Editor’s Blog

April 15, 2008

I’M NOT WORKING

When the three of us were talking about starting this Website, I was adamant—it’s not going to take over my life. I had retired after an intense “last” job, moved close to our only grandchild, and my wife and I were planning our independent new life. Retirement. No employer dominating our time and consciousness. No self-employed obsessions. I thumped the lunch table.

My partners shrugged. They weren’t the ones threatening my Shangri-La. 3rdActs.com was my idea. I wanted to do this. I just didn’t want it to do me.

This is, of course, the whole point of 3rdActs. Face it. Working an idea of your own is one of the only ways to engage your experience-informed energy after fifty. I’m open to arguments, but it is my observation that we are expected to depart from the active scene no later than 65, regardless of our current level of competence. There are reports that the amazing Baby Boomers are changing all that. I’ll believe it when I see it.

You turn fifty, then sixty, and everybody—including you—starts nudging you, not too gently, toward the exit. But you’re still fully functional, still creative, and you will be for a long time—albeit in new and attenuated ways. Not only that, your experience gives you the ability to avoid quite a few standard mistakes.

So, as I see it, if you want to continue to do important things, to be creative, you’d better be thinking like an entrepreneur. Don’t ask some company for permission to work. Make yourself a job—no, call it a project—and work it on your terms.

I’d have more to say on this subject, but I have to pick up the grandkid from school. And tomorrow I’m taking the day off.

— Dave Newton

Everybody’s got a 3rd Act
What are you doing in yours?

March 24, 2008

3rdActs.com is a new Web magazine for people who are getting old. Yes, that’s right, we’re targeting everybody. We think it’s time for a fresh look at aging.

They say Baby Boomers are revolutionizing retirement. Great. We’ll have a look around and see if we can find signs of that.

But what if you don’t want to retire, or can’t afford to? Besides, how many cruises can you take from 65 to 100, assuming you can afford them?

So, we’re out to see what it feels like to be 50-plus in America, and how we can help you make that long life happier, healthier, and richer…to create a triumphant 3rd Act.

We’re building this site on the fly. Come back often to see what we’ve added. I’ll give you a running commentary in this space.

— Dave Newton

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