids, or a vacation to go whale-watching. “Workers themselves,” she says, “describe the situation as ‘win-win.’”

The win for their employer is a dedicated, largely part-time workforce (made up of former executives, machinists, teachers, engineers and others) that is already covered by Social Security and Medicare – which means no need for benefits like health insurance or pension plans.

To cynics who might see this arrangement as a do-gooder’s ploy to keep seniors occupied or off the streets or – worse – as exploitation, think again. ‘Eldersourcing,’ a phrase Lynch coins, is serious business.

“Experience is something that you really cannot compensate for,” says Fred Hartmann, 59, president of Vita Needle (a family-run company established in 1932, and as old as many of its employees). “I think that’s why we’re an effective company.” Last year Vita Needle reported sales of $10-million.

Whether the point is business or busyness, as the company’s oldest employee Rosa Finnegan (pictured above) – who turned 100 this year – says, “What is there to do at home but go crazy?”

As the song goes, Rosa and her colleagues ‘keep truckin’.’ They’re not the Grateful Dead – not even close – but they’re no doubt grateful for Vita Needle’s hiring policy, which keeps them engaged, active and very much alive.

For author Lynch, the lessons – for business, politicians, policy-makers and society on the whole – are clear. Now and in future, no matter what age “we need to engage people for what they are, what they value, and what their hopes and dreams are.”

Parting shot: For a glimpse into your future and a look at the Vita Needle Company today, see this recent video clip from The Boston Globe.

Vita Needle, Boston Globe 

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Pulse postscript: On the theme of last week’s ‘what’s your view of aging?’ post, we received some inspiring comments from our elder compatriots – all over the age of 65. Words from the wise.

“In James Lee Burke’s book The Tin Roof Blowdown, a character declares ‘ … once you reach three score and ten, contemplating mortality is not an elective study,’ and I think that is one of the more brilliant statements on aging.  It is not a matter or ignoring that fact you’re in your 70s, late 60s, early 80s, whatever.  You deal with the fact of that directly, but it is not a given that you must therefore see yourself as being ‘old’ in our North American (and elsewhere) terms.  You can be who you are, you don’t need to be in your so-called declining years, but the end-of-days are always over your shoulder. If anything, that should galvanize you to continue at your best full speed. I think it is in that in-between place between accepting the fact and urging yourself forward which is where we need to ‘contemplate mortality.’”  – Madeline Thompson, script doctor

“I’ve been lecturing and writing about age and taking risks. When I hit 60, I decided to take every creative risk I’d avoided. The result? In the past six years: five books, one play, one optioned film, two documentaries, more of all of these in production. Aging is a joy … the shackles are off and it’s risk time!” – Victoria Zackheim, author of For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance

“What’s my view of aging?  I’m all for it, as long as it doesn’t stop!” – Jack Boan, professor emeritus, University of Regina

Follow their lead. Send us your comments on aging or, if you prefer, society’s misconceptions of what being 50-plus means.

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RIPE Review

We’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

Do you intend to work forever? Most of the pioneers interviewed for RIPE said yes. They’re not just postponing retirement but eliminating it as an option altogether. As Peter Frampton told Oprah, “The ‘R-word’ isn’t even in my vocabulary.”

This week, think about your future self – what you might need in the years after your initial ripening. As you continue to grow (and as the world around us changes), how might you continue to ripen?

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their 

We are the new disappeared: people over 50 years of age should not be seen or heard. Is it any wonder we are encouraged to empty our pockets for products and services that promise to make the years vanish?

Which is why discovering The Face Age Project was like entering a different dimension. This new exhibit – currently on display at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) – helps us step outside all that and take a fresh if not refreshing look at what it means to grow older.

Face Age is a multi-media installation. Walking into the space, visitors find themselves between screens filled with larger-than-life faces of university students and older citizens. The people on screen are having conversations about their feelings and perceptions of aging and, as they talk, we see their faces change – ‘face aging technology’ is used to age the young people and peel away the years of the elders. (Photo taken by UNCW’s Katherine Freshwater.)

We asked Andy Belser, 51, chair of UNCW’s Theatre department, what inspired the concept. “I’ve been interested in the taboos of aging all my life,” he says. “As I grew older, I was ready to create something.”

By happy accident, he met Karl Ricanek, director of the Face Aging Group at the university, which creates computer models of aging faces for use in criminology. A second chance encounter, this time with Dave Monahan of UNCW’s Film Studies department, and a conversation about Monahan’s documentaries, helped the idea take shape. “I imagined the pilot installation in crisp detail,” Belser told us. Others quickly came on board from across the university, including Gerontology’s Ellie Covan, and Brenda Pavil from the Nursing department.

How did participants respond to being asked to be part of the project? Belser says all of them – whether the under-25 Theatre major undergraduates or the over-70 subjects from the university’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – were apprehensive at first about what might happen, yet as the process got underway, each soon revealed vulnerable parts of themselves. Not surprisingly, both Face Age participants and visitors to the exhibit report being deeply moved by the experience. “It seems to be touching people from very different age groups in very emotional ways,” Belser says.

Face Age runs until April 22. There are plans for a traveling installation, a large-scale, live multi-media tour, a website, a documentary, and published research. Yet, listening to Belser, it’s clear the real outcome may be much deeper. “I can’t help but wonder … if we made a habit of this sort of honest look at aging, how might our culture change?”

Advanced Style on YouTube

Lasting image: We end this week’s post with yet another unique view of aging – a clip by filmmaker Lina Plioplyte and photographer Ari Seth Cohen (please click on link to see video.) Cohen’s Advanced Style blog was inspired by his grandmother’s inimitable sense of style and it’s become a hugely popular ode to the chic confidence of New Yorkers over the age of 60. His first book, Advanced Style, will be released in May.

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Pulse postscript: Reporter Judy Steed’s ‘Turning Point’ series continues in the Toronto Star newspaper until the end of June. She’s also blogging each day – sharing updates of the 10 people whose midlife reinvention she’s following, as well as ideas and information that will help your own journey.

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RIPE Review

We’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

How’s your Ripe Circle coming along?

We’ve been talking about how important Ripe Circles are and how to pull one together (lots of readers, for instance, are sharing Pulse and RIPE with their book clubs).

Here’s a tip. Whether you intend to become a Ripe Master (continue in the same field) or a Ripe Pathfinder (head out in a new direction), it’s important for your Ripe Circle or support group to include some people who have the same goal. Supportive is good; understanding exactly what you’re talking about is even better. So, if you think you want to become an entrepreneur, add someone who’s headed in the same direction to your circle. Or better still, someone who’s already an entrepreneur and understands the unique challenges of starting a new venture.

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

“You talkin’ to me?” Taxi Driver, 1976

No doubt everybody recognizes the famous phrase delivered by Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. Today, we could borrow the line ourselves. In fact, anyone who’s checked out what’s playing at movie theatres this week or what’s coming out on DVD is probably asking the same question. Is anybody talking to us?

