The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

Volunteering offers a multitude of benefits. And if you end up retiring sooner than you plan to, it can offer a bridge to what you may decide to do next. Yet, it’s easy to take on more than you’re ready for too soon. You’ll want to learn to set boundaries up front to protect your time and flexibility. Lisa Lewis shares her experiences and lessons learned about volunteering with boundaries. Lisa Lewis joins us from Tampa, Florida. _________________________ Bio Dr. Lisa T. Lewis is the Belief System (B.S.) Boss® and Founder of the Belief System (B.S.) Boss® Institute. Through her transformative Belief System training, she empowers individuals to successfully reengineer their belief systems to transform life’s obstacles into possibilities. As an ordained clergy member, award-winning author, TEDx speaker, senior manager, and certified John Maxwell Team Coach, Teacher, Speaker, and Trainer, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to her practice, inspiring personal and professional growth in her clients. She formerly served as the Chief Budget and Financial Management Officer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) for both the Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) in Lakeland, Florida and the Commissioned Personnel Center (CPC) in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The AOC is best known for the ‘Hurricane Hunters,’ a group of aircraft used for hurricane reconnaissance. They fly through hurricanes to help forecasters and scientists gather operational and research data. The crews also conduct other research projects, including ocean wind studies, winter storm research, thunderstorm research, coastal erosion, and air chemistry flights. Her thirty-six-year federal career began as a stay-in-school student, Clerk-Typist with General Services Administration. Although she studied Business Administration at Barton College, she found her federal niche when she was introduced to federal budgeting and finance in 1991. Since then, she has become the “Olivia Pope” of federal budgeting and finance.  She has enjoyed working at a few cabinet-level agencies: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the U.S. Surgeon General and National Institutes of Health, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Homeland Security. Aside from her recent retirement from Federal service, a few little-known facts about Lisa are that she holds several professional certifications, has authored/published several books, has completed her first TEDx Talk, has an honorary Doctor of Divinity, and is an ordained Elder in the Christian faith. __________________________ For More on Lisa Lewis  LinkedIn Website Amazon __________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like Grace in Motion – Susan Hartzler Your Identity Beyond Your Job Title – Laverne McKinnon The Mutual Benefits of Intergenerational Volunteering – Atalaya Sergi __________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. ___________________________ Wise Quotes On The Benefits of Volunteering  “The joys of volunteering. for me have been, it helps me not think about myself. And it helps me to be a part of the solution of whatever area I’m involved in. I encourage people who talk about wanting to volunteer, but they’re not exactly sure how they want to do it, to think about what comes up in their mind as a problem area. And they can be part of the solution. Any problem area that you can think about, for the most part, there is an area in which you can volunteer to help be part of the solution to solve that problem.” On Volunteering with Boundaries Because to go from someone who works a 40 hour work week, and I work far more hours in that every week, but to go from a stressful intense work week to zero. is quite a transition. So I definitely understand the emphasis on ensuring you have something else to do when you retire. Volunteering went into turbo speed. So the volunteering  I was doing, I had to manage expectations that I had a little more time on my and hands, but I was able to engage a little bit differently, showing up in person more often than what I was able to when I was working full time. But I was being clear, I’m not trading in 40 hours of a  work week for 40 hours of volunteering. I’m not doing that. So that is, I think the challenge and the pitfalls are one and the same is managing expectations in your time. Because if you want to do something else with the next chapter of your life, and it’s not volunteering 100% of the time, that is the challenge, is making sure that folks know, I’m not the person to call at the 11th hour.” On Mentoring “I am excited and thrilled that a number of people that I have been able to mentor and manage at different points that were interested in advancing their career, all of them now, 36 years later, are in leadership roles. They’re hiring individuals. They’re running their own offices and doing amazing work. So that’s exciting.” On Do’s and Don’ts Do volunteer first and foremost. Go to the internet and use AI to type in things that you enjoy doing and how you can volunteer in those areas. And it will bring back a barrage of places that you may not even thought of where you can volunteer. And call the organizations because trust me, everyone is looking for volunteers. And talk with whoever is responsible for bringing in new volunteers and see whether or not there’s an alignment with what you believe, how you want to serve. And if that’s the case, go for it. Don’t go all in. I know that’s crazy. It may sound a little backward but don’t go all in in the beginning because when you’re volunteering, this has to be mutually beneficial. Don’t over commit initially, try it on for size. And if it’s working well and it’s a good fit, then go all in. Take baby steps and don’t over commit. That’s the worst thing you could do is to over commit and then not be able to see the assignment through a project through to completion.” _____________________________      

