How Do I Get There from Here?

Chapter 2

Today’s New 50-plus Lives

Life is full of transitions. As a child you start going to school, moving up from grade to grade, until you enter college and then perhaps move onto graduate school. Afterward, you get a job that lasts for many years and then you land other positions at the same company or possibly a new one, climbing the reliable ladder. You start a family and you settle into a routine. You buy a house. Eventually your kids grow up and have children of their own. Sometime after that you retire with a pension at age 65, have 10 to 15 golden years of leisure, and then die.

Although this description of life may seem familiar and comfortable, it is no longer accurate, if it ever was the total norm. It belongs in the category of ...