The answer: well, no, not really. Like the elephant in the room, when it comes to the movie industry, the 50-plus population is strangely overlooked. Funny that. We’re big in numbers (more than 78 million in U.S., and 9 million in Canada) and large in worth (we have more and spend more than any other age group), but apparently we’re not that obvious. Or is that conspicuous by our absence?

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Network, 1976

The entertainment industry is fixated on youth. Movie executives focus on the 18- to 49-year-old demographic. (Nice people, not us.)

Even though it’s the 50-plus who lead the Oscar nominations, films aimed at us are few on the ground. Among the more 500 films that will be released this year, there are barely any that stand out as being made for ‘mature’ audiences. One, a comedy/drama hitting theatres this August, stars Meryl Streep, 62, and Tommy Lee Jones, 65, as a long-married couple who embark on an intensive weekend counseling session, called Great Hope Springs. Appropriate title. We all have great hopes for Hollywood.

Another possible admission is Parental Guidance (coming in November). It stars Billy Crystal, 64, and Bette Midler, 66, as grandparents who take on the grandkids when their daughter travels for work. As much as everyone will applaud the fact that Crystal and Midler are back on the big screen, this film – according to Crystal himself, who wrote the script – is really a family film. Not exactly tailored for us, but that’s okay, we’ll take it. Hell, we’ll probably eat it up like candy (or rather crumbs of candy).

As it happens, over the coming year, you’ll see several of our Boomer contemporaries returning to the screen. Twenty-five years after the debut of Die Hard, Bruce Willis, 57, will return to his role for the fifth installment of the movie (coming early 2013). Post-gubernatorial Arnold Schwarzenegger, 64, is also in the midst of resurrecting his macho movie image. But don’t be fooled. The cold, hard truth is these films aren’t aimed at us either.

In a New York Times article featured a few weeks ago, Hollywood writer/director Jonathan Goldstein (who is co-writing and directing an updated version of National Lampoon’s 1983 film Vacation, and hopes to recast Chevy Chase in his original role) is quoted as saying, “The people who decide what movies get made are now, like me, in their early 40s, and they’re turning back to what they grew up with.” In other words, Hollywood’s sudden nostalgia or return to stars and films from the ‘80s is not about mature themes or even mature actors, but rather immature themes or the memories of someone else’s adolescence.

“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” Cool Hand Luke, 1967

Curiously, across the Atlantic things are different. Take England for example. Similar 50-plus population, anything but similar attitude. Aside from the fact that the Brits cast mature actors in films as if the appearance of older people on the planet is normal or natural, they also create movies based on grown-up storylines – from Shirley Valentine and Calendar Girls to Last Orders and The Girl in the Café and more.

To underscore the difference in attitude or perception, a recent review of the film Being Flynn, which appeared in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, noted that 68-year-old Robert De Niro ”still has his chops.”’ We can’t imagine any paper in the UK having the temerity to say the same of, say, 77-year-old Maggie Smith (who not only stars in the hit British TV drama Downton Abbey, but also appears in a few soon-to-be-released films).

Little wonder Dustin Hoffman, now 74, travelled to England to make his first film, Quartet (about a group of retired opera stars who gather each year to celebrate Verdi’s birthday, starring Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly, which will be released later this year).  It could be that Hoffman just likes the English climate, or he feels more supported there, or maybe it was the only place on the planet he could find a group of English-speaking actors who actually look their age.

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” Casablanca, 1942

The truth is, we are not just a big demographic, we are a great portion of the movie-going audience. Or rather, the largest potential movie-going audience.

Back in 2010, a report released by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) noted a decade-long decline in box-office sales in North America. According to then CEO of the organization, Bob Pisano, the challenge for the industry was to “reverse that and get more Americans and Canadians back to movie theatres.” The hurdle? Attracting Boomers – the demographic he says has always been the driving force of ticket sales: “That is an unfortunate situation since they constitute the largest demographic group moving through the population.” Last year, box office sales were down again by four percent. Even though the 50-plus population made up more than 33 percent of the North American population, Hollywood still only managed to entice us to make up slightly more than 20 percent of its annual ticket sales in 2011.

Interesting, isn’t it? You might even call it dramatic. And we’ll be watching to see if they follow the plot.

Exit line: If you haven’t seen anything on screen lately that speaks to you directly, at the very least you might enjoy this trailer. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by director John Madden, coming to theatres May 4, features Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson as a group of Britons who decide to outsource their retirement to India.

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Pulse postscript: We wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the career if not the immense contribution of Mike Wallace, who passed away last weekend at the age of 93. He was a man who not only pioneered the term ‘investigative journalist,’ he pioneered the post-50 path. In 2006, at 88, he officially retired from 60 Minutes after a 38-year run. But a few months later, he returned to the program in an exclusive interview with the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – for which he earned his 21st Emmy Award. And he wasn’t done yet – for two more years he appeared on the program. 60 Minutes will be honouring his career and his contribution this Sunday.

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 14, the Toronto Star launches a new series by the legendary journalist Judy Steed. Called “Turning Point,” it will follow 10 people for the rest of the year as they reinvent themselves at midlife. Look for Julia Moulden and Pulse featured there.

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RIPE Review

In April, we’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

Three years from now, there will be more people over the age of 60 than under five. This demographic shift is dramatic, and it’s happened in a blink of an eye. As our new BFF, Dr. Laura Carstensen, Professor of Psychology and the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy at Stanford University, put it in a recent TED talk, “If you ever feel like you don’t have this aging thing quite pegged, don’t kick yourself. It’s brand new.”

Last week we pilloried a government whose policies will ensure that people’s worst fears are realized – that older people will become a strain on pension, health care and social programs.

In stark contrast, one organization is turning the world on its head – by recognizing the opportunity inherent in the aging population and what we need to do to unleash this potential.

Who? Well, WHO. The World Health Organization.

According to Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, older people are a repository of knowledge, and a wonderful resource for their families, communities and economies. As she sees it, if we ensure older people live “healthier not just longer lives” (what she refers to as ‘stretching life in the middle and not just at the end’), then these extra years can be as productive as any others. What’s more, she says, “The societies that adapt to this changing demographic can reap a sizeable ‘longevity dividend’, and will have a competitive advantage over those who do not.”

Of course, it won’t just happen. If we want to reap the rewards, we need to make dramatic changes across the board – by discarding stereotypes of aging, changing the way we think, work and do business, and considering how the aging population intersects with other global trends, such as technology, globalization and urbanization.

In short, we need to reinvent aging. (Hmm, that sounds familiar.)

Survey after survey shows that people over 50 years of age want to stay in the flow of life. If we don’t want to create a despondent, dependent, miserable mass, what are we going to do? Following the WHO’s lead is a good start.

And tomorrow is a good time to begin. Saturday, April 7 is World Health Day. This year’s theme: “Aging and Health.” Not so much about getting enough exercise and eating your veggies (although that’s important), the WHO’s mission goes beyond “protecting and improving health as we age.” Its message to politicians, policy makers and the public is “to take action to create societies which appreciate and acknowledge older people as valued resources and enable them to participate fully.” Not just a smart way of thinking – we get this right and it will be the way of the future. Here’s to tomorrow.