Michael Long, author of Taming the Molecule of More and co-author of The Molecule of More,  joins us to discuss the science of dopamine, why we’re constantly chasing “more,” and how understanding brain chemistry can transform our approach to retirement and finding meaning. Michael Long joins us from the Washington, DC area. _______________________ Do you know what you’re retiring to? Registration is now open for the two Fall groups – Design Your New Life in Retirement Very early bird discount available for a limited time | Register now _______________________ Bio Michael Long is a physicist, writer, and co-author of the international bestseller The Molecule of More (translated into 25 languages, 500,000+ copies sold) and the author of Taming the Molecule of More. As a playwright, more than 20 of his shows have been produced, most on New York stages. As a screenwriter, his honors include finalist for the grand prize in screenwriting at the Slamdance Film Festival. As a speechwriter, Mr. Long has written for members of Congress, U.S. cabinet secretaries, governors, diplomats, business executives, and presidential candidates. A popular speaker and educator, Mr. Long has addressed audiences around the world, including in a keynote at Oxford University. He teaches writing at Georgetown University, where he is a former director of writing. Mr. Long pursued undergraduate studies at Murray State University and graduate studies at Vanderbilt University. _______________________ For More on Michael Long Taming the Molecule of More: A Step-by-Step Guide to Make Dopamine Work for You Website: tamingthemolecule.com Books: The Molecule of More and  Contact: Available through website for book club discussions ______________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta The Stress Paradox – Sharon Bergquist, MD The Science of Longevity – Coleen T. Murphy _______________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation The Molecule of More by Daniel Leiberman and Michael Long _______________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. _______________________ Wise Quotes On Dopamine as the “Molecule of More” “If you’re not familiar with dopamine, you hear it’s the molecule of happiness. It’s the thing that makes you happy. You get that dopamine buzz. And it turns out he’s a psychiatrist, of course. I’m a physicist. We’re both accustomed to analyzing systems, looking at things in a big picture. Dopamine is not about happiness. It’s nowhere near happiness. It is a promise-maker. It is a driver. It is a compound, a chemical in your brain, a neurotransmitter. And that’s what we mean. It’s just a chemical in your brain that drives you toward getting the next thing. And there are evolutionary reasons for this, of course. There are practical effects that happen. But until you understand that, there’s a lot of insights about life that you need. simply can’t quite get your arms around. And that’s what led to this, the molecule of more. We thought if we’re fortunate enough we can change the way people talk about dopamine and they no longer say molecule of happiness, they say molecule of more…We have to be wired for more in order to move through life in the first place. If we were just satisfied with the things around us, I’d never get up out of the chair, you know, and neither would you. We would be happy. But happiness isn’t what moves us forward. Challenge is what moves us forward.” On the Dopamine Buzz “So most things aren’t salient to getting through the day. They’re just wallpaper. But if something appears that is more salient than normal, we better pay attention. And that’s dopamine’s first job. It’s to check for something that is more salient as soon as it gets your attention, and it might be useful, then your brain goes, okay, we better investigate. And that’s that feeling you get. That’s the dopamine buzz for real that says I better go find out what this is because it could be if you’re a caveman Something to eat because I gotta kill and keep I gotta kill and eat in the same day You know or it could be something dangerous that I better avoid I better watch out for that and that worked pretty well for a long time but in the 21st century – Wow! That noise out there in the yard is probably the neighborhood fox running around. I don’t need to get worked up about every new possibility that comes around and yet the 21st century is built on nothing but and if you think about media especially, it’s about nothing. But can I get your attention with the slight promise of something better? That’s the whole point of the internet and and commerce on the internet. That’s the whole point of television commercials I hope one of advertising we’re surrounded by this constant dopamine opportunity and it can drive us mad.” On Neil Armstrong and the Moon Landing “Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and after he got back… someone asked him in an interview how did it feel… to be on the moon. And here’s what he said, word for word, it was something we did. Now we should do something else. You see that the power of this chemical in our brain, it doesn’t matter what you do. My friends, it’s not going to make you happy forever.” On Meaning “Aristotle said, if you want to find a satisfying life, and I can’t believe that this wonderful formula is so easy to articulate, make a list of the things that you like to do. Then make another list. What are the things that you do well? Now, which actions, which skills and activities appear on both lists? Now we have a constructive way to spend our time, okay? But that’s, as we say in physics, I’m not trained as a physicist, as we say, as mathematicians say, it’s necessary but insufficient. Okay, so here’s the other thing we need to do. We need to make a third list, and these are the things that Aristotle called virtues that we need to think about matter to us. And when I talk about virtue, I’m not talking about being good. I’m talking about things like love, truth, liberty, knowledge and its pursuit, grace toward others in the form of forgiveness, kindness. Now, we have a list of things that we love to do that we’re good at, and we have a list of virtues that matter to us. Pick out the two or three that matter most to you. What of those activities advance the virtues that mean something to you? And these are the things that we should do. Now, again, another caveat. If you’re thinking that virtues are all about big ideas that change the world, erase that.”

Susan Hartzler, author of The Peace Puppy: A Memoir of Caregiving and Canine Solace, joins us to discuss her lessons learned in caregiving and volunteering with Therapy Dogs. Susan Hartzler joins us from California. ________________________ Bio Susan Hartzler is a lifelong dog lover and an award-winning writer who has figured out a way to live her life to the fullest as a single woman, not conforming to the social norms of marriage and children. Winner of the Angel on a leash Award from the Dog Writer’s Association of America and the Pawlitzer Prize from America’s most dog friendly city Carmel, CA, Susan has created a life filled with joy that revolves around her dogs and wrote about it in her first memoir, I’m Not Single, I Have a Dog — Dating Tales From The Bark Side. Susan also works as a blogger for hire and writes public relations and marketing materials for a variety of industries. Her current pack consists of two talented Australian Shepherds, Seven and Paige Turner, who Susan has trained to act in commercials and bring their special kind of love to children in the hospital as therapy dogs. ________________________ For More on Susan Hartzler The Peace Puppy: A Memoir of Caregiving and Canine Solace (Dogs in Our World) Website ________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like The Best Day of My Life So Far – Benita Cooper An Artful Life – John P. Weiss Detach: Ditch Your Baggage – Dr. Bob Rosen _________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation Therapy Dogs International About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast __________________________ There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn _____________________________ Wise Quotes On Caregiving “Suddenly here I was single, just coming and going as I pleased, except for my dog. And suddenly I had someone that was counting on me. And my dad was a very dynamic man. So he needed some outlets for socialization and for his creativity. And all these things I had to figure out along the way. So there are things that I would tell a caregiver. It’s not just feeding and doing the physical things that are needed. It’s a lot of emotional support too. So you have to be ready. On Baldwin “I got a therapist who helped me a lot. And my dog, Baldwin, he was a rescue dog that my mom bought for me before she died, so I always looked at him as a sign of her love to me. And you know, it’s just, if things got really intense, if my dad was angry about something, I could just say, I’m going to take Baldwin on a walk and leave and breathe and be in nature and be with my dog and come back and things will have changed. So he really helped me a lot in my emotional journey as a caregiver. And my dad loved him too. He was amusing. We got to watch him do funny things. I taught him all sorts of tricks. He sneezed on command. So my dad liked to watch the tricks. And one time he went to the hospital and he came out and he said to me, ‘You know, it was the best thing about coming home.’ I said, ‘What? ‘He said, ‘Baldwin.’ I would have said that, but that was touching that he felt that way too.” On Volunteering  “I’m a big advocate for volunteering, especially when it comes to dogs. So my mom was a school teacher. And after she died and I moved home to take care of my dad, Baldwin was so smart and he needed a job. So he had the agility going, but a woman that I met in agility, she was an evaluator for Therapy Dogs International. So I said, ‘do you think Baldwin would be a good therapy dog?’ She said, yes. So she helped me train him. It’s not only the temperament of the dog. There are certain training things. Like for instance, let’s say you’re at a hospital and you’re visiting someone and the food tray comes in. You don’t want a dog that’s going to jump up on the bed and start eating the food. Although my dog Bliss did eat the Play-Doh once, but that’s a whole other story. She didn’t pass the test the first time because she had to have a hot dog. So there’s reasons for the training because you don’t want to put a dog in a situation where they’re not going to succeed.” On Therapy Dogs “Baldwin opened up so many worlds for me. He opened up the world of therapy dogs.  I went once a month to County USC with him. And it gave perspective on what was going on in my life. We visited these kids that were going through cancer treatments and they had smiles on their faces, you know? And the thing is you can’t get emotional while you’re there because you’re watching the child, you’re watching the dog, you’re making sure,  if there’s an IV, you don’t want your dog to jump up and hit the IV or you don’t want your dog to eat the Play-Doh. So it’s a lot. You have to really watch what’s going on. But afterwards, I would realize what I had just witnessed. And I call it grace in motion because Baldwin… he just had such grace. He knew, I never planned what he was going to do.” __________________________

It’s time for a recap of our best retirement podcast conversations from earlier this year. As you listen, ask yourself: What if I put this into action? Ready to learn more? Here are links to the full conversations: Stephanie Harrison Jordan Grumet Anne Laure Le Cunff Ethan Kross Bob Rosen Judith Nadratowski Alison Wood Brooks ______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Very Best of 2024 Best of 2023 – Part Three The Very Best of 2022 _______________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn _____________________________

Marc Cooper thinks you have an important choice to make.  Will you become a wise elder or just someone who’s getting older? Marc Cooper joins us from Portland, Oregon. ___________________ Bio Dr. Marc Cooper is a former healthcare consultant, for almost 30 years – at the practice, corporate and organizational levels. Prior to his consulting career, Dr. Cooper was an academician, basic science researcher and practicing periodontist. He felt a shift later in life, leading him to create and lead an organization called the Contemporary Elder Institute. This is a movement to raise awareness around the transformation we all experience as we age – turning knowledge into wisdom – and how it impacts the remainder of our life experience.  On the road to becoming an elder, there are no clear road signs, no GPS to guide the way, and no reliable maps to follow. Navigating this path demands acquiring and cultivating higher wisdom—insights that transcend mere knowledge and shallow appearances. Marc explores a transformative approach to aging in his book Older to Elder: The Thinking and Being of a Contemporary Elder. He rejects our culture’s predetermined and often detrimental path to late age. Marc champions a new path: a path of strength, contribution, and deep self-worth, the path of a contemporary elder. _________________________ For More on Marc Cooper Older to Elder: The Thinking and Being of a Contemporary Elder The Contemporary Elder Institute _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Well-Lived Life – Dr. Gladys McGarey The Pursuit of Wisdom – Ben Lytle The Measure of Our Age – MT Connolly ___________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn _________________________ Wise Quotes On Olders and Elders “Older is objective and elder is subjective. Older is defined by the culture. This is what happens when you get old. These are the problems that occur….So there’s a certain element of conventional knowledge that people can expand their lives through their health span, their lifespan… That’s distinct from a cultural viewpoint… You would observe it in their language, and you would observe it in their listening. So another is a listener, and another knows certain principles that are practiced that older does not, and one would be that listening is more powerful than speaking, that you listen in a way that allows for the other person to have safety…. So an elder earns the light on a different area. So if you watch them speaking over the fence, the elder is nodding his head or her head and smiling and being warming and bracing in a certain way of this of this individual, bringing a level of humanity that he or she has accomplished, and that is welcome, refreshing, and longed for in the older person.” On Switchbacks on Your Path “One of my teachers once said, if you see your steps clearly on the path. it’s the wrong path. If you’ve ever done some hiking, there’s things called switchbacks. And then you keep on climbing and then there’s a switchback and you keep on climbing and there’s a switchback. But I’ve had a lot of switchbacks. And my switchbacks have taken me places that were unexpected. So although having a professional health care career, I also was enmeshed in the Native American Aboriginal world for a while, where elders were present. And so I was able to generate relationships inside of that context, as well as to develop my professional relationships and success in here. And what I saw was missing here was available here. And what was available here wasn’t available there. There was something that was was not linked. So I spent time with elders. And then I trained with a shaman, and his older to elder, when I was not older yet, was in my 50s.Now I think that’s really young. It’s just a spring puppy. In my own consulting arena, I brought that particular set of distinctions there. And then I saw it in myself. I began to see the impact that it had when you’re engaged in different sets of inquiry and questions and understandings.” On Discovery versus Protection “Elders are in discovery. I think holders are in protection. How do I protect my assets? How do I protect my health? How do I sit there? There’s a certain shell that older has, that elder has taken off.  People don’t listen as an open element. They already have surmised much and know much….And part of the elders’ beauty is to live in a world where you don’t know. So you’re in wonderment. You take walks and you go in nature and your mind stops and the beauty grabs you and there’s stream water and all of that. And all there knows how to get there in the daily life to be in that arena in that moment where they don’t know. And life’s a mystery. But they’re smart, because they’re learners too. They’re going for deeper understanding, not to protect themselves, but to understand themselves and the world better.”    

