The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

Retiring right requires a smart strategy. And if you didn’t get started early in your retirement planning, the second best time to start is now. Rick Atkinson, Founder & President of RA Retirement Advisors in Toronto, shares his insights and advice. ___________________________ It’s Back to School time. Here’s your reading list to peruse: Best Books on Retirement ___________________________ Bio Rick Atkinson is Founder & President of RA Retirement Advisors specializing in retirement planning. For over 15 years, Rick has been helping people live their ideal retirement. As a human resources management specialist with over 30 years’ experience in industry and government service, Rick honed his understanding of what is required to lead a satisfying life after work. He then transferred this to writing and speaking about retirement planning and facilitating workshops and coaching. He is the author of five books including Don’t Just Retire – Live It, Love It! and Strategies for Retiring Right! Rick has written lead stories for well-known journals, as well as stories for various daily Canadian newspapers, and has appeared on Canadian radio and TV. Rick is an acclaimed speaker on holistic retirement planning appearing at groups from 10 to 300. He has spoken at conferences and service groups across Canada, and facilitates workshops and webinars for companies, cities, government agencies and religious organizations and service clubs. Rick has an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia. He is also a CHRP (Certified Human Resources Professional); CMC (Certified Management Consultant); Advanced Level, Ontario Society of Training & Development. Recently made a Fellow of Distinguished Financial Services (FDFS) for his service as an influential thought leader. As a point of pride and growth, for 10 years, Rick travelled extensively to Canada’s Arctic as a CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization) volunteer advisor to mentor Inuit supervisors and managers, and to impart his human resources knowledge and insights. Rick’s volunteering was part of the Government of Nunavut’s Initiative Program. ___________________________ For More on Rick Atkinson Books Website ___________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Design Your Life and Get Unstuck – Dave Evans Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson Why Retirement is About Much More Than Money – Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland Ready to ROAR? – Michael Clinton ____________________________ Wise Quotes On Deciding When to Retire “So I think this whole piece of work stress for some, but for some others, what I found is that they have a feeling of unfulfillness –  that work is holding them back, that they’ve got things that they want to pursue, a passion project. They want to start a business,. They want to do extensive traveling. But there are others that, and I’ve had this myself, people saying, Why aren’t you retired? You’re X years old. Why are you still working? I met a couple and the wife had said to the husband, I didn’t sign up for this. He just told me he’s not going to retire. I thought we would have time together. There’s another situation that says, is this the right time? I’ve met many people who have sat down with their financial advisor and the financial advisor had said, You know what, you got enough money to keep you going well into your 90s. And they walk out of the office and say, Hey, maybe that’s it.” On Mistakes to Avoid in Planning for Retirement “Oh, there’s a whole myriad of things that you need time to think about these and plan for them rather than just the day you retire. Another mistake that I find that people make is that they concentrate so much on the money. The recession in 2008 devastated a whole bunch of folks and their retirement monies. And to my mind, it’s not the money that you amass, but the monetary trick is how to determine how much money is going to make you feel secure. The [other] mistake that I find that people make is they think that retirement is like an extended holiday. Here’s, here’s all of the stuff I did in my golf holiday. I did the projects around the house, etc. I’m just going to do that when I retire. Well, you and I know there is a honeymoon period that happens when you retire in the first few weeks and months. This is wonderful. There’s no cares, no pressure. But that wears off and that becomes a feeling of disenchantment kind of comes in. If you’re golfing five days a week, then starts to become like a job. The projects at home don’t have any appeal anymore, and so what I find is that when people think it’s just an extended holiday, they start to feel frustrated. They feel a bit disappointed and they seem to get caught up in this vortex they can’t get out of.” On Attitude in Retirement “And that is the number of people that go into retirement with a negative attitude. They see themselves as non-productive, non-contributory, life is over, and as you know, it takes courage to have a good retirement. It takes commitment. It takes desire. And we’ve got to remind ourselves all of the things that we have been successful at. We were successful at getting an education, raising a family, holding a job. And those things all seem to be hard to us, but we did it. So why not the same positive attitude into retirement?” _________________________ 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 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 1.2 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.  

Cathy Bishop-Clark, a recent retiree from Miami University after 34 years, shares her rich journey of transitioning into retirement. She emphasizes the emotional complexity of leaving a fulfilling career and the necessity of a retirement mentor. Cathy discusses her adventurous spirit, including cycling across America, while navigating the joys and challenges of retirement alongside her husband. The conversation touches on the importance of prioritizing health, social connections, and exploring new experiences to thrive in this new phase of life.

Check our Best Books for Retirement ________________________ Have you considered phased retirement? Most working people dream about that day when they’ll ride off into the sunset and into retirement. But a full stop retirement isn’t for everyone. It can make the transition to retirement quite challenging. Many people are choosing insread to glide into retirement. Phased retirement is trending as a way to gradually retire, on your own terms. It’s essential a flexible work arrangement. Our guest today is Jennifer Barnes, a CEO, who shares her experiences with phased retirement in her company. Jennifer Barnes joins us from San Diego. ________________________ Bio Jennifer Barnes, CEO of Optima Office, graduated with a Finance and Marketing degree from the University of Arizona, earned an MBA from San Diego State University, and completed the Becker CPA coursework. She spent 15 years as a Controller for numerous companies and non-profits throughout San Diego before starting her first company in 2012, which was the 5th fastest-growing company in San Diego in 2016 and made the Inc 5000 in 2017 and 2018. Jennifer has won numerous awards as the CEO of the two companies she founded. Her favorite is the best place to work because having high retention and happy staff is what drives her. Both of her companies have made it into the Inc 5000 and SDBJ’s fastest-growing companies list. Between 2021-2023, Jennifer was named Woman of the Year by SDBJ, received the top corporate citizen award, made it in SD’s top 500 most influential leaders, and the top 50 Women of Influence in Accounting and Finance for two years in a row. She was also recognized as a finalist for the Entrepreneur of The Year 2024 Pacific Southwest program. Jennifer has sat on many boards in her career and currently sits on the board of The Better Business Bureau, NuFund Venture Group (formerly Tech Coast Angels), Junior Achievement, and a publicly traded company, Presidio Property Trust (SQFT). She volunteers her time at SDSU and the REC at Miramar College by participating in mentor programs and as a judge in various student competitions. She is currently a member of Rotary 33, Vistage International, Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), Young Executives Council, and Social Venture Partners. ______________________ For More on Jennifer Barnes Company Website Fortune Article: I’m a CEO and 12 of my employees are in ‘flextirement.’ With boomers opting not to retire, the arrangement will become more common _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like  Is Your Company Ready for the Aging Workforce? – Paul Rupert Unretired – Mark S. Walton _______________________ Mentioned in This Episode Poem – The Summer Day by Mary Oliver _______________________ Wise Quotes  On Why Phased Retirement Works  “What’s interesting, Joe, is that at Optima, we’ve always had a flexible work environment and we didn’t really think about it as flex retirement because we’ve always allowed employees to work whatever hours made sense for them. But as we looked at our workforce, we realized that many of our employees are over 50, some over 60 and some are even 70 and over. And what we find with these employees is they have a wealth of knowledge. They are so experienced, they’ve worked in so many different industries, and they can really add a ton of value to our clients. And so if we can capture these people’s attention and get them to work with us on hours that make sense for them, whether it’s 16 hours a week or 30 hours a week or somewhere in between, it is incredibly efficient. It is such a huge value add to our clients. The employees themselves really get a chance to work for different companies and not fully retire but still be engaged and many of them say, keeps them young.” On Leading a Team with Flexible Retirement “When we’re on, we’re on. And so when you’re billing clients and you’re working on an hourly basis to help people, you got to have 100% of your time focused. It’s a constant work in progress, learning and engaging with your team. But I find that when you take good care of people, and they will then take good care of your clients, and they’ll do a great job. …Higher retention is paramount, and especially in a services business, like Optima Office.” _______________________ 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 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 1.2 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.  