Last note: We can’t think of anyone who’d make a better poster girl for the active, engaged, vital over-50 crowd – or what the WHO calls “valued resources” – than ‘The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ Tina Turner. Here she is in a clip from her 50th anniversary world tour a few years ago when she herself was in her 70th year. Watch it, then ask yourself, what’s age got to do with it?

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Pulse postscript: Two weeks ago, we invited you to submit suggestions for a new word to describe being older than 50. Warren Clements, Word Play columnist for The Globe and Mail, came up with this:

“I always liked the word ‘Solon’ – wise lawmaker, from the Athenian statesman who undid much of the damage of draconian Draco – suggesting a certain wisdom in later years. But not everyone over 50 is a lawmaker, and Solon sounds too similar to ‘so long,’ which is not a phrase to endear itself to those who check the obituaries in the morning to see whether any of their friends have died.”

Thanks, Warren.

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Next week’s Pulse: Will Boomers save entertainment?

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RIPE Review

In April, we’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle.

As you celebrate World Health Day, consider unleashing your inner activist.

How can you spread the word about this year’s World Health Day and what it means? What actions can each of us take that will have a positive impact on our lives as we ripen – and the lives of millions of others where we live and around the world? What’s one thing you can do to help those who dread the aging population transition from fear and helplessness to awareness of the power of active, engaged aging?  (Share your ‘ripe action’ with us and we’ll pass it on!)

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Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

***

Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

The Canadian government announced its federal budget yesterday. A big snore for most people around the globe, including Canadians themselves, but this time there was great hoo-ha and media buzz. The reason? Pensions.

The big news from the country’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: the eligible age for Old Age Security for all Canadian citizens is being moved from 65 to 67; as well, those who work in the public sector will have to work to 65 (instead of 60) to collect their pensions; plus, pension benefits for those who work for the federal government will be cut.

We weren’t that shocked. Quite frankly, it was inevitable – a) like the rest of the planet, Canada is dealing with an aging population or one that has a longer life expectancy; and, b) the U.S. and Australia have already put in place policies to move their pension age to 67. Plus, we know that at least 70 percent of the North American population of mature workers plans to continue working into their ‘retirement years’ anyway. What is surprising, however – and what hasn’t been reported – is what little thought has gone into the idea.

The same day the budget was released, an article in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail noted “Pension expert Jack Mintz, a member of an economic panel that advises the Finance Minister, said incentives to work longer are needed in an age when Canadians are living much longer than before.” Incentives? Moving the goalposts of retirement age and cutting pensions are not what we’d call incentives. These measures will certainly force people to work longer, but they are not the type of tactics that could be seen as an enticement.

Maybe, instead, the Canadian Finance Minister should have been listening to the advice of Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. According to this expert, “ageing is widely seen as one of the most significant risks to global prosperity in the decades ahead,” however, he adds, “of all global issues, [it is] one of the most amenable to risk management.” As he sees it, ”The good news is that if we act now, in a creative and proactive manner, we will have the greatest chance of realizing the potential benefits of the ageing trend – such as utilizing the immense social capital of older people.” Nicely put.

As opposed to measures that simply force citizens to work longer (like some penance, as if the older population is a burden on society), what people and governments everywhere need are policies and programs that encourage and support people to work to 67 and beyond – for example: those that entice companies to attract, invest and retain older workers; protect mature workers and aid them in finding or maintaining jobs; inspire universities and colleges to create programs for lifelong learning (and assist citizens in taking part); and, promote entrepreneurialism for new business creation.

Although we didn’t hear any ideas or incentives like this from the Canadian Finance Minister, these are the kind of announcements we need to hear from governments now. Small thinking simply pushes the age of retirement a few years or slashes pensions, but forward thinking could unleash unlimited potential – and not just for economies, but for society on the whole.

Last cut: The bottom line – if governments do not put in place policies that support the idea of reaping the benefits of an aging population, then (just as the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper sings in this video) we’ll have to get by with a little help from our friends.

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Next week’s Pulse: The beauty of leaders who get it.

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RIPE Review
In April, we’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle. (And if you haven’t pulled together your own Ripe Circle – a support team cum cheerleading squad – take a look at Pulse No. 2, February 17, 2012, for details.)

In the budget speech, the Canadian government’s Conservative agenda was also made clear, including that it will become much more selective about immigrants, looking for newcomers who are, first and foremost, young. (Sigh.)

By all means, let’s call on government and institutions to catch up with the major shift that’s taking place right under their noses. And in the meantime, let’s focus on the development of people over 50. Let’s think about our potential as individuals, certainly (what possibilities do you see – or dream about – for yourself?). And what are the benefits to society of millions of active, engaged, ripened citizens? How will we contribute? Let us count the ways.

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Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

***
Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

A few weeks ago we mentioned an article printed in The Economist that (echoing a previous Pulse post) also noted those 50-plus are the driving force of entrepreneurialism. It was titled “Enterprising Oldies.” Great piece. Bad headline. In fact, we took issue with it or rather decided to make an issue of it – this week’s issue.

People over the age of 50 are called names. The English (including the editors at The Economist), for example, have pat phrases or pet names for their more mature citizens. ‘Oldies’ is one. ‘Wrinklies’ is another. Not really an endearment. And given the English invented the concept of the English language, you’d think they could come up with something better.

Canadians are no wiser. Earlier this month, The Globe and Mail used the term ‘geezer set.’ Now there’s a headline that will have the newspaper’s largest demographic snapping up copies.

Wrist-slapping aside, the fact is there aren’t a lot of nice names for being a certain age. (Even ‘a certain age’ seems suspect. For many charting this new territory, the term ‘uncertain age’ may actually be more applicable.) And, curiously enough, as soon as we cross the half-century mark, we’re all suddenly lumped into the same category or tagged with the same delightful labels.

Go ahead. Check the dictionary. Look up the word older or oldie or even geezer and you’ll find a whole list of definitions and terms that, as the dictionaries note, describe people at middle age or beyond: Senior. Geriatric. Old fart. Old bat. Old man. Old girl. Oldster. Old timer. Elderly. Over the hill. Increasing years. Declining years. Aging. Aged. And – our particular favourite – unyoung.

Bad words, the lot.

And, don’t even bother looking up the synonyms – they’re worse (you’ll see ugly things like senile, grizzled, decrepit, dotage and even mouldy).

Not that anyone older than 50 is delicate and needs to be spoken to as if they’re vulnerable – which would be worse. Then we’d be talking terms like ‘old dearie,’ which is not so much a put-down as it is patronizing.

We need another name to describe this ‘new age.’

Some have tried it. In fact, two people – one in the U.S., the other in Canada – claim to be the rightful owner or inventor of the term ‘Zoomer.’ (In this case, the French actually got there first – it means to zoom in.) For one of these two men, the word means ’Boomers with zip.’ We don’t know about you, but we’re not all that sure we want to be described as ‘zippy’ either.