Laverne McKinnon, a career coach and grief recovery specialist, shares insights from her dynamic career in film and television. She discusses the emotional challenges that accompany retirement, emphasizing the need to reconnect with personal aspirations. Laverne highlights the often-overlooked grief tied to job loss and encourages redefining self-worth. She draws from her experiences, showcasing how modern shows like 'The Offer' and 'Shrinking' reflect themes of resilience and transformation. Her compassionate approach offers listeners a roadmap for navigating identity beyond their job titles.

Retirement is what you make of it. Do you have a second-act story as an entrepreneur in you?  Connie Inukai, author of  Retirement: Dream Big, Take Action, Make Money: 10 Amazing Second Act Entrepreneurs Tell Their Story, shares her experience in her second act as an inventor and “Grandmapreneur.” Connie Inukai joins us from Maryland. _______________________ Bio As a serial “Grandmapreneur®”, Connie Inukai speaks to retirees or soon-to-be retirees on the benefits of pursuing entrepreneurship in retirement. Retired from teaching Technical Writing at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University for four decades, Connie Inukai became an award-winning inventor at the age of 68.  Featured in Entrepreneur magazine, “6 Reasons to Pursue Entrepreneurship in Retirement,” Connie encourages Baby Boomers to have an active retirement through business or social entrepreneurship. She is the creator of Write Your Selfie®, where she inspires people to write their life stories in a fun and easy-to-read format so grandchildren and future generations will enjoy turning the pages to learn about their ancestry and life lessons. She is passionate about working with dementia sufferers and their families to preserve the memoirs of this “invisible” population. _______________________ For More on Connie Inukai Retirement: Dream Big, Take Action, Make Money: 10 Amazing Second Act Entrepreneurs Tell Their Story Website –  Grandmapreneur: Inspiring Invention, Ideas, and Impact  _______________________ Mentioned in this Podcast Conversation SCORE Mentoring Program _______________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like The Heart of Grandfatherhood – Ted Page Is Semi-Retirement the Best of Both Worlds? – Liz Weston Unretired – Mark S. Walton ________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn ________________________ Wise Quotes On Being a Second Act Entrepreneur “SCORE is very helpful because when I started, when I retired, I was 68 years old and then I was fumbling around with my invention. I knew nothing about anything, but I did learn how to invent a product and I went to SCORE because I had no idea what to do and they’re very good with newbies and I think they didn’t expect a newbie to be my age, but I think I’m older than my SCORE mentor, but he was wonderful and the first thing he did was he told me to write a business plan. Most people who write business plans just use a template and copy it and do nothing with it, but he inspired me, so I wrote a business plan that would actually lead me on my path to my business. I actually have two businesses and now a third business. I have one that I want to be a speaker because I gave a TEDx talk, another for Tip and Split, which is my invention. And the business plan shows how I’m going to develop it.And my third one is for, my third business plan is how I’m going to develop my third product, which is called Write Your Selfie. So I actually used my SCORE mentor to help me write my business plans…If you hire a mentor, they’re very expensive. SCORE is free. So, they’re not doing it for money. They’re doing it because they want to help you.” The Benefits of Second Act Entrepreneurship “The main reasons are, first of all, it keeps you mentally active to have a business. And it keeps you physically active. And it keeps you socially active. There are six things, six reasons why it’s good to start a business. The main thing is it keeps you young.” On Shark Tank – and Why It’s Never Too Late “So I took an Amtrak to audition for Shark Tank. Now, if that isn’t dreaming big, I don’t know what is. The reason I went there is because I thought this is my time. Because Shark Tank is more than the product, it’s about the person’s story behind the product, and I’m going to compete. There were about 1,000 people pitching, and I assumed I was the oldest one there. I thought, Yay me!, and why not? All I can do is have a good time, meet a lot of people, and have the time of my life. I’ll tell you the hardest thing about the pitch was, I had to stand in line for two hours waiting for a wristband, and I can’t stand up that long. So I bought a folding stool, and I thought, what does every great inventor do? They solve a problem. If I can’t stand up, I was afraid to sit down on the ground because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back up. So I thought, okay, let me find a solution. So I went on Amazon and I found this great folding stool. And it was actually a great idea. It wasn’t my invention. A lot of people thought that was my invention. No, that’s just something I used. So people think small, no, think big. Because at this age, we’ve been through so much. We’ve had successes, we’ve had failures, we’ve had everything in between. We have nothing to lose. So why not go for it?  I’m 77 and I’m still planning my next invention. I have two more in my head that I’m going to do and they’re going to be great. Is it ever too late? I think that’s old-fashioned. That’s the way people used to look at retirement, that you’re too old and we we can put ourselves on a shelf. Nobody’s putting me on a shelf. Okay, so I think that if you think you’re too old to do something, well don’t talk to me about that. I would encourage you to talk to anybody except me about that.”  

