The Third Act: Reinventing Yourself After Retirement

Rating:
Summary: Pretty thin
Review: I ordered this book as part of my retirement planning. It did confirm some things I already knew, i.e. you need a plan, you need to keep active and you need to keep healthy. These are hardly new concepts. While it does have interesting interviews with well known, well heeled personalities, their options are quite different than most. It lacked any meaningful advice or planning tools for self discovery. It is great reading for the American aristocracy. But I don't qualify.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty thin
Review: I ordered this book as part of my retirement planning. It did confirm some things I already knew, i.e. you need a plan, you need to keep active and you need to keep healthy. These are hardly new concepts. While it does have interesting interviews with well known, well heeled personalities, their options are quite different than most. It lacked any meaningful advice or planning tools for self discovery. It is great reading for the American aristocracy. But I don't qualify.

Rating:
Summary: Act Three (if you have lots of money)
Review: I was eager to read this book, but quickly discovered that most of the advice and insight provided really only would only be helpful to people who are dripping with money. Not everyone can afford a psycho-therapist or a consulting firm to give them advice on making the transition to retirement. How many of us can afford a private spa to cool off after workouts? How many of us can expect to find diversion in retirement by being on the board of directors?

Also, in several places you will find the myth that people who don't work have a meaningful life. This is absolutely not true.

The one plus for the book are the resources given Appendix B. Some of the things listed look like they have value to the non-wealthy.

Rating:
Summary: Change of Life, Change of Perspective
Review: I was pretty bored after my retirement. One can only play so much golf and I have a terrible time getting past the windmill.
I was starting to get on my wife's nerves puttering around the house with nothing to do so I picked up this book for some help.
It's a fascinating read and has many great ideas. I have now slimmed down quite a bit (no more donuts and beer for breakfast) and reinvented myself. I am now my wife's twin sister Violet. We actually talk now, share clothes and do a quilting circle together on Tuesday evening. Our life together has truly been reinvented. The children are a bit concerned and our grandkids are a bit confused but hey that's their problem.
The golden years can be truly exciting if one is not afraid of a little change. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Self-Serving, Unimportant Book
Review: In my opinