Personal Health - In Retirement, Doing Work That Matters - Jane E. Brody - NYTimes.com

Personal Health - In Retirement, Doing Work That Matters - Jane E. Brody - NYTimes.com: "Finding a Good Fit

Encore career possibilities are endless. They can be lucrative and personally fulfilling. In their book, “Don’t Retire, Rewire!” (Alpha, 2007), Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners provide a step-by-step guide to help people approaching the second half of life discover their passions and purpose.

Noting that many people “flunk retirement,” they list many reasons for retirees to “rewire,” among them a need for mental stimulation and a desire to remain productive, do something meaningful and make a difference for others.

This husband-and-wife team recognizes that for some people, personal reasons predominate, like wanting to do long-postponed activities, find a better balance between work and play and continue to make money while doing something they love.

The authors put future retirees through their paces. They list and describe 30 possible reasons that people want to work, to help them identify their most important goals and find a good rewiring fit. They also discuss what people may lose when they retire, like involvement with others, the energy of the workplace and a feeling of importance.

Sometimes the best fit is to continue doing your life’s work but on a less demanding schedule. For example, I r"