Is stress bad for you? Yes, but so is too little stress. Sharon Bergquist, MD, author of The Stress Paradox: Why You Need Stress to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier, shares her research on how good stress, in the right amount and at the right time, can enhance your well-being and longevity. Dr. Sharon Bergquist joins us from Atlanta. _________________________ Bio Sharon Horesh Bergquist, MD, is the author of The Stress Paradox: Why You Need Stress to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier. She is an award-winning physician, innovative healthcare leader, and visionary researcher renowned for spearheading a science-based approach to applying lifestyle as medicine. She has helped lead numerous clinical trials, including the Emory Healthy Aging Study and the NIH-funded Emory Healthy Brain Study. Dr. Bergquist is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to over 200 news segments, including Good Morning America, CNN, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR. She hosts The Whole Health Cure podcast and her popular Ted-Ed video on how stress affects the body has been viewed over six million times. She received her degrees from Yale College and Harvard Medical School. _________________________ For More on Sharon Bergquist, MD The Stress Paradox: Why You Need Stress to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier Website _________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like Tiny Experiments – Anne-Laure Le Cunff Shift – Ethan Kross From Cravings to Control – Revamp Your Habits – Dr. Jud Brewer ________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn __________________________ On Good Stress and Bad Stress “You can tell a lot about the difference between good stress and bad stress by looking at studies on retirement because there’s such a discrepancy between the studies, some showing that some people live longer and live better when they retire and some people actually do better if they work past retirement age. And when you look at the difference, it really comes down to the nature of their job. If people are working in jobs that are joyful, purposeful, very reward driven, they tend to do better working past retirement age. And people who feel chronically stressed, overwhelmed by their work, there’s no joy, low reward, they tend to do better to retire. And that begins to tell you a lot about good stress and bad stress.” On Stress “So essentially, good stressors are stressors that are mild to moderate. In terms of intensity, they are generally brief or intermittent, where you are exposed to the stress and then there’s a period of recovery. And their nature is that they’re aligned with your belief system, they’re meaningful, they contribute to a greater good. And the bad stressors that are harmful, in nature, they’re more intense. They can be very overwhelming. Their duration is usually chronic, it goes on continuously. And generally, they’re the ones that drain you, there’s not as much of a sense of purpose or reward. And they leave you feeling exhausted and burnt out.” On the Benefits of Good Stress “We have this natural ability to heal our bodies, to regenerate. And good stress is the mechanism that signals our body to activate these healing systems. The benefits of good stress I think are really having come to light in mainstream because we focus a lot on how we need to reduce our exposure to things that are harming our health. So in our Western environment we know that processed foods, sedentary, loneliness, chronic stress are all factors that are chipping away at our health and there’s tremendous focus on reducing these exposures. What we don’t talk enough about is that we have the ability build health to counter the effects of these harmful stressors in our lives. And that’s what good stressors are trying to do. So I think of it as building a bank account. So these harmful stressors are withdrawing money out of your bank account. And the good stressors are making deposits because they’re repairing the damage. They’re helping you build reserve and resilience.And that in turn helps reduce your risk of disease. It also slows your aging process. So those are the fundamental benefits. And so much of disease and the aging process is rooted in decline in our repair and regenerative systems. And that results in cellular damage. So we have this ability to kind of slow that process with aging to slow what happens to these repair mechanisms from the exposure that are occurring from our daily life and live such a happier and longer life.” The Five Good Stressors “The five key stressors that we know that can activate our repair and regenerative systems and help us live longer and disease-free are plant chemicals that mildly stress our cells, exposure to brief intervals of high intensity activity, thermal stress from heat and cold, fasting stress, reducing incoming nutrients in a pattern that aligns with our circadian biology and good mental and emotional challenges that help us thrive.”

Ted Page, founder of the blog Good Grampa, has a new book Good Grandpa: Stories from the Heart of Grandfatherhood coming out on Grandparent’s Day. We catch up on what he’s learned from others about grandfatherhood today and his own experiences as a grandfather. Ted Page rejoins us from Vermont. _____________________ Bio Ted Page is a storyteller and performer. His nonfiction stories have appeared in Boston Magazine and the Boston Globe Magazine, and his comedy screen credits include work with John Cleese and Florence Henderson. His blog for grandfathers –GoodGrandpa.com—has been featured in The New York Times. Ted’s book of true family stories, The Willoughby Chronicles, was published in 2017. Ted is a founding partner of Captains of Industry, a leading boutique marketing consultancy, and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He lives in New England and has a bunch of grandchildren. ___________________________ For More on Ted Page Pre-order Good Grandpa: Stories from the Heart of Grandfatherhood Blog: GoodGrandpa.com – Nurturing the Next Generation __________________________ Missed Ted Page’s first visit? Listen here __________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like The Long Distance Grandparent – Kerry Byrne PhD The Mindful Grandparent – Dr. Shirley Showalter TALK: The Science of Conversation – Alison Wood Brooks __________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. Connect on LinkedIn ________________________ Wise Quotes On the Evolution of Grandfathers “That story begins about 30,000 years ago, and it was when early Paleolithic humans were on the rise, and scientists believe that a shift started to take place where the very earliest grandparents started peering on the scene. Now these were grandparents in their over the late 20s, but life at the time has been described as, you know, brutish and short. People just didn’t live very long. And all of a sudden, there was the grandparents gradually appearing on the scene. And they were able to teach, for example, you know, how do you plant seeds? So to have the better chance of a successful crop. As one example, I’m sure there was all kinds of things like hunting and so forth. And they were the first ones who were being there for their grandkids and instilling the wisdom required to help lead a successful life. So that was the genesis of this. And this is all that was from an article in Scientific American. But that got me thinking about my own grandfather, and I was fortunate to have one grandfather who had this huge influence on me, called him Gramp. And I knew him in the 1970s when I helped him and my grandmother clean the rental cottages on the family’s farm in Vermont, and the number of lessons I learned from him just through being there.” On Today’s Grandfathers “That sense of distance from being a grandparent is changing. You know what, I think if you were an involved parent, as I was, like a really involved dad, you’re more likely to be an involved grandfather as hopefully I am. But I think the biggest difference was, and again, I can’t say this is universal. My wife points out that her dad was different with our grandkids. My grandmother would never miss a family gathering without saying how much she loved her grandkids, loved, loved, loved her grandkids and how much it meant to her. My grandpa, well, we’re not doing that. Never once did I hear him say, Teddy, I love you. But my grandpa, as well as my father and a lot of the dads, the grandfathers that I spoke with, showing your love was by working.” On Forever Letters “A guy reached out to me. His name is Bob Halperin. He was a former director of the MIT School of Executive Education, very bright guy. And he reached out after reading the story in the blog. And he said he was doing something that these days is called a forever letter. In ancient Jewish traditions, going back to the time of the Bible, it was called the ethical will. So it was the practice of writing a letter that would only be read by future generations. And he had a letter written to him by his grandfather, a grandfather that he never met. But this grandfather had big influence on him because of what he wrote.” He took an ancient tradition and he updated it to the time of email. And he’s writing dozens of emails, and he gave the email address to his kids, and he says, I want you to give these to the grandkids at certain ages.”

Join Dr. Bob Rosen, a renowned psychologist and author, as he explores the transformative power of detaching from unhealthy attachments. He delves into how retirement can spark personal growth and the significance of embracing uncertainty in our ever-changing world. Bob shares insights on confronting emotional baggage and redefining fulfillment through love and gratitude. With compelling stories and practical strategies, listeners are encouraged to embrace change and create a joyful retirement experience.