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The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond

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Expert guidance for living a longer, healthier, more meaningful second half of life.


As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Debra Whitman, a globally recognized expert on aging, wanted to delve deeper into why so many Americans struggled to live well as they aged. And she began to wonder what was in store for her own second fifty. Suddenly, the questions she’d been studying for years became How long will I live? Will I be healthy? Will I lose my memory? How long will I work? Will I have enough money? Where will I live? How will I die?

Americans are now living decades longer than previous generations. These added years offer exciting possibilities but also raise crucial questions. In her groundbreaking book, Whitman provides a roadmap for navigating, and celebrating, the second half of life. Drawing on compelling stories from her own family and people across the country, interviews with experts, and cutting-edge research, she shares insights on brain health, the contributions and concerns of an older workforce, caregiving, financing retirement, and more. Her findings are often Americans over fifty are a boon to—not a drain on—the economy. Dementia rates have actually been declining as more people achieve higher levels of education and adopt healthier lifestyles. And while we’ve long known that staying connected to others is critical to mental health, it turns out it is also linked to a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, and a longer life.

Whitman presents practical steps we can take to help create a better second fifty for ourselves. But we can’t do it alone. Whitman also calls for urgently needed changes that would make it easier for every American to enjoy a vital and meaningful second half of life.

Whether you are approaching fifty, into your later years, or caring for someone who is, you’ll find a wealth of wisdom in these pages. Informed by Whitman’s unmatched expertise and her deep passion, The Second Fifty is an indispensable guide for living well in the twenty-first century.

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2024

204 people are currently reading
326 people want to read

About the author

Debra Whitman

3 books3 followers

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5 stars
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118 (43%)
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22 (8%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
Profile Image for Cheryl.
12.9k reviews483 followers
October 15, 2024
I'm not sure how much of the science has been double-checked, rather than just repeated. And some nuances are clearly lost.* And much of it we already know, esp. if we're already reading AARP media. But it's an easy read, some bits are new to me, and much bears repeating.

And, I did bookdart a lot of quotes & notes. So, bottom line is that I do recommend it to those interested, but all should try to read my entire review whether or not you plan to read the book.

"There is... a school of thought that says but the less visibly were aging, the more we're succeeding. We might refuse hearing aids and canes, for instance, even when both would help us engage with others or get out of the house."

"Reframe the situation as a challenge instead of a threat to be avoided, [and the] body responds differently. A challenge gives us an opportunity to test skills we know we possess. Unlike the threat, it inspires positive emotions and better problem solving and performance." More like exercise.

Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering

"Cognitive assessments are part of the annual Wellness visits paid for by Medicare." So, they are free to many of us, and should be routine, and there are many good reasons to get them (rather than be afraid of the results and avoid them). Meanwhile, another online assessment is avl. at AARP "Staying Sharp."

"What's good for the heart is good for the brain."

Ageism in the workplace. "Emotional understanding doesn't peak until our 40s and 50s, and our vocabularies continue to increase throughout our 60s. Vocabulary serves as a measure of 'crystallized intelligence,' which is the accumulation of facts and knowledge, and the ability to use the knowledge one has acquired."

"'Lump of Labor' fallacy, the mistaken idea that there is a set number of jobs to go around. It is not true for the economy as a whole. In fact, keeping more older workers helps to grow the economy, leading to more jobs overall. Younger and older workers' skills and experience most often make them complements rather than substitutes for each other."

[Equally valid if one substitutes 'immigrants' for 'older worker' you know!!]

"Some hard fought battles have been won, only to be lost again. For a brief period, investment companies were required to act as fiduciaries, ensuring that they make decisions and recommended products that served their investors' interests rather than their own bottom line. This regulation was estimated to save investors $40 billion over 10 years, but the rule was overturned by a court decision in 2018."

"There are now 54 million unoccupied spare bedrooms in the United states, mostly in the homes of older adults.... Some older homeowners who need physical or social support take in tenants in exchange for help around the house."

[Sounds like a great idea to me! Welcome a struggling graduate student, for example. Or, if you're anti-abortion, welcome a teen mom.]

I would like to look into Pueblo of Isleta and the Green House model of assisted living. There are 300 licensed Green Houses in 32 states. Also interested in PACE.

