The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

What’s next for you? Early registration is now open for our next Design Your New Life in Retirement group program. Join us. The Very Early Bird discount ends on July 31st. Learn more here. Register here. ________________________ Retirement is about so much more than money. But where do you begin to build the life you want after you leave full-time work? Here’s what we’ve discussed with our interesting expert guests: The critical choice you’ll want to make – now – about the years ahead Why retirement is really about creating a new life structure How to use retirement as a catalyst to edit your life The four steps in a reinvention roadmap Why happiness requires knowledge and skill What longitudinal research reveals as the keys to a long and satisfying life How creating a Portfolio Life can open up new possibilities in retirement How your beliefs can affect your longevity __________________________ Want to explore any of these ideas further? Dive into any of the full podcast conversations here: Cynthia Covey Haller Teresa Amabile Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Joanne Lipman Arthur C. Brooks Marc Schulz Christina Wallace Becca Levy ________________________ Explore our Best Books on Retirement __________________ 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 Reinvention  “One of the ways to start actually, and I just wrote a piece in The New York Times about this [is] the idea of thinking about your possible selves. Now that’s a psychological term, but essentially what it means is to imagine what you might be, what you could be, and to go beyond the daydream to take some sort of action on possible selves. So that means if, let’s say I’m pivoting in a career, take a course or shadow someone, or do an informational interview. Don’t just like sit with it and cogitate. You’ve got to  get out of your own brain.” – Joanne Lipman On Purpose & Meaning “Purpose or meaning actually requires challenge and trauma and hardship and pain – and actually requires unhappiness paradoxically. So these are kind of complicated phenomena, but altogether, everybody can get better at getting happy if you’ve got the knowledge and skills.” – Arthur Brooks On Relationships “The finding that we talk about most in our book, The Good Life, is that it’s very clear across this 86 years of research, and hundreds of papers, that the most important predictor of health and happiness throughout the lifespan is the quality of our relationships with others. How connected we are, how much we can rely on other support, and how much we’re able to do that are really key predictors of how happy we’ll be and how healthy we will be. And it’s all kinds of relationships. It’s not just the person who you may have been lucky enough to spend a good portion of your time with. So it’s not just our marital partners or our intimate partners, it’s friends, neighbors, people we work with, people in our communities, it’s all types of relationships that matter.” – Marc Schulz On Creating a Portfolio Life “And so it can be hard in that transition because not only have you lost the routine of what do I do with my day, you’ve also lost the community of here’s who I talk to on a regular basis – and then you’ve lost this identity. How do I describe myself? Who am I when I get out of bed? And as terrifying as it is to go through that transition and losing all three things at the same time, it’s a huge opportunity because for so many people at that cusp of retirement, they’re thinking, I’m not dead yet. I’ve got a whole life ahead of me. I still have something to offer. And, very likely, I saw a lot of things I’m really curious about that I haven’t had space for. So rather than replacing one thing for another, the opportunity here is to really think about your portfolio, literally like your financial portfolio, and you map out what do I need for this chapter? Do I need a community that will challenge me and push me to grow? Do I need that community to be in person versus one that might be online or over zoom? So you start mapping out what you need. And honestly, a lot of times you don’t know what you need until you don’t have it. So sitting in that really awkwardness of those first few weeks or months and saying, oh, I hate this. Why? What are you missing? And then after you map out what you need, you have that same opportunity to say, okay, well what do I want? What comes next? What are the things that I am interested in or parts of my Venn diagram that I haven’t been able to make use of in a while? And then you just sort of, it’s a little bit like a mashup, a mix tape.” – Christina Wallace

Who will you become in your retirement? Registration is now open for the next two Design Your New Life in Retirement Groups. Very Early Bird discount available for a limited time. Take the first step toward Future You today. ________________________ Retirement is not an end — it’s an open canvas. In this episode, Harry Agress, MD, author of Next Years Best Years: Taking Your Retirement to the Next Level, joins us to explore how retirement can become one of the most dynamic, creative, and fulfilling phases of your life. A retired radiologist and passionate photographer, Dr. Agress shares lessons from his own retirement journey — from trying an improv class with 20-somethings to donating his art to hospitals — and offers you practical insights to help you shape a retirement that’s vibrant, purpose-driven, and truly your own. You’ll discover: How self-reflection and worksheets helped Dr. Agress navigate the transition into retirement Why embracing “The Four Freedoms” can unlock a new mindset The surprising benefits of trying new things — even improv! A simple but powerful idea: the 8-minute phone call that can rekindle relationships Why pursuing purpose — especially in service to others — fuels a more meaningful retirement Whether you’re preparing for retirement or already in it, Dr. Agress offers a compelling vision of how to make your next chapter the best one yet. Harry Agress, MD joins us from New York. ____________________________ Bio – Harry Agress, MD Following a 36-year medical career in the field of Radiology, Dr. Agress has been retired for 10 years. He is an experienced teacher and nationally recognized lecturer who takes great joy in passing on what he has learned and experienced both in medicine and in retirement. He has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show,” lectured at the 92nd St Y (NYC) and been featured and America’s Top Doctors. He is a Clinical Professor at Columbia University (NYC) and continues to voluntarily teach medical residents both at Columbia and Weill Cornell Medical Centers. In his new book, Next Years Best Years, Taking Your Retirement to the Next Level, Dr. Agress dives into the many exploits and research that he and others have discovered as they create a new post-career way of living; embracing the emotional, personal and practical side of one of the most unique opportunities of our lives. _______________________ For More on Harry Agress, MD: Next Years Best Years: Taking Your Retirement to the Next Level A Retired Physician Pursues a New Self Portrait in Photography Q&A with photographer Dr. Harry Agress _______________________ Related Podcast Episodes You May Like: The Vintage Years – Dr. Francine Toder Independence Day – Steve Lopez Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile ________________________ 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 Transition to Retirement “It is not a particularly simple transition unless you’ve worked on a lot of these issues before you retired, which I highly recommend. It is a time when actually it is a combination of being very happy, stress is down and everything else. But there’s a grieving process that I think a lot of people have to go through. And you just have to sort of accept it for a while that you have lost something. You have lost your career. You’ve lost some of your friendships on a daily basis and there are ways to to move on past that.” On The Four Freedoms of Retirement “One of the things that does make it easier is what I like to call The Four Freedoms, which is basically taking charge of your fears and anxieties about this new stage in your life and transferring it into freedoms. One of the  the first one is fear of failure – and we don’t have to worry about this anymore! We’re not at work anymore. You can go try all kinds of things. I decided I wanted to try improv. I did it with a group where I was three times older than the average kid in this thing and you know it was intimidating for a little bit, but I really wanted to try it. And it turned out to be fine. But at the end when they’re all signing up for the next semester. I’m out of there and I thought I liked it, I felt good I tried it. One of the good things about improv is you don’t have to memorize lines and then and one of the big points is nobody else cares you know at this stage of our life no one cares if you don’t sing well no one cares. If you don’t write well and you just have this amazing freedom where failure just does not exist. Nobody cares so do  things that you always wanted to. I think this is another great freedom – at this time you don’t have to worry about what other people think.” On Self-Reflection “One of the things you can do to help this along is think about the things you did in childhood that you really loved. And think about the things, what would you have done if you hadn’t done your career? Because the other big point I’d like to make is that this is a very dynamic process that can last for 25% of your life. This can go on for 20 or more years. So it’s not like, boom, this is just a one-time event. You’re gonna change, and I certainly did, in and out of the time that goes by in retirement. So I think it’s always a good idea to refresh, no matter what stage you’re at.”

Retiring? You could wing it…but that’s not you. Be intentional about your future. Registration is now open for the next two Design Your New Life in Retirement Groups. Very Early Bird discount available for a limited time. Take the first step toward Future You today. _______________________ What if  I told you the activities you dismiss as “just hobbies” were much more than just fun – and could be one of the most powerful tools for building resilience and maintaining mental sharpness as we age? Ashley Merryman reveals groundbreaking findings that challenge how we think about leisure time and its profound impact on our long-term health. From doctors now prescribing hobbies as medicine to studies finding that singing in a chorus creates instant social bonds, the science behind recreational activities is remarkable. Merryman shares fascinating research demonstrating that even modest engagement—like cooking something special twice a week—can deliver measurable cognitive benefits. Whether you’re looking to boost your brain health, combat isolation, or to find more meaning in your free time, this conversation will change how you view your pastimes. Discover why hobbies aren’t just fun—they’re good for you, in more ways than we think. Ashley Merryman joins us from Washington, DC. _______________________ Bio Ashley Merryman is a two-time New York Times bestselling author who is a frequent contributor to US News and World Report. She who recently wrote a guest column for YOLO, a US News newsletter for retirees and those thinking about retirement on the science of hobbies – finding that hobbies are a key to a healthier, happier life. ________________________ For More on Ashley Merryman Your Hobby May Be the Secret to a Happier, Healthier Life Website _________________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like Learning is a Lifetime Sport – Tom Vanderbilt Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller _________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation Serious Leisure __________________________ 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 Hobbies “The research is very clear. There have been studies, large scale studies, 20,000 people in 15 European countries, 90,000 people in another 15 or 16 countries, and they are consistently finding that hobbies lead to lower likelihood of depression, lower anxiety, better well-being, better physical health, better overall life satisfaction.” On Hobbies & Your Brain “So we’ve got these huge benefits in terms of cognition, well-being, psychology, but researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas decided, Well, let’s see if we can find this in brain scanning. So they did a really interesting experiment with seniors, taking a class either in digital photography, quilting, or some combination of both, and then they had a comparison group which was just doing social stuff. So they would meet every week, and each group were all together, they were spending about 13 to 15 hours a week, so it was a pretty substantial amount of time. For the class, it was about a two-hour class, and then they would practice what they learned. In this social comparison group, they didn’t learn anything, but they would, you know, have a weak theme. Okay, this week, we’re going to talk about travel. So people will just tell us about their stories, about where they’ve been, where they want to go, that kind of thing. Next week, let’s sit down and watch a movie. So mostly focused on social, not learning. And what they found was that both groups within 14 weeks actually showed improvement in their brain development. And the language that the researchers used was that it literally resulted in a more youth-like area of production and functioning of the brain. The difference, though, between those two groups is that high challenge group, the group that was actively learning. You saw this pattern in at least five different areas of the brain. The social group only saw that pattern in one part of the brain. So there was some progress but not nearly as much in that active learning, pushing yourself to figure out how to do something, taking in newer information. But both of them had some progress and they actually saw the same improvement in brain function a year later. So, the stories in terms of, Oh well, after 25, your brain is an inevitable decline, is absolutely wrong, and one of the fastest ways to do that is just to learn a new hobby.” On Singing as a Hobby “Research has actually shown that even perfect strangers, while you’re singing, you’re breathing. and even your heart rate, start getting in sync with the conductor so you’re literally having this joint physiological and emotional experience going along with everyone. Maybe it’s beautiful. maybe you all screw up and have a collective laugh. because Oh wow that was really not what you were looking for but you have this joint shared purpose and this joint shared emotional experience that’s very unique to singing.”    

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.”