The early registration discount for Design Your Life in Retirement ends on August 15th. Register here ______________________ If you’re pondering early retirement, have you considered another option? For some people a sabbatical offers an an opportunity to recharge, reflect and to experience a new adventure. Steve Hoffman’s book A Season for That details the experience of an extended leave with his family in a winemaking village in France. It may inspire you to imagine what a sabbatical experience may do for you. While your vision for a sabbatical may be quite different, you’ll be interested in hearing what he learned from it – and how it’s shaping his ideas about retirement. Steve Hoffman joins us from Minnesota. _______________________ Mentioned in This Episode The Sabbatical Project | Inspiration for the Experience of a Lifetime _______________________ Bio Steve Hoffman is a Minnesota tax preparer and food writer. When he dies, the tax-preparer-food-writer industry will die with him. He is a French speaker and shameless Francophile. His writing has won multiple awards, including the 2019 James Beard M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. He has been published in Food & Wine, The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Artful Living magazine. His first book, A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France, published in July 2024, edited by Francis Lam. It is the story of his family’s gradual (then precipitous) acceptance into a tiny winemaking village, of his bottom-up education in Mediterranean food and wine, and of a hard-won self-acceptance in mid-life. Hoffman shares one acre on Turtle Lake, in Shoreview, Minnesota, with his wife, Mary Jo, their elderly and entitled puggle, Jack, roughly 80,000 honeybees, and a nesting pair of sandhill cranes who summer in the back yard. _______________________ For More on Steve Hoffman A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France Website _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Practicing Retirement STILL – Mary Jo Hoffman Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD _______________________ Wise Quotes On Investments for Retirement “I would wish on behalf of my clients that they started spending their money a little bit earlier in a lot of cases. Money is a means not an end. It’s very easy to slide that over into the 401k and you’re watching that grow and it seems as if you’re accomplishing something that’s more or less automated. And there can be a form of losing sight of other important things that are really also investments, if you think about family, if you think about friendships, and if you think about skills that are outside of work. Those are investments too, and they have an ROI, and they pay off later and they require a certain amount of deferred gratification, but they’re in many ways as important. But I do think that those other things are more intangible, they’re harder to put a price tag on.” On Seasons of Life “And when you live in wine country you realize not every vintage is better than the last vintages. There are good vintages and bad vintages, but they come around every single year, and you live your life there by saying, Okay, this is the season for the harvest, this is all we do right now, this is what this part of the world is offering us, and we have no choice but to do this because this is what the season tells us we need to do. And if that leads to a bad vintage, that’s okay, you did your best. And then that same harvest is going to come around next year, and you’re going to give it another effort. So I just found it a really refreshing way of looking at life. And then there is an additional element to that which is that there are sort of seasons of the year, but then there are seasons of a life. And there are times when you need to be a parent, and you can’t do other things that you might like to do if you’re going to be good at that part of your life. And so, there was some choosing that that got presented to me at the end of that book, and, and some hard choosing. And I tried to let my choices be guided by trying to recognize Well, what is this season of my life?” On Practicing Retirement “I think one of the pitfalls of our thinking about retirement is often that we believe it’s going to be starting over, or it’s going to be escaping from all that we didn’t like about what came before. And inevitably, whether you like it or not, it’s an extension of all that you’ve done before. So I would say thinking of it not as a new life, but Act Three of an ongoing unfolding life is really important. The other thing I would say is with this idea of practicing for retirement is thinking in decades is really valuable. Retiring is not the answer to problems, it will exacerbate them in many ways. And so I think, on thinking in decades, I also think of double checking your relationships. Do you, and if you’re married, and your spouse share a narrative about what this Third Act is going to look like? A lot of people go in just thinking they’re on the same page, and then they stare at each other across the coffee table on Day One and say, Who the hell is this? Checking your marriage, checking your friendships, have you are you just maintaining them? Are you actually investing in them? And checking in with your kids? Is there some repairing to be done? Can you pave the way for those relationships to be something that enriches this Third Act rather than potentially causes you to have to work at things that could have been handled earlier?” _____________________ 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 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 1.2 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.

Do you have your affairs in order? There’s a lot to consider with something that is often put off: End-of-Life Planning. Attorney Adam Zuckerman, founder of Buried in Work, a website with resources to simplify estate planning and end-of life planning tasks. Adam joins us to discuss the steps you should take, the differences between wills and trusts, how assets are distributed and more. Adam Zuckerman joins us from Maryland. ______________________ Bio Adam Zuckerman is an experienced attorney and the founder of Buried in Work. His platform focuses on making estate planning accessible and comprehensive for everyone. Adam’s personal experiences and professional expertise make him a visionary in transforming how we think about securing our legacies. Formerly, he was Director, Ventures & Innovation at Discovery, Inc. His role was often described as the company’s global intrapreneur and futurist,responsible for identifying new technologies for implementation, investing in startups, and serving as the primary contact for startups. Adam earned his BA in Political Science, and his JD, and MBA from Washington, University in St. Louis. _____________________ For More on Adam Zuckerman Website – Buried in Work.com _____________________ Podcast Episodes  You May Like Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman Ride or Die – Jarie Bolander On My Way Back to You – Sarah Cart ____________________ Mentioned in This Episode In Memoriam – Bob Newhart _____________________ Wise Quotes On Estate Planning “Using the legal background and my business background, I was executor. My Mom’s still around. I hopped in and started taking very diligent notes of everything that I was doing to transition the estate. When I met with my Mom’s financial planner to show her everything I had done and I was literally, this is the reason why I called this company Buried in Work. This is the form that I filled out. She said it was the most comprehensive transition she’s ever seen in her life and I had to give it away. We created a website. We thought it would just be a small site that had a few tips and tricks to help people in a similar situation. What we found was very surprising. In under a week, we had over 10,000 visits to the website and since then it has turned into an online repository for do-it-yourselfers and for people that are seeking guided approach and help for end of life products, for estate tips, for simplification of that entire process. Buried in Work came out of an experience and is helping a lot of people. Most people think that having a will or having a trust is estate planning, and that is a very comprehensive component to it. It’s a foundational component to it, but the reality is, it is so much more than that. Comprehensive estate planning really means that you have to have your family members, your heirs, your loved ones in a position to step in, in the event that you are incapacitated. It leads up to everything. They have to have advanced directives in place to know where they are, because the reality is that after you pass away, the estate takes on average in America 570 hours to administer, and that’s a lot of time that most people don’t have. So what comprehensive estate planning really means is positioning everyone to have the information and the resources they need, so when things do get tough and complicated, they aren’t figuring things out for the first time.” On Getting Organized “Our recommendation is first of all, get organized. Figure out what you want to do. Get all your documents in place because that is an important step in the process. In step three, you have to tell those individuals who are going to be impacted and the key people in your life. Because if you have these documents in place and they don’t know where to go and look, then it’s as if they don’t exist at all. ” _______________________ 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 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 1.2 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. ________________________ The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.

  Don’t put it off: Design Your New Life in Retirement Group Program Register here ______________________ Last week before heading off on a family vacation in Colorado, I was reminded of the power of a deadline. Getting things done before vacation is one thing, but are there things you really want to do but are putting them off? Jodi Wellman, author of  You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets, discusses how to leverage the power of  temporal scarcity, and offers practical advice on how to break out of autopilot to live more fully.  Jodi Wellman challenges us to confront our mortality head-on and use it as motivation to live more purposefully. Her work combines insights from Positive Psychology and her personal experiences, with a refreshing take on how awareness of death can actually enhance our lives. You’ll want to try out Jodi’s Life Calculator and discover how to “live like we mean it.” Jodi Wellman joins us from California. ___________________ Bio Jodi Wellman is a former corporate executive turned executive coach and the author of You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets. She has a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she is an instructor in the Master’s program and a trainer in the world-renowned Penn Resilience Program. She is a Professional Certified Coach with the ICF and a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from CTI. She has coached and spoken with clients like American Express, Fidelity, pwc, Royal Bank of Canada, BMW, and more, and runs her own business, Four Thousand Mondays. She lives between Palm Springs and Chicago with her husband and cat, Andy. _________________________ For More on Jodi Wellman You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets Website Life Calculator _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD The Wisdom and Wonder of Uncertainty – Maggie Jackson The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace __________________________ Wise Quotes On The Value of Deadlines “And it’s all about how when we are made aware, consciously, we focus on the ending of something that is temporary or rare, like a limited time only thing. Well, our perception of its value definitely increases. If we knew we would live forever, which sometimes is a fantasy. And to be honest, other than it sounding exhausting, if we knew we were going to live forever, we would never take action on anything because there’d be no real literal deadline. You’d just say, Yeah, I’ll go and take that college course maybe like in the next thousand years, because you could do it. But we’d never get anything really done. We unfortunately need the deadline and it can be a bummer, but it’s the activating force that can help us to get going on our dreams and our intentions.” On the Life Calculator “So my company, I called 4,000 Mondays, because we roughly get 4,000 weeks, with the math of working backwards. First of all, if you want to calculate how many Mondays you have lived so far, good for you. And let’s celebrate those years and Mondays. That’s amazing. But more importantly, what do you have left? So for example, I know I have 1,814 left if I live an average female life to 83. Men live till an average of 78, at least in the US to make this a localized calculation. And the math would be that you take either the 83 or the 78 or 80 if you don’t identify with other gender, and minus your current age, and then multiply by 52. And that number is designed to make you go Oh!” On Identity & Purpose in Retirement “Identity is a real thing. A lot of people will end up re-evaluating life in a new retirement or even, have been in retirement for a while. and say, it actually gives me such delight to know that my purpose is to just be a really good grandfather or I’m the best dog parent there is, or it could be something else. People feel often times like passion and purpose are these elusive things that we feel like we’re missing out on and we want more of – and usually it comes through experimenting. So if there’s something you’re kind of curious about or wondered about, maybe being a Big Brother, or  wondered about getting involved to mentor some of the new startups in town? Because I worked in a business for 19 ,000 years and how do I apply to help them? Go give it a go, give it a try. Sometimes it doesn’t spark and that is expected and  it’s okay to say, You know what, I gave it a go. I’m going to try the next thing, because not everything will take. But when you find something that gives you that little pitter-patter, that little feeling of, Oh, good, I feel like I in some way made a difference today. And in Psychology, it’s that stage of development where it’s like generativity versus stagnation. Generativity is really what most people are yearning for in a post- retirement phase, which is: let me still feel like I’m able to contribute.” ___________________________ 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 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 1.2 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.

  How will you make a difference? Registration for the next Designing Your New Life Group is now open. Learn more here. ________________________ When it comes time for your next chapter, do you want to make a difference? One avenue to do so is through mentoring. In director Jay Silverman’s new heartwarming film “Camera” Beau Bridges plays Eric, an aging repairman who forges an unusual friendship with Oscar, a bullied nine-year-old who can’t speak, but finds a voice through photography under Eric’s mentorship. Jay Silverman joins us from Los Angeles. ________________________ Bio For over 40 years, Jay Silverman has excelled as a leading Director, Producer, and Photographer specializing in award-winning films, television, digital, and print campaigns; having worked with renowned celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Beyonce, Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, and Ray Charles. His advertising clients include IBM, Coors, Panasonic, Disney, Budweiser, CBS, ABC, Pepsi & Apple. His current dramatic feature ‘Camera’, stars Golden Globe, Emmy, and Grammy Award Winner Beau Bridges, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Scotty Tovar, Bruce Davison, and Miguel Gabriel, released on Amazon and Apple in July 2024. Jay’s narrative films have been awarded numerous Best Feature and Audience Awards at festivals across the country, along with being honored with Belding, Telly, Promax, and Lucy Awards for his commercial work. In addition, he has also been recognized for his achievements in creating and producing many national PSA campaigns for the American Cancer Society, the Foundation for the Junior Blind, the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, and the Sierra Club. Some of his early directorial work was for the original launches of the smash hit TV series “American Idol”, “Desperate Housewives”, “NYPD Blue”, “The Drew Carey Show”, and many more. Jay Co-Created and Executive Produced “The Cleaner”, an hour-long drama for Paramount Pictures, which aired on A & E. Additionally, he produced and directed 40 episodes of “One on One” for TV One featuring many stars like Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Usher, Jamie Foxx, and Terrence Howard. Jay also produced and directed a one-hour special titled “Inside the Rings with Troy Aikman” airing on Fox before the 2011 Super Bowl to much success. Other notable shows include “Roots 30 Year Anniversary Special” for TV One, “The Secret Things of God” for Fox, and “D’Jango Unchained”, a one hour special for The Weinstein Company. A graduate of Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara with a Master of Science Degree, Jay founded Jay Silverman Productions in 1979 in Hollywood California, and built a 40,000 square foot facility including 3 sound stages. Jay lives in Santa Monica, California, with his three wonderful daughters. __________________________ For More on Jay Silverman Website Watch Camera: Apple Amazon Trailer Beau Bridges Interview: The Film That Lit My Fuse __________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Mastering Your Transition to Retirement The Mutual Benefits of Intergenerational Volunteering – Atalaya Sergi Some Kind of Heaven – Lance Oppenheim Take the Detour – A Second Act Career Story – Melissa Davey __________________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success __________________________ Wise Quotes On Camera “And that’s kind of the fun part of the whole movie. Well, you’re tying it into my personal life because I have three daughters and my last child was born through much premature. And the backstory on that is we decided to use her backstory for the protagonist, the young little nine year old boy, because when she was born at less than two pounds, they damaged her trachea and her vocal cords during incubation multiple, multiple times, and subsequently, she could barely talk. And we thought that that backstory would be not only accurate, because I lived it, to portray in this movie, but it became consistent with the model of what we wanted to say. Because in my own life, even when I was 15 years old and I was using a camera, I wasn’t a very good communicator. And what I did was have the luxury of watching my brother, who was kind of was my mentor at the time, take pictures. And I thought, Wow, this is a great way to tell stories. And I became attached to that idea. And at the age of 15, decided I wanted to be a photographer.” On Mentoring “And I thought to myself, this is the beginning, we’re all approachable. And most of the time we’re underutilized as as as seniors, because I really genuinely believe every one of us has the capacity to mentor somebody. I try to mentor other people all the time. I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for mentors. To me, there’s always going to be people who have this desire to want to open their mind to helping others.” _________________________ 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 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 1.2 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.