Definitely a good idea to look at options for assisted living & nursing homes ahead of time and ask lots of questions. Some places charge extra for tv and activities, for example. Some offer less care to patients paying with Medicare or Medicaid. Some will take you on a tour and show the highlights, but not the daily truths.

"Providing palliative care services isn't just good for patients- it reduces spending on other types of health care. ... studies of patients receiving palliative care have consistently shown fewer ER visits, lower ICU admission rates, reduced stays in ICUs and hospitals, and markedly lower hospital costs."

Palliative care is not the same as hospice. If your doctor cannot explain the difference clearly, they may not understand them well enough to know when to recommend each. Visit the website of The Center to Advance Palliative Care.

Also, when doing your advance directive, learn about & consider Five Wishes. And one thing you might want to add is 'no force feeding' because a body shutting down isn't hungry and will suffer if forced to eat or digest.

"'If we don't invest in younger people,' Fernando [Torres-Gill] said, 'their health, their education, their income security, they're going to grow old as poor and very sick people.'"
And that about sums up the whole last chapter. Investing in the health of all citizens will pay off for all taxpayers.

*For example: The distinction is made in the narration that loneliness is not the same as social isolation. But it's not explored, which means I, as someone who feels happy being a hermit, still don't know how hard I should work to go out and make irl friends.
Profile Image for Martin Baggs.
150 reviews4 followers
August 17, 2024
Debra Whitman's "The Second Fifty" offers a compelling and comprehensive guide to navigating life after 50, drawing from her experience as AARP's chief public policy officer and former staff director for the Senate Special Committee on Aging. The book addresses eight crucial questions about longevity, health, work, finances, housing, and end-of-life considerations. This organization allows readers to easily focus on areas most relevant to their current situation, making the book both accessible and practical.

What sets "The Second Fifty" apart from other retirement-focused books is its holistic approach. While many similar works primarily emphasize financial planning, Whitman broadens the scope to include often overlooked aspects such as housing choices, work considerations, and death preparation. This comprehensive view provides readers with a more complete picture of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Whitman's writing style is engaging and relatable, blending personal stories from across the country with groundbreaking research and policy insights. This combination of anecdotal evidence and hard data creates a well-rounded exploration of each topic. The author not only identifies challenges but also offers practical advice and potential solutions, making this book both informative and actionable.

One of the book's strengths is its focus on societal inequalities, highlighting key disparities between white and Black/Hispanic populations, as well as between rich and poor. This attention to social issues adds depth to the discussion and emphasizes the need for broader societal changes to support an aging population.

For readers approaching retirement or already in their later years, "The Second Fifty" serves as an invaluable resource. It prompts important self-reflection and planning, while also advocating for community and policy changes that could benefit all in their later years.

A big thank you to WW Norton and Company and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
1 review
September 13, 2024
no resolution

I found the book disappointing. There was no areas where it actually encouraged or led to the fact of how to improve how to make your life longer. The book told me what we don’t have and what we need, but not how to make change.
Profile Image for Lara.
56 reviews1 follower
November 30, 2024
If you are a member of AARP you will already be familiar with most of the info. However this book does a terrific job compiling policies, stats, and potential outcomes of how we age as a society. This book is a snapshot of our history and current aging culture- it is not a self-help/how to age guide.
Profile Image for Natalie Park.
1,190 reviews
November 15, 2024
3.5 stars. I’ve done a lot of research in this area and a lot of it has been covered but it’s a great overview and a wonderful starting point.
Profile Image for Marie.
1,810 reviews16 followers
October 3, 2024
Cut 40% of dementia if eliminating these risk factors:

Less education, hypertension, hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, low social content, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, air pollution
Profile Image for Behrooz Parhami.
Author 10 books35 followers
May 4, 2025
In this book, aging expert Debra Whitman, PhD, notes the need for some adjustments, now that Americans are living decades longer than in previous generations. While offering exciting possibilities, these added years also raise crucial questions. How long will I work? Will I have enough money? Where will I live? How will I die? Whitman began to think and write about these questions when she approached her 50th birthday.

Drawing on compelling stories from her own family & people across the country, interviews with experts, and cutting-edge research, Whitman provides a road map for navigating the second half of life. She shares insights on longevity, brain health, financial planning, work, housing, and the value of relationships & social engagement. Dementia rates have actually been declining as more people achieve higher levels of education and adopt healthier lifestyles. And while we’ve long known that staying connected to others is critical to mental health, it turns out it is also linked to a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure and a longer life.