Apparently there are a lot of things many of us don’t want to be called. Advertising agencies, for example, are finding that Boomers don’t like the term ‘senior.’ Some are becoming tired of the ‘Boomer’ title, too. Even AARP, the U.S. organization that represents the country’s 50-plus population, has stopped calling itself its original name – or the name the letters stand for. Similar to ‘the artist formerly known as Prince,’ they’ve dropped the ‘American Association of Retired Persons’ from their vernacular.

There is, of course, the option of claiming some of these words as our own – as other cultural groups have done to nullify or negate derogatory terms. But we’re not convinced the idea of greeting another 50-plus with “hey, old goat,” will go over all that well. However, it is marginally better than coming up with some politically-correct term like ‘experienced persons on the planet’ or ‘persons older on the planet’ (which, no doubt, would be shortened to POOP, as in ‘old poop’, so nix that one too).

It’s obvious we need better descriptors. There’s ‘elder.’ Not a bad word. And like the tree it describes something green and growing. It’s a possibility.

The point is, if we don’t like the names we’re being called, we need to come up with something different. And we need to come up with it ourselves. (What we don’t need is some advertising wunderkind thinking, ‘well, they used to be the Pepsi generation, maybe we could land a new client with the Pepsodent generation.’) We need something empowering. Something clever. Something we can all agree on. And if you think of something, send it in. Seriously. We’ll list the options and have a vote.

Last words: If anyone could come up with a better name for the older- than-50 set, without a doubt, it would have been George Carlin. Aside from being a comic genius, the man was a master of the English language. We miss him. Here, in his HBO special Life is Worth Losing, he describes himself perfectly.

Below, for those who don’t mind language (and ‘Mr. Seven Words’ was a master of that, too), we’ve included a bonus link to a clip from Carlin’s last concert, It’s Bad for Ya’, in which he explains the difference between ‘old fart’, ‘old man’ and his particular favourite term, which we’ll let him explain.

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Pulse postscript: Look who’s speaking our language. In a blog posted last weekend, thought leader/author Seth Godin also talks about how companies and marketers are missing the boat (or is that the gravy train?) by ignoring Boomers. The word is spreading.

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Next week’s Pulse: Will Boomers save entertainment?

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RIPE Review
In April, we’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle. (And if you haven’t pulled together your own Ripe Circle – a support team cum cheerleading squad – take a look at Pulse No. 2, February 17, 2012, for details.)

“Ripe” is a state of mind, to be sure. But the great paradox of the ripening process is that you can’t think your way into this new state. The journey requires us to go deeper than our conscious minds.

This week, as your imagination plays with the idea of re-naming this stage of life (and maybe even an entire generation), turn some of your attention toward your physical self.

How are you experiencing the passing years in your body? Do you find the visible signs of aging interesting or frustrating? Is your body more beautiful than ever or absolutely horrifying?

Ever so gently, ask yourself if your body is telling you something (other than, ‘hey, buddy, I’m not a perpetual-motion machine’). Might it be taking you someplace new? Somewhere different, unexpected, and wonderful?

This week, declare a moratorium on the whole notion of anti-aging. And let your body talk.

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Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

***

Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

Pulse No. 6 – March 16, 2012

Marina Abramovic is suddenly, at 65, an arts superstar. Her show, “The Artist is Present,” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art – a solo piece in which she sat in a chair throughout the day with museum visitors taking turns sitting across from her – pushed her over the top.

We nodded knowingly when, in a recent interview she said, “My success has come relatively late in life.” We cheered when she announced the launch of an eponymous foundation. But we smacked our heads in disbelief when we realized she was going to work exclusively with younger artists. Does she not know that many of her contemporaries have talent and yearn to be nurtured and recognized?

Since launching Pulse, we’ve been looking at everything we encounter through a new lens. Questioning why things are the way they are and why they haven’t changed to reflect what’s really going on with Baby Boomers today.

Take programs designed to help launch careers. Invariably, they’re targeted at youngsters.

Rolex Mentor and Protégé is a prime example. It was “created to assist extraordinary, rising artists to achieve their full potential.” Last year, for instance, visionary music producer, composer, and artist Brian Eno, 61, mentored Ben Frost, a young Australian musician living in Iceland.

Or consider the holy grail of career-acceleration, the MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program (popularly known as the “Genius” grant). Of 22 fellows announced last September, just three are over 50 years of age.

Even the Defining Wisdom Project at the University of Chicago – whose very subject matter cries out for mature insight – specifically asked for research proposals from fledgling academics when it got underway in 2009.

While we say “bravo!” to each of these brilliant and vitally important initiatives, we also are compelled to ask, “Why not us?” Why aren’t people over 50 on their radar? Or if they are, why aren’t mature candidates making it onto the final lists (and in greater numbers than a scant 10% when they do)? And why aren’t there programs specifically designed for this age group – and we’re not talking macramé.

If the heads of these organizations – and hundreds of others like them worldwide – had been reading Pulse, they’d know why we’re asking. This isn’t “be kind to oldies” thinking. There are compelling reasons to include the hundreds of millions of people who’ve passed the half-century mark.

Retirement isn’t good for us. People who continue working live longer and in better health than their retired peers. Research shows that we age more successfully if we’re active and engaged.

And retirement isn’t good for the economy, either. The RAND Corporation sums it up this way, “Further encouraging longer working lives may prove beneficial to individuals and the nation as a whole.” How much benefit are we talking about? McKinsey estimates that higher rates of labour force participation as a result of longer careers in the U.S. alone could generate $12.9 trillion in GDP from now until 2035.

In fact, we’re already driving the recovery. Entrepreneurs in the 55-to-64 age bracket are growing faster than any other group (and creating jobs for themselves and others). And employment levels for women 50-plus have jumped 16% since 2008.

Like you, we want to see the names of people over 50 on fellowship and scholarship lists. We want to see them in annual round-ups of “rising stars” and “people to watch.” We want to see them singled out for attention at innovation labs and business incubation centres in every country. And we want to see them throw their mortar boards high up in the air on campuses around the world.

And one more thing. There’s another reason to encourage the development of programs for people who’ve crossed the half-century mark (including those older than Baby Boomers, who’ve discovered that retirement is for the birds). Because lots of us never had the chance to do what we wanted to do with our lives. And you might be surprised to discover how many of us are secretly hoping we can still achieve our dreams.

In fact, many of us believe our greatest contribution is yet to come. And we look to people like Doris McCarthy for hope. When she retired from teaching at 63, Doris thought the next major event of her life would be her funeral. Instead, she went on to have a nearly forty-year career as an artist.

We figure that gives you another four decades, Madame Abramovic. And, yes, we’ll be keeping you company.

Why not?