Start finding your new tribe. Registration for the next Designing Your New Life Group is now open. Learn more here. _______________________ Get smarter about social connections. Science journalist David Robson rejoins us to discuss his new book The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network. David Robson joins us from London. ________________________ Bio David Robson is an award-winning science writer specialising in the extremes of the human brain, body and behaviour. After graduating with a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, he worked as a features editor at New Scientist for five years, before moving to BBC Future, where he was a senior journalist for five years. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic, Aeon, Men’s Health and many more outlets. In 2021, David received awards from the Association of British Science Writers and the UK Medical Journalists’ Association for his writing on misinformation and risk communication during the COVID pandemic, and in 2022, he was a finalist for the Best British Science Journalist of the Year Award. David’s first book, The Intelligence Trap, was published in 2019, and received worldwide media attention. His second book The Expectation Effect was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the British Psychological Society Book Award. His third book, The Laws of Connection, was published in June. ________________________ For More on David Robson Website The Laws of Connection:The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network David’s First Conversation with Us: The Expectation Effect ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Self-Compassion – Dr. Kristin Neff How to Make New Friends in Retirement – Dr. Marisa G. Franco Will You Flourish or Languish? – Corey Keyes Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD’ ________________________ Planning for retirement? Check out our recommended Best Books on Retirement. Some may surprise you… ________________________ Wise Quotes On The Importance of Social Connectivity “I was blown away really by the strength of the link between social connection and health and wellness. So we’ve known since the 1970s, that the number of social connections that people have and the quality of those connections can predict longevity and general health across the lifespan. So people who not only have more connections, but also feel really supported and understood by the people around them, do tend to live longer. And that’s just been replicated hundreds of times. So the evidence base is really unquestionable, in my opinion. And we know that it at least equals the other lifestyle factors that we take for granted now, things like obesity, or remaining at a healthy weight, how much exercise you do, whether you smoke, whether you drink, whether you take medication for your hypertension – all of those things we accept as being important for our health and longevity. But when you look at the effect sizes, they’ve been measured in these huge studies, you find that people’s social connection is just as important. I found that really surprising just how important it was.”   On Meaning  “It was very clear to me that social connections are important, as C .S. Lewis said, for providing meaning in life.  C.S. Lewis claimed that they didn’t have any survival value though, that friendship wasn’t important for survival. And what this research really showed is that actually, it does give us meaning in our life, but it’s also incredibly important just to live a long and healthy life. So, I wanted to try to do my part in raising this awareness and let people know, not just how important that is, but then how they can overcome those psychological barriers to achieve that connection that we all deep down really crave.” On Cognitive Biases and Social Connection “So that’s one bias. Another is something called the liking gap. And that is when we’ve had a good conversation with that new acquaintance. You felt like there was a real rapport with that person, but you don’t trust that the other person felt the same way. You worry that maybe they were just being pretty polite to you, that they were hiding their feelings, but you wonder if they were bored, whether you offended them, you kind of mull over some kind of faux pas that might have been, that you might have said that you think they’re really going to focus on. Again, those expectations are just completely unfounded. The research shows that each party experiences this liking gap where they think the other person liked them less than they liked the other person. Each person is underestimating how likable they were. So you go away, you don’t really necessarily want to make an extra effort to meet that other person because you don’t trust that your feelings were reciprocated when probably they were. That is a big barrier. And so actually my big advice for people to make new friends in any situation would just be to try to bear these biases in mind, to recognize that if you do make a habit of talking to strangers, chances are it’s going to be really pleasant, that’s going to give you an immediate mood boost.” _________________________ 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 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 1.2 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.