I was lucky enough to listen to a conversation with Whitman on May 1, 2025, via a webinar, organized by UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior. In the webinar, Whitman presented practical steps for creating a better second 50 for ourselves. She also called for urgently needed changes that would make it easier for every American to enjoy a vital and meaningful second half of life.

Whether you are approaching 50, into your later years, or caring for someone who is, you’ll find a wealth of wisdom in the pages of Whitman’s excellent book. Given that the problems we face much later in life are qualitatively and quantitatively different from those we encounter shortly after turning 50, I hope Whitman feels motivated to write about “The Fourth Twenty-Five” when she approaches her 75th birthday!
370 reviews10 followers
January 3, 2025
What a way to start the new year, eh? Actually, I worked my way through this (slowly) as the holidays and end of 2024 approached. There's a lot to absorb here, if one is interested. I can't say this is an "upper" of a book; there's a lot to consider as one ages, and most of it is quite sobering. Having already seen my two parents and two parents-in-law pass through these years and experience various difficulties on their respective journeys to the Great Beyond, some of what Dr. Debra Whitman shares was already familiar. But there were wake-up calls, too--like, when was the last time we updated our wills? Why don't we have health care directives or proxies already in place? And should we be considering what to do with our (modest) "estate" to ease for our kids the burden of how to manage things once we pass? Time to wake up and get busy with some of this--and then get on with the business of enjoying life and staying healthy for as long as possible. But there are no guarantees.
Profile Image for Treva.
624 reviews1 follower
May 19, 2025
The Seven Big Questions are:
1. How Long Will I Live? Working in the actuarial field I always found this interesting. Since Covid-19 the US expectancy has dropped to 76.1.
2. Will I Be Healthy? You can never start eating right and exercising early enough.
3. Will I Lose My Memory?
a. Mild Cognitive Impairment - aren't significant enough to effect work or relationships
b. Mild dementia - impacts daily functioning
c. Moderate dementia - growing irritation, wandering, unsafe to be alone
d. Severe dementia - unable to self-care or communicate
4. How Long Will I Work?
5. Will I Have Enough Money?
6. Where Will I Live?
7. How Will I Die? Palliative care and hospice considerations

As a person well into my second fifty, many of these issues have been on my radar for a number of years. For someone approaching the second fifty or just entering it, these are all areas that need to be considered.
1,044 reviews46 followers
December 20, 2024
I'm turning 50 in . ... less than six months (!) so this title got my attention.

It doesn't quite deliver on the title. It doesn't give answers to the big questions, but then again that's an unfair standard. How can a book really do that? But the book doesn't really get you close to answers. It tends to talk about issues that affect the big questions. Yeah, it relates but it all felt off the mark of what I expected.

From the title, I thought it was going to be more of a self-help book for those who are aging. This mostly read like sociological info on factors that affect how people age in modern America. The points the book made are valid (though a little too often repeated), but it wasn't what I expected.
1,013 reviews8 followers
January 19, 2025
I would recommend this book to people ages fifty and beyond. Parts of it read a bit like a text book, but there really is a lot of useful information here as well as ideas for preparing for your future as you move into retirement and beyond. I read various paragraphs out loud to my husband which sparked the kind of discussions that couples in their 70's should be having. Each chapter focuses on topics like "will I have enough money?", "where will I live?", "how will I die?" and explains things pertaining to those subjects such as the differences between assisted living and memory care, or costs of funerals and cremations. The author works for AARP and has years of experience working to improve conditions for aging Americans.
226 reviews
September 27, 2024
2.5 stars. This book was much more at the macro level than I expected. Whitman talked extensively about social drivers of health (which did mesh nicely with my job in Population Health), how we got where we are, and both existing and suggested policies that affect the aging population. This makes sense given her background, but I would have preferred something with more of a "self help" angle, providing resources for individuals.
Profile Image for TKO reads.
234 reviews1 follower
August 12, 2025
Lots of statistics written in a concise and interesting manner. It is very well researched and written.
The last 1/3 of the book is references.
The book gave me a lot to think about.
Most of the changes needed to make life better for people after 50 are political policies.
Citizen involvement does help in some situations.
Given the current political climate no one is looking out for people over 50.
That fact can made this book a bit depressing for me.
26 reviews
November 10, 2025
3.5 rounding up. Started out quite fascinating. There's interesting tidbits scattered about. But sounds more biased throughout, and the end just sounds like the pie-in-the-sky daydreaming wishlist. And I'm liberal! She didn't show how change could realistically be funded or why it is needed. The obvious unspoken problem: when nonworking people with high costs die younger, it saves money. So convincing the majority of society to spend more money on this population seems like a pipe dream.
9 reviews
September 16, 2024
Excellent, well-researched book that provides a helpful, comprehensive, overview of the major issues we will all face in the second half of our life. I especially appreciate the definitive answers provided when possible, and the flags for where more research and solutions are needed. It's a great reference book to keep handy for the future.
120 reviews
November 13, 2024
I am 15 years into my second 50 and also a health-care professional of 31 years. While by her own admission her writing is at times a bit wonky, I learned a great deal of how best to maximize the time I have left, perhaps best demonstrated in The Five Wishes, a copy of which I have purchased. I highly recommend this book to those of who are looking to maximize the second fifty of life.
148 reviews2 followers
December 26, 2024
This book started off very interesting and informative, kind of walking you through Social Security and planning for the retirement years. But it quickly turned into a political advertising campaign of sorts, preaching for elderly reform. I lost interest and stopped reading. I tried 3-4 times to pick it back up, but just not for me.
154 reviews
February 1, 2025
Though not much too new if one reads healthcare articles/books. However, there are bits of information that are worth being emphasized. Thought Whitman's broad involvement in elderly care policies was evident in her ability to integrate the various aspects affecting our societal approach on aging.
5 reviews1 follower
February 10, 2025
Thank you, Debra, for putting together such a thoughtful narrative that tells the story of what aging looks like for Americans today. Debra successfully weaves together facts and data into a compelling narrative that grapples with the biggest questions of our lives at age 50 and beyond. Beautifully done!
Profile Image for Chandra.
262 reviews2 followers
April 19, 2025
This is a policy-based, thought provoking overview of life after 50. It's a stat based nonfiction read, rather than an entertaining one. That's not a criticism, just a heads up. As someone in my early 50s, I learned something new in each of its 7 sections. This book is a valuable reminder of the sort of long-view based thinking about age that serves to help us all.
Profile Image for Jennifer Jank.
Author 6 books6 followers
April 26, 2025
There wasn't really anything here that is new to me, but I've dealt with a lot of these issues when I was a financial planner. She talks about them in an accessible way, and has good ideas for making sure older generations get what they need. Though it's a little sad to read this now that the felon occupying the Oval Office has chosen to gut medical research.
Profile Image for Kelly Frager.
108 reviews
January 12, 2025
Recommend this book. Very interesting and thought provoking. It is helpful in understanding the issues and dilemmas our society faces when it comes to an aging population. The book can also be helpful as you consider your own, or your parents, aging and lifespan.
312 reviews4 followers
January 25, 2025
I thought this would be more of a "how to" or self help book. Less than 10% was prescriptive, all the rest was about policy or how the medical community needs better training or how we need to better help people with their financial education. I was disappointed.
Profile Image for Betty Warras.
191 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2025
Nothing that new was presented for anyone in their second fifty who has been preparing for that time of life. Leans more toward wrongs by the government than recommendations for those in their first fifty (Mehh!).
Profile Image for Charlotte.
1,223 reviews
March 3, 2025
A gift from Lynne for my fiftieth birthday, I liked the premise but it was about aging in the US and I would have been more interested in reading about what faces me here in Canada. Would love if a Canadian created something similar here.
Profile Image for Deb Sanchez.
210 reviews3 followers
April 25, 2025
This book has pretty basic information. I'd guess most people would know much of it, but I'd also guess that you'd learn something new by reading it. I certainly did. It's a good book (gift idea?) for someone who is in denial of aging and their own mortality.
Profile Image for Lauren Hunnicutt.
145 reviews4 followers
June 1, 2025
This was a good evaluation of senior health and healthcare in the United States, but it seemed to mostly focus on the problems and need for more government programs. With an out-of-control national debt, the solutions the author proposed did not seem viable.
251 reviews
October 7, 2024
This is an eye opening book. It took me quite some time to get it read. There is a lot of good information in it.
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