Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/256387
what images come to mind when you think of retir- ing? Golf courses? Warm climates? Exotic travel? Bouncing a grand- child on your knee? How about starting a company? Running a nonprofit? Beginning a second career? Continuing to work in your same job, but enjoying more flexibility? Or some combination of these activities? All of these options — and myriad more — are ways that people are choosing to spend their retirement years. Today, our notion of retirement is being overhauled. While the dic- tionary still defines retirement as the "leaving of a career" or the "time after having stopped working," increasingly retirement is being decou- pled from work status, because the two are no longer synonymous. "The whole concept of retirement is outdated," explains Wellesley resident Ed Brakeman, who "retired" several years ago, but volunteers more than full time in a high impact capacity with the African Leadership Academy (ALA). A pan-African educational institution and entrepreneurial leadership development program, ALA enables positive political, social, and economic change in Africa by developing and connecting the continent's next generation of leaders. Whereas his father worked for one company his whole life and then retired, Brakeman expects to enjoy several careers — paid or unpaid — that reflect his interests and commitments. His wife, Amy, who also volun- teers at ALA, believes they will continue to work until they are no longer physically able. Working later in life is becoming a national phenomenon. According to a 2013 Gallup survey, 37 percent of non-retired Americans say they expect to retire after age 65. This is up from 14 percent in 1995. Why are people working longer? One reason is that people are living longer. In the 1960s, the average American man lived to be 66 and spent 13 of 90 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 S P O T M A T I K / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M 090-102_WWMa14_ready to retire_v3_WellesleyWeston Magazine 2/1/14 4:32 PM Page 90