You may not know yet when you’ll retire, but there will be a broader context for your retirement. And while no one knows exactly what the future will bring, it’s wise to consider emerging trends that may impact your next act. Futurist Robert B. Tucker joins us to discuss some of those trends – and why you need to “futurize” your next act in your third trimester of life. Robert Tucker joins us from Santa Barbara, California. _______________________ Take Charge of Your Future. Learn more about our next Design Your Life group program starting in September. _______________________ Bio Robert B. Tucker is president of The Innovation Resource (TIR), and an internationally recognized leader in the field of innovation. Formerly an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Tucker has been a consultant and keynote speaker since 1986. His pioneering research in interviewing over 50 leading innovators was published in the book Winning the Innovation Game in l986. Since then, he has continued to publish widely on the subject, including his international bestseller Managing the Future: 10 Driving Forces of Change for the New Century, which has been translated into 13 languages. In Driving Growth Through Innovation he identified the emerging best practices of 23 innovation vanguard companies. And in his latest work, Innovation Is Everybody’s Business, Tucker interviewed 43 innovation-adept individuals from multiple industries and all levels of organizations, and teaches the personal skills necessary to become an innovator in this hyper-competitive world.” As one of the thought leaders in the growing Innovation Movement, Tucker is a frequent contributor to publications such as the Journal of Business Strategy, Strategy & Leadership, and Harvard Management Update. He has appeared on PBS, CBS News, and was a featured guest on the CNBC series The Business of Innovation. The Innovation Resource, based in Santa Barbara, California, is a consulting firm devoted exclusively to assisting companies seeking to improve top and bottom line performance via systematic innovation. Tucker is a much sought after keynote speaker at conventions, company management meetings, and industry conferences. Clients include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies as well as clients in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Australia. Robert Tucker resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife, Carolyn McQuay, and daughter Cara Rose Tucker. _____________________ For More on Robert B. Tucker  Website Books _____________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Balancing Act in Retirement – Stew Friedman The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace The Future You – Brian David Johnson ____________________ Mentioned in This Podcast  Reimagining Retirement: It’s Time to Futurize Your “Third Act” ____________________ Wise Quotes  The Gift of Longevity “I’m seeing a need to refocus institutions and companies and organizations, but also, if we take this into kind of the personal level, to reimagine and reinvent how we’re approaching this thing called retirement. The one thing that the Boomers really are coming up short on is affiliation. We’re not joining the clubs, the service clubs, like our forebearers did. Well, these retiring Boomers are part of a larger mega-trend right now. It’s the aging of Western societies, and Japan, China, and South Korea, and really a significant chunk of the world’s population, getting older due to medical breakthroughs and healthier lifestyles. The fact is, we’re living longer, Joe, 30 extra years is what they’re saying, compared to a person 100 years ago. So we’ve been kind of given this gift. Right now, in America, there are 78 million people in the US over the age of 65. And they’re outnumbering the under 18 population for the first time in history. And think about this. Where is this going?” On Taking Charge of Your Future “I wrote about how many of today’s retirees are squandering this gift of extended life. It’s very sad to me. They’re watching 33 hours of television a week. They’re on the internet 15 to 20 hours a week. My grandmother used to say, idleness is the devil’s workshop. But when you stop to take a look, many of us started out strong, full of conviction. And today we’re idling away those extra years in loneliness, in poor health, in perpetual worry over our finances, and over the state of the world. And so this third act movement is all about how do you think about, how do you plan for, how do you experience this third trimester of life, so that you make the most of it? I really believe that in their heart, people want to live connected and fulfilled lives through community, not to be isolated, and not to have affiliation with their fellow human beings.” ____________________ 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 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 1.2 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.  