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As you’re dreaming up a new world, we thought you might enjoy the title track from Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project. It’s the latest from this musical icon, whose career has spanned five decades and ranged across all genres, challenging us to think about jazz in new ways. At 71, he’s on tour and Jon Pareles of the New York Times, for one, was blown away, “Mr. Hancock’s solos suggest that he’s constantly thinking about multiple pathways through a composition: a new melody line, a harmonic transmutation, a plunge into a rhythmic cross-current, a percussive flurry of clusters and trills, some cackling syncopated chords. He might maintain one approach for a long stretch, or hint at half a dozen strategies for a few seconds each.” (Sounds pretty darn Ripe to us.) We also love that Mr. Hancock has included other Ripe musicians and singers in this project. Imagine.

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Pulse postscript:
Lots of great media news to come in April. On that note, a wide range of media and bloggers now read Pulse (hooray!). To all we say: we’re big supporters of the emerging initiative known as the Curator’s Code (spearheaded Simon Dumenco, a media columnist for Advertising Age, and Maria Popova, of ‘Brainpicker’ on Twitter). The code of conduct encourages writers and aggregators to share the source of their inspiration when blogging and curating. (Thanks to David Carr of the New York Times.)

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Next week’s Pulse: Say what?

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RIPE Review
In April, we’re launching our first 12-week course! If you haven’t already ordered your copy of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, there’s still time. We’d love you to be part of this virtual Ripe Circle. (And if you haven’t pulled together your own Ripe Circle – a support team cum cheerleading squad – take a look at Pulse No. 2, February 17, 2012, for details.)

The older we get, the more those of us who have been successful look back over our shoulders and consider how it all happened. Sure, native ability had something to do with it. Hard work and persistence, too. Yet, if we’re really honest with ourselves, we see that luck played a huge part. Somewhere along the line, we were in the right place at the right time, and someone reached out and pulled us up to the next level. And maybe, just maybe, those of us who’ve been fortunate can now do the same for someone in our cohort.

This week, ask yourself, “Why not?” at every opportunity. You might think of it as channeling your inner four-year-old, “But why?”

Look at each aspect of your life and our world questioning why it’s one way and not another. For instance, why did James Dyson, who transformed vacuum cleaners into a sublime blend of form and function (and whose greatest success came at midlife) launch a foundation that pointedly ignores his peers? To whit, “We’re focused on getting young people interested in and engaged in engineering.”

See how applying this “Ripe lens” helps shift your thinking – and helps you think about what might come next for you. Including whether you need assistance or can help someone else find their way.

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Subscribe

Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

***

Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

Pulse No. 5 – March 9, 2012

Watch any commercial slotted around ‘mature’ programming or flip through any publication designed for people 50 and older and you get a pretty quick picture of what companies think we want to buy. Hair dye, insurance, incontinence pads, vitamins, medication, retirement living and anti-aging products (the last of which seems a tad late – unless they’re selling erasers).

It’s a list that reads like a punch line from a bad joke, and it might be funny if it wasn’t so distressing, if not insulting. Really. Is this what they think makes up our weekly shopping lists?

What it is, in reality, is an ‘old-fashioned’ way of thinking that is not just narrow-minded, it’s nonsensical. Newsflash: Boomers have money and they’re willing to spend it – on all sorts of things.

In fact, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, those 50 to 65 earn the highest average weekly income and control 67% of the country’s wealth. It’s similar in Canada, where the same age group has the greatest net worth, and seniors have more disposable income than anyone else. What’s more, Psychology Today reports that Americans older than 50 outspend younger adults by $1-trillion annually. That bears repeating – $1 trillion.

Some people are getting it.

Take New York designer Alexis Bittar. The 43-year-old’s accessories are featured in fashion spreads in Vogue, Bazaar and others, but when it comes to designing his own advertising campaigns for those same magazines, he takes what could be called a uniquely grown-up approach. In 2010, the face of his company was 77-year-old Joan Collins. Last year, he chose Lauren Hutton, 68. And this spring, his spokesmodels are the Absolutely Fabulous duo of Joanna Lumley, 65, and Jennifer Saunders, 53. “I’m amazed how so many advertisers use models between the ages of 18 and 24,” he says, “but the consumer in higher luxury stores is 35 to 65.”

Or consider Tokyo’s Tsutaya Books. Muneaki Masuda, 60, has long been known for his countercultural approach to business, and his Tsutaya Books is now Japan’s leading media retailer. The company’s newly-unveiled flagship store takes the retail experience to a new level – and is designed to cater to Baby Boomers. A sleek-yet-comfortable space houses hundreds of thousands of books, magazines, films and music, while a team of concierges helps guests find new things to read, watch and hear. (Boomer clients appreciate the backlist which includes music from the ‘60s and ‘70s, plus first-edition and out-of-print publications.) Masuda is careful to point out that this isn’t simply a great place for retirees to hang out. It’s intended as a space where 50-plus cultural creatives can meet and work.

And then there’s Sabi. The California-based company intent on elevating the design of everyday items has a new line of lifestyle products aimed squarely at Boomers. Called ‘Vitality,’ it’s a collection of medication ‘accessories.’ (Yes, we’re talking pills, but wait.) CEO Assaf Wand brought in industrial designer Yves Béhar to design each piece – made to dispense, organize, carry, cut, and crush pills – and, not only do these products work (with ergonomic features that are a subtle part of their beauty), but they’re a cool, clean, clever extension of our style.

Given our booming wealth and massive proportions (i.e., by 2015, 45 percent of the U.S. population will be 50-plus), you’d assume that more people would want to make stuff for us. For example, what if some famous fashion designer announced a new line just for the 50-plus and not – as so many have done, and 79-year-old Oscar de la Renta is just about to do – one for children. Maybe someone could make us running shoes. Or maybe cars. What about our own brand of toothpaste? (In fact, maybe we should start making this stuff ourselves.) There isn’t anything that couldn’t be manufactured with a more seasoned consumer in mind.

Not that we’re pushing consumerism, but as things stand, you’d think the world economy could use a new market.

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You could get the impression corporations think we’re invisible or worse. That’s why we thought Randy Newman’s tune ‘I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It)’ was the perfect anthem for this week’s Pulse. The consummate 68-year-old songwriter has been making music for more than 50 years – for himself, for other musicians, and for movies – and has been nominated 20 times for an Oscar. We regret that this video isn’t directly from his site, but do yourself a favour, buy the man’s new release Live From London and hear the tune with the London Symphony.

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Pulse postscript:

The Economist echoes our previously-posted belief that Boomers will save the economy in a recent article titled (in inimitable tongue-in-cheek style) “Enterprising Oldies,” in which they too note that across the pond it’s “older people [who] are becoming more enterprising.”

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Next week’s Pulse: Where to, Boomers?

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RIPE Review
For readers of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, each issue of Pulse will offer additional ideas. We’ll share what’s working for others and help you find your way.

Who’s getting it in your circle?

As we prepare for our “ripening” journey, each of us needs to put a support system in place – people who will help us find our way. RIPE explores the importance of a Ripe Circle – people who encourage and keep us moving forward. We also need a team of advisors to help us think creatively and critically about what’s to come and how to make the right moves. Julia calls this the “Ripe Kitchen Cabinet.”

