OK, we got that out front. We believe it and we live it. Retirement is just so 20th century!
Think about it. Why would you want to quit something that provides a place to go and people to see, mental stimulation, a feeling of being needed, a way to hone skills and experience and keep learning, not to mention an income? Even if you can afford to join the leisure class, there is ample evidence that good work– even part-time, flex-time, on your own terms — is good for you.
Welcome to 2young2retire, The Blog: Tools and tips for your bonus years. Here you can listen in on a continuing dialogue between us about our work — retirement planning for the 21st century — and our take on what’s happening in the world that could affect our collective future. You will hear from contributors with different perspectives on aging, longevity, and how to make the most of the rest of your long life. Feel free to jump in and join the fray. In fact, we see this blog as an opportunity for you to sound off on what matters to you, as long as we keep the party polite.
We’re Howard and Marika Stone, co-founders of 2young2retire.com and co-authors of Too Young to Retire: 101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life and Too Young to Retire: A Journal of Transition. We’re joining the blogosphere because we hate to miss out on the fun, but more importantly, because unlike our books, a blog can be updated frequently — by us, by you — and we like that, we really, really like that. If newspapers are migrating to online editions because the world changes too fast for the printed page, what does that say about books? Especially resource-rich books like ours.
We prepared for this new adventure like we’ve done about everything else: slowly, methodically — NOT! True confession: over the past week or so, we went blogwild! We looked at what savvy bloggers thought were the best blogs for design and content. We subscribed to a couple that dispense great free advice. We followed the breadcrumbs where they led us. And you know what? There is order in this glorious chaos. There is honor among bloggers. They freely share what they know with everyone. They are generous with their congratulations for a job well done, and they don’t pull punches when offended, either. And many of them write very, very well, with flair, ingenuity, courage. All in all, not a bad place to be.