  Early Bird Registration is Now Open for the September Design Your New Life in Retirement Program – Learn More ________________________ Who do you want be when you grow up? It’s a question we were all asked in our youth – and it may be a fruitful question to consider now as you consider your next phase of life. It was a catalyst for our guest today in taking up a challenging pursuit that was way outside her comfort zone. Your new pursuit may be very different from hers, but her experience may inspire you take up something new – something challenging that will make you excited about each day ahead. Gwendolyn Bounds, author of Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age, joins us from New York. ________________________ Bio Gwendolyn (Wendy) Bounds is an award-winning journalist and author of multiple books, including her newest — Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age — which will be published in June 2024 by Ballantine Books. Bounds currently works as Vice President of Content & U.S. Media Partnerships for SmartNews, a news & information curation platform powered by machine learning and human wisdom. Before coming to SmartNews in 2022, Bounds was Vice President & Chief Content Officer for Consumer Reports overseeing editorial strategy, content creation and operations for all the brand’s print, video and digital products. Prior to that she worked at The Wall Street Journal for two decades in multiple leadership and content development roles. In her non-office time, Bounds competes in obstacle course racing — a demanding military-style sport requiring speed, endurance, mobility, and strength. The story of her transformation from an unathletic office executive glued to her screens into an age-group medalist and Spartan Race world championship competitor is chronicled in her new book Not Too Late. Bounds’ first non-fiction book, Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, A Town and the Search for What Matters Most was published in 2005 by William Morrow. The critically-acclaimed book recounts her experiences at an old Irish pub in New York’s historic Hudson River Valley after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Bounds previously served as a regular on-air contributor to ABC News, including its Good Morning America show, for general consumer economic issues and has appeared on CNBC, The Weather Channel, CNN, MSNBC, DIY Network and Fox News. She is a seasoned speaker and moderator on topics of leadership, business and media. Bounds was an executive producer of the Emmy-nominated NBC TV series, “Consumer 101,” which she helped launch at Consumer Reports in 2019. That same year, Bounds was named one of Folio’s Top Women in Media. Bounds was executive producer on a short-form documentary called “A Beautiful Death,” part of a Consumer Reports multimedia package that was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. A native of North Carolina and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bounds is a past board member of the university’s Board of Visitors, General Alumni Association and the Hussman School of Journalism & Media. Bounds is also a member of the North Carolina Media & Journalism Hall of Fame. She currently lives and trains in New York’s Hudson River Valley and serves as a board member for multiple nonprofits, including American Public Radio’s Marketplace franchise, the award-winning Highlands Current nonprofit community news organization and the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center. ___________________________ For More on Gwendolyn Bounds Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age Website ____________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Joy of Movement – Kelly McGonigal Unlock Positive Aging with Outdoor Adventure – Caroline Paul The Power of Reinvention – Joanne Lipman The Benefits of a New Challenge – Joe Simonetta _____________________________ Wise Quotes On Becoming a Competitive Athlete “When I woke up that morning after the dinner party, I was very disconcerted. And I still don’t know why I typed this, Joe, but I typed into Google, What are the hardest things you can do? And one of the algorithmic search answers that came up was another question, which was What are the hardest physical things you can do? And Spartan Racing and obstacle course racing were among them. For me at that point, having never been a competitive athlete, someone who was a last picked kid for teams, spent a lot of time sitting on the bench, passing out water to my friends, this was so far out of the realm of anything I thought I could do.” On Tapping Into Information As We Age “But fortunately, I had made a young mentor, an elite racer in the sport, a young woman who reached out to me via email. And instead of letting me wallow in my misery and commiserate, she was just very quick to say, Yeah, that happens. And it happens when you are not prepared. And here’s what you do need to be prepared. You need these gloves, and you need to use this technique and you need to wear these pants. And she really, Joe, and I think this is important for anybody in any activity they want to want to embrace, she made me understand that it’s not all about strength and speed, but it was about getting smarter and information. And that led me to understand that in any discipline, any activity we take up, we can find our edges and equalizers as we age by tapping into information. So that race sticks with me as a particularly critical one because I could have quit and I didn’t, and it was a turning point.” On Movement – and Trying Something New “And to get ourselves out of this inertia and potentially a rut of chronic boredom. And chronic boredom has been associated with all sorts of health risks from anxiety to depression to even the risk of making mistakes. So finding something new that you can engage in and to get out of that cycle, something that will make you wake up every day excited to try something new that forces you to learn, to unlearn, to relearn, this is this doesn’t have to be obstacle course racing or sports, as you said, it can be anything. I do think there’s a real benefit to having movement be part of our life as we age. Over and over again, you’ll hear that, you know, the research shows that we can get profound changes for our bodies and our minds just by starting to move more regularly, even in middle age and beyond. And those statistics are incredibly powerful. And so I think no matter what you choose, building movement into your day, more regular movement. I just wrote about this for my newsletter today is so important, not just again, for the physical side of being able to do what you love with the people you love, but also for the protective neurological and cognitive impact that it has. ___________________________ 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 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 1.2 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. __________________________ The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.