What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life's Third Age

by Ken Dychtwald, Robert Morison

"Dychtwald and Morison offer a brilliant and convincing an essential re-think of what 'aging' and 'retirement' mean today and an invitation to help mobilize the best in the tidal wave of Boomer Third Agers."
— Daniel Goleman , PhD, Author, Emotional Why It Can Matter More Than IQ Throughout 99 percent of human history, life expectancy at birth was less than 18 years. Few people had a chance to age. Today, thanks to extraordinary medical, demographic, and economic shifts, most of us expect to live long lives. Consequently, the world is witnessing a powerful new version of retirement, driven by the power and needs of the Baby Boomer generation. Consumers over age 50 account for more than half of all spending and control more than 70% of our total net worth – yet are largely ignored by youth-focused marketers. How will work, family, and retirement be transformed to accommodate two billion people over the age of 60 worldwide? In the coming years, we'll see explosive business growth fueled by this unprecedented longevity revolution. What Retirees Want presents the culmination of 30 years of research by world-famous "Age Wave" expert Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., and author and consultant Robert Morison. It explains how the aging of the Baby Boomers will forever change our lives, businesses, government programs, and the consumer marketplace. This exciting new stage of life, the "Third Age," poses daunting In this entertaining, thought-provoking, and wide-ranging book, Dychtwald and Morison explain how individuals, businesses, non-profits, and governments can best prepare for a new era – where the needs and demands of the "Third Age" will set the lifestyle, health, social, marketplace, and political priorities of generations to come.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2021

Reviews

[CJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this is yet another self-indulgent baby boomer book preaching about the great accomplishments of this generation and how they will "make old age great again." It has many tired cliches about how boomers are about to "redefine retirement," somehow ignoring how boomers are already in their 70s and retirement has not been improved by this generation in any noticeable way. The book never quite figures out if it is a retirement guidebook or a handbook for companies looking to profit off old people, creating a confused narrative that is also overly simplistic and a little too smug.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains lots of graphs and surveys about the thinking of retirees and others toward aging and how to approach it. Mainly I think it reminds the reader that planning and thinking about aging is necessary as retirement is approached or entered.

[Burns Cheadle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars: an interesting exploration of various impacts of the extended longevity and radical expectations of the Boomer generation. It was not exactly the book I was hoping for because that would offer more guidance to relatively new retirees like me who are looking for tools and guidance to make the most out of their "third age". Much of this book, however, seemed to promote a message of the perils of ignoring the demographic shift in marketing design, or perpetuating outdated ageist biases in staff retention and development. Still, there are quite a few gems in this book for those who are interested in the subject. I am certain that there is also much here that will enrage some members of the post-Boomer generations who rightly feel that they have been denied many of the social and economic benefits awarded to our "modern elders" (affordable housing and financial security come to mind).

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was very little here that was really new to me. I did like the earlier chapters more than the later ones. There was a lot there to think about, especially for churches that want to rethink marketing and outreach. But much of the rest was the relation of some statistics, mostly about what elder people think or have, and then projecting some trends on that basis. There was some attempt to address the opportunities and responsibilities that elders have with respect to life experience, wisdom, and leisure time for volunteerism. This is the sort of book that everyone ought to read before they are fifty, and then take some key lessons from that in terms of planning and thinking about being an elder.

[Joan Fung-Tomc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative book. Many striking data that makes one think. For example:
- US average retirement age: in 1900 - 76 yr old / in 2020 - 65 yr old
- US life expectancy: in 1940 - 63.6 yrs / in 2016 - 78.8 yr
- US ratio of workers to Social Security recipients: - in 1940 - 40 to 1 / in 2016 - 2.8 to 1
- US number of Social Security recipients: - in 1940 - 222,488 / in 2016 - 60,907,000
- US average annual Social Security payout: - in 1940 - $220 / in 2016 - $16,320
- % US federal budget for Social Security: - in 1940 - 0.03% / in 2016 - 24%

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received free access to this book through work. It is definitely an academic book, with lots of interesting and insightful research data underpinning the narrative. Although the research data does encompass all generations, the main focus is squarely on the Boomers - not surprising but still a bit disappointing as a Gen Xer. As a personal finance nerd, I found it compelling enough to read, but I would definitely not recommend it for the casual reader.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mistakenly picked this up thinking it was about retirement. There is some information about retirees; however, the book is manly about the wonderful marketing opportunity that retirees (aka "Boomers") are. The author's enthusiasm for how different this generation is from previous ones may be overblown a bit but it is worth considering. As much as I like to label generations (speaking as one who read the Fourth Turning when it came out) it can be over done.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much of planning for retirement focuses on the financial, but there are the mental, emotional and even physical aspects to consider. This book focuses on all of the above and is what I have needed for the transition. My biggest takeaway from this book is the importance of 1) having a positive outlook on aging, 2) staying socially connected, and 3) finding a new purpose to replace the one that work provided.

[Ted Rusinoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great review of our world view around retirement and how it will affect us in every generation. There is a particularly great discussion around Ageism and how it impacts our society values and behaviors.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Pasquale A. Castaldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! I just retired and this is just what I needed to confirm I am doing OK but have some further opportunities. Now I have started Ken's latest book about his life called Radical Curiosity and am loving it so far!