Who might be part of your cabinet? You’re looking for people with knowledge and expertise that will expand your view of yourself and the world and help you uncover your path forward. They might be knowledgeable about a particular sector, for instance, or introduce you to someone you need to know.

This week, take a fresh look at people in your network and those who’ve recently appeared in your life. Who would be ideal for your Ripe Kitchen Cabinet? And remember to choose these advisors with care – are they shifting their thinking about what it means to be 50-plus today? And are they people who want to see you flourish? (Perhaps in the hopes that they’ll one day follow suit.)

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Subscribe
Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

***

Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

Copyright 2012 Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. All rights reserved.

Pulse Issue No. 4 – March 2, 2012

What do you want to be when you grow up? Given the list of legendary names that had their finest hour after the age of 50, it seems it’s never too late to ask.

Churchill, Cezanne, Darwin, Einstein, Gandhi, Mandela, Matisse and Grandma Moses are only a few examples of those who did their best work in what would be mistakenly called their ‘retirement years.’

Soon there will be many more like them. As AARP found in a recent poll, 70 percent of those nearing retirement age have no intention of clocking out, but instead will keeping working to pursue their goals.

And here’s what we found. A sampling of several not-so-famous but compelling examples of people at mid-life and beyond doing just that.

The tennis star and her remarkable swing. In the early ‘80s, Andrea Jaeger was the No. 2 tennis player in the world – a teenager up against the likes of Chris Evert, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. After a shoulder injury forced her to put down the racket in 1987, she went from professional athlete to philanthropist and launched the Little Star Foundation to aid ill, abused or at-risk children. But in 2006, she made her most impressive move yet – she became an Anglican Dominican nun. “No regrets,” she said about her inspired career path. “God wanted me to do something else.”

The ride of their lives. Andrea and Barry Coleman, 55 and 56, created Riders for Health after a visit to Africa revealed that health care vehicles were sitting idle with no hope of being serviced. Involved in the British Grand Prix, the UK couple set up an organization that rides on the concept of health care delivery by motorcycle – getting health care providers out to remote villages and getting villagers to hospital.”The reality is there are rural communities living 20, 30 miles from the nearest health centre or clinic,” Andrea explains. Today, the program has expanded to include entire transport systems in the Gambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Tanzania and Lesotho. And, that, Andrea says, “is what gets me up in the morning.”

A model example. Maye Musk is a registered dietician and anti-aging expert. She’s also been working for the past 46 years as a professional model. Last fall, the 64-year-old grandmother of three was featured on the cover of New York magazine – nude.

The law never rests. Herbert Teitelbaum, Norman Siegel, Saralee Evans and Emily Jane Goodman have recently opened a new practice in Manhattan. What’s so interesting about two lawyers and two judges setting up shop? They range in age from 68 to 71. “Why should I retire? I’m at the peak of my game,” Siegel asks. “Besides,” Goodman adds, “golf is so boring.”

The writer who made the deadline. “I was always writing a novel that never got published,” Harry Bernstein said. Inspired by having a short story published in a magazine at 17, and encouraged by a famous editor to write a novel, he spent decades tapping at the keys and wrote about 40 novels – all were rejected. In the meantime, he worked in Hollywood, reading screenplays, and then edited a construction trade magazine. Then he retired. Then his beloved wife Rose passed away. Then he went back to the typewriter. And in 2007, at the age of 96, his novel The Invisible Wall was not only accepted, it was acclaimed by reviewers. He wrote another, and received a Guggenheim Foundation grant to write his third. “God knows what other potentials lurk in other people, if we could only keep them alive well into their 90s.”

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We debated which note to leave you on this week. Bruce Springsteen’s new album Wrecking Ball is being pre-released one song at a time for a 24-hour period. Today’s cut is “We Are Alive.” Given the 62-year-old is still ‘The Boss,’ it seemed like a good choice (the link to his new song is below). Less rocking but maybe more relevant to this week’s Pulse is this recently released video featuring Sting, 60, and composer Michel Legrand, who turned 80 last week, performing the theme song from the appropriately titled 1969 film The Happy Ending.

The choice is yours. We’re big proponents of dancing to your own tune.

Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball preview

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Next week’s Pulse: Who’s getting it.

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RIPE Review
For readers of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, each issue of Pulse will offer additional ideas. We’ll share what’s working for others and help you find your way.

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

Isn’t it wonderful to be thinking this way? To realize that we have decades before us in which to discover something new or to rekindle passion for the path we’re already on?

Falling out of love with our work – developing the “50-year itch” – is commonplace. Even those of us who got dream jobs and were hugely successful can hit the wall. In the liner notes for a CD she compiled for Starbucks, Joni Mitchell wrote, “By the end of the 20th century, it seemed to me that the muse had gone out of music, and all that was left was the ‘ic.’ Nothing sounded genuine or original. I quit the business.” She went on to say that she volunteered for the Starbucks project to remember what she had once loved about music.

How did she reconnect with her passion? By remembering the songs that had moved her deeply when she was a child.

When we were young, our idea of what we “wanted to be” was often inspired by the professionals who appeared in our lives – teachers, fire fighters, lifeguards. Naturally, this competed with our parents’ wishes for us (“My daughter, the physicist!”). Beneath it all, there was also a quiet whisper from some deeper part of us that knew what we really, really wanted to be. What we were born to do.

If you’re like many people, you don’t have a ready answer to the question posed by this week’s Pulse. You don’t really know what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. If that’s true for you, childhood memories can offer important clues.

What do you remember of your early life? How would you describe yourself as a child? What did you love to do? When did you lose track of time and not hear your mother when she called out, “Dinner!”? What did you put aside in order to be a grownup and long to pick up again? What have you forgotten?

This week, take a little time to reconnect with the child who still lives inside of you. And to dream again about what you might become.

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Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley have been writing and editing for the media and corporate sectors for a combined 50 years. Today, they’re reconnecting with their generation and helping their clients engage with Boomers, too.

Copyright 2012 Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. All rights reserved.

Pulse Issue No. 3 – February 24, 2012

The predictions are dire. As the leading edge of the Boomer generation turns 65, some say we’ll destroy civilization as we know it. We have become the enemy within. “A strain on the economy!” they cry. “A drain on the public purse!” At the World Economic Forum, the Canadian Prime Minister called us (lovingly referred to as “demographic realities”) a threat to the country’s pension programs. Nice talk.

In truth, that’s all it is – talk. Chicken-Little rhetoric. It makes for great spit-out-your-coffee headlines. But it doesn’t make sense.

Boomers are the very boom the world economy needs.

BOOMER ADAGE: QUESTION AUTHORITY

Boomers aren’t tanking anybody’s economy. In fact, we’re leading the recovery.

We’re working. In Canada, for example, employment figures for those 50-plus are on the rise. In the past 10 years:
• 55 to 59-year-olds’ employment rates jumped from 62 to 73%
• 60 to 64-year-olds increased from 36 to 51%
• 65 to 69-year-olds from 11 to 24%
And older women are leading the way. Employment levels for women 50-plus have actually jumped 16% since 2008.

We’re creating jobs. In the U.S., the largest group of entrepreneurs are in the 55-to-64 age bracket (not, as you might expect, kids like those at Google and Facebook). “Economists know that entrepreneurship will drive the economy back to health,” reports the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, “but many people will be surprised to learn that the Baby Boom generation is behind the wheel.”

We’ll keep working. A recent AARP poll found that 70 percent of Boomers “plan to work into what they view as their retirement years.” In Europe, they’re banking on it. For instance, BMW has just retrofitted one of its German plants to meet the needs of older workers – and help retain them. Why? Within a few years half of its workforce will be 50-plus.

BOOMER ADAGE: RIGHT ON!

BMW is right on the money. As AARP discovered, we want to keep working. And as others are beginning to realize, we need to. With declining birth rates around the globe, a labour shortage is looming.

And, again, Boomers hold the economic answer.

Far-sighted, forward-thinking politicians and policy-makers get it. The European Union named 2012 ‘The Year of Healthy, Active Aging.’ And the World Health Organization has just launched its ‘Age-Friendly Cities Program.’

Listen closely and you’ll hear the stirring of similar ideas on this side of the Atlantic. In a recent blog, Robert Hormats wrote, “We need a focused, society-wide effort to transform our vision of aging from a time of dependency to a time of continued growth, contribution, and social and economic participation.” No Chicken-Little rhetoric there. In fact, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment is unequivocal, “We must break the stereotype that to be old is to be inactive or dependent, and in doing so turn ‘population aging’ into the century’s greatest achievement.”

We shall overcome, indeed. Our ‘old age’ will not be a burden, but a burgeoning – for ourselves and the world around us. The sky isn’t falling, folks. It’s just starting to open up.

REVISED BOOMER ADAGE: SAY IT LOUD, I’M 50-PLUS AND I’M PROUD

Given all the Chicken-Little talk, we thought this tune from Bobby McFerrin – recently posted on his Facebook page – was the perfect anthem for this week’s Pulse. All the better that it comes from 61-year-old Mr. Don’t Worry Be Happy.

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Next Week’s Pulse: People doing wild and wonderful things after 50.

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RIPE Review
For readers of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, each issue of Pulse will offer additional ideas. We’ll share what’s working for others and help you find your way.

“One morning, as I was getting ready to go to work, I realized that my 15-year anniversary with the company was approaching. I looked in the bathroom mirror and asked myself if I wanted to be there for another 15. And the guy in the mirror came back with an expletive and a vehement ‘No!’”

That’s Lee Weinstein. Lee, 53, knew that his working life wasn’t over. But, like most of us, he had no idea how to answer the central question, “What’s next?” Finding what’s right for us is a process that takes time. And our journey can be fraught with anxiety – we’re heading into new territory without meaningful signposts to guide us.

As Lee soon discovered, the process has many layers. “I started looking around, wondering what other jobs I might do, thought about the talents I thought I had, and did some soul searching.” And then he hit on an idea – he would do ‘free writes’ every morning, coming up with different scenarios. He made up some rules: no stopping or editing; do it daily; and, consider everything that pops up (museum director, pizza franchise owner, teacher). Finally, one day he wrote, “It’s 6:00 a.m. and I’m waking up in the Columbia Gorge and I’ve got my own business …” And he was on his way.

Today, Lee owns a successful PR firm, Weinstein PR, with big clients including his former employer, Nike. And, in hanging out a shingle, he’s become part of the entrepreneurial trend identified by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

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Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.) Missed the first two issues? You’ll find them there, too.

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Julia Moulden is an author, speaker, and columnist. Trisse Loxley is a writer and editor for media and corporations.

Copyright 2012 Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. All rights reserved.

Issue No. 2 – February 17, 2012

In This Week’s Issue:

• There’s Something Happening Here
• Power to the People
• People Get Ready
• RIPE Review

• Next Friday’s Pulse

THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)

“What it is ain’t exactly clear…” But let’s see if this sounds familiar.

Now that you’re 50-something (or 60-something), you’re reflecting on your life. Everything you’ve learned, the people you’ve met, where you’ve been, what you’ve done. And how far you’ve come since those days.

You might be thinking about our generation, too. And the big ideas we Baby Boomers championed – like feminism, the environment, gay and lesbian rights, diversity. We changed thinking, institutions, and lives.

And now, like the rest of us, you’re feeling restless. You’re thinking about things you never quite got around to. And you’re wondering, “What’s next?”

But just as you’re looking around, the role you’re supposed to play “at this age” comes down with a chilling clank. A voice rings out, “Drink up, everyone. It’s closing time.”

Or is it?

POWER TO THE PEOPLE (John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, 1971)

Fact is, we’re not going anywhere. Quite the contrary. The cliché is that at this stage of life our power is diminishing. The reality is that it’s on the rise.

• 78 million U.S. Boomers – 9.8 million Canadian Boomers
• 50-plus and older will represent 45% of the U.S. population by 2015 (AARP)
• 50-plus control 67% of the nation’s wealth (U.S. Census and Federal Reserve)
• Those 50 to 64 have the greatest net worth (Statistics Canada)
• Seniors have more disposable income than members of other age groups (Public Health Agency of Canada)
• People over the age of 50 outspend younger adults by $1 trillion annually (Psychology Today)
• 90 percent of those 55-plus vote; the highest turnout of all age groups (Statistics Canada 2011)

And, finally, according to Statistics Canada, as Boomers pass their 50th birthdays, we will become “a force that will have greater social, financial and political clout than any other group in the past.”

PEOPLE GET READY (The Impressions, 1965)

For us, this stage of life isn’t about bucket lists or whether or not to go grey. And it’s not our parents’ version of retirement, either. We don’t want to repeat history – we want to make it.

We want a revolution.

What will the revolution look like? We’re just in the early stages, but already important signs are emerging (more on this in Pulse in the weeks to come):

1. We’re thinking about the values that inspired us so many years ago. According to AARP, the messages of our youth still ring true with us today. “Be anything you want.” “Work well with others.” “Change the world.”

2. Work will be central – and not just as idle pastime. What we do has always been important to Boomers, and work’s meaning and purpose in our lives will intensify.

3. We’ll see ourselves as a tribe again. After years of doing our own thing, we’re going to come together.

Picture a great, big, human wave sweeping the world as the talents, the power, and the passions of this generation are unleashed yet again. What we choose to do next will not only transform our own lives – together, as a movement, we will change the very definition of what it means to be 50-plus. “Oh, the times, they are a-changin’.”

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan, recently released, celebrates an entire list of good things that are 50-plus. One, it was created to honour and support 50 years of Amnesty International. And two, it features 80 musicians from Adele to Ziggy Marley, including Jackson Brown, Pete Townshend, Seal and Jeff Beck, Sting, Bryan Ferry, and Pete Seeger who, at 92, sings ‘Forever Young’.

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RIPE Review

For readers of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, each issue of Pulse will offer additional ideas. We’ll share what’s working for others and identify critically important steps like this one.

In Tell to Win, Peter Guber, 69, wrote about how, as CEO in the early ‘90s, he used the film Lawrence of Arabia to help pull Sony’s pieces together, just as Peter O’Toole’s character pulled together a disparate group of Arab tribes to fight for a common cause. “How? By moving every member of our tribe to feel – and therefore believe – that by pulling together we all could gain in security, opportunity, achievement, and pride.”

As you find your way into this emerging movement, we encourage you to gather a supportive group of the Boomer tribe around you. Julia dubbed this the “Ripe Circle” – people you can reach out to whose job it is to help you find your courage, keep the faith, and maintain forward momentum.

Choosing the right people for your Ripe Circle is essential. Do they see the years ahead as a time of opportunity? Do they want to see you explore and grow? Are they positive, constructive, and hopeful? And if you’re wondering where your Ripe Circle might come from, consider family and friends, trusted colleagues, and new acquaintances (as your thinking shifts, you’ll be surprised at who starts to show up in your life). You might even explore whether an existing group – such as a book club – might reinvent itself, with members supporting one another on the journey of a lifetime.

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Next Week’s Pulse:
Are Boomers leading the economic recovery?

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Subscribe
Keep your finger on the pulse. There’s a sign-up option in the right-hand column of this page. (Or visit juliamoulden.com and send us an email.)

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Julia Moulden is an author, speaker, and columnist. Trisse Loxley is a writer and editor for media and corporations.

Copyright 2012 Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. All rights reserved.

Issue No. 1 – February 10, 2012

In This Week’s Issue:
• Shift Your Thinking
• RIPE Review
• Next Friday’s Pulse

Pulse point:
“I think retirement in any profession is death, so I’m determined to keep crackin’.”
Actor Christopher Plummer

SHIFT YOUR THINKING
Billy Crystal is hosting this year’s Oscars because he delivers. And not just some of the most memorable opening monologues, he delivers audience numbers. Big numbers.

Ever since he bowed out of hosting eight years ago, Oscar ratings have slipped. The show’s producers attempted to fill the void. Last year they tried young people and ratings tanked again – a drop of 10 percent from the previous year to 37 million viewers. In fact, viewers in the very age group co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco were designed to attract – 18 to 34 year olds – actually fell 12 percent.

Crystal’s ratings, in contrast, were the highest ever. In 2004, the last time the 63-year-old funnyman took the stage, 43.5 million people tuned in. And that’s why the master or the true master of ceremonies is back.

Crystal’s comeback sets us up for the rest of the program. Just take a look at this year’s list of nominees.

George Clooney, 50, and Gary Oldman, 53, for best actor. Meryl Streep, 62, and Glenn Close, 64, for best actress. Kenneth Branagh, 51, Nick Nolte, 71, Christopher Plummer, 82, and Max von Sydow, 82, for best supporting actor. And Martin Scorsese, 69, and Woody Allen, 76, for best director.

A very talented group of people over the age of 50 doing what they do best. They’re also what we call ‘Ripe Masters’ – those who find new passion for their chosen field and stretch themselves in unprecedented directions. Case in point: Close is nominated for her portrayal of a man in Albert Nobbs, while Scorsese is up for directing Hugo, his first-ever children’s story in 3D. Another unexpected twist is seeing Nick Nolte in the lineup – the last time he was up for something was in 1999. Just as Crystal was yanked out of Oscar retirement, Nolte is back in the game.

So what does all this mean to you, other than that the Oscars will be hugely entertaining? As noted in Ripe, Hollywood is a perfect cultural barometer. And the message is clear: retirement is so last century.

Truly.

Pensions were first introduced in Germany in 1889. At that time, the eligible age for benefits was 70, but the majority of Germans only made it to 45.

Since then, the average pension age in the Western World has shrunk to between 60 (i.e., women in the UK and Italy, both sexes in France) and 65 (men in the UK and Italy, both sexes in Canada), while life expectancy has increased to about 80.

Given the numbers, it’s not all that surprising that governments around the world are moving the goalposts of retirement age – the U.S. and Australia, for example, have implemented gradual increases that will set the age of eligibility at 67. What is surprising, though, is they’re just catching up or rather catching on. The concept of retirement is already changing in the minds of millions.

A 2010 study by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), found “70 percent of mature workers plan to work into what they view as their retirement years.” For about 30 percent of these people, the reason is financial – they will keep working to keep earning. What has not been as widely reported, however, is a similar number will keep working because they enjoy it.

It’s not just the Christopher Plummers and the Meryl Streeps who will keep working. Millions of us will. Millions already are.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 25 percent of Americans age 65 to 74 are currently in the work force (an increase of more than 5 percent since 2000). And, it’s predicted that number will jump to more than 30 percent by 2020.

Simply put, we are retiring the idea of retirement. Not by force, but by choice. Here’s Julia on the topic in an interview with the Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick.

There is a shift taking place, alright. But contrary to what you hear in the news it is not all about a greying population. The real news is a shift in perception – our understanding of the meaning of work and life after 50.

Pulse point:
61.5 million ‘senior’ citizens in North America x 70% who plan to continue working = 43 million people 65-plus in the workforce by 2020.

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RIPE Review
For readers of RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50, each issue of Pulse will offer additional ideas. We’ll share what’s working for others and suggest new exercises like this one.

• Observe
Once you get an idea in your head, it’s uncanny how often you start to see that very idea reflected in the world around you. The same thing will happen with the concept of the ‘shift.’ Aside from paying closer attention to all the 50-plus nominees when or if you watch the Oscars (and with Billy Crystal as host, you know the producers are pulling that you will), you’ll also start noticing other examples. Some will be positive, others not so much.

Take Madonna. Her recent Super Bowl halftime show, according to NBC Sports, was the most-watched event ever, with higher ratings than the actual game itself. Nonetheless, within seconds Twitter went crazy with people picking at the pop star like she was carrion. (As Liz Garcia noted on Forbes.com, “What’s so funny about a 53-year-old woman performing the halftime show? Tom Petty was 57 and Bruce Springsteen 59 when they did their respective halftime shows.”) Possibly just anti-Madonna sentiment, but watch out for ageism.

In fact, as you move through the week, having conversations, listening to the news, notice how being 50-plus is framed – the end of the road or a new beginning? And make note of any shifts you’re noticing … including your own.

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Next Friday’s Pulse
More on the most important (and most misunderstood) trend of our time.

Julia Moulden is an author, speaker, and columnist. Trisse Loxley is a writer and editor for media and corporations.

Copyright 2012 Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. All rights reserved.

Pulse is an inspiring, informative, irreverent take on being 50-plus, published weekly by Julia Moulden and Trisse Loxley. Why Pulse? Because how we think about aging, work, and retirement is changing and we’d like to share what we’re hearing with you. Why choose “Pulse” as our title? Because we may be over 50, but we ain’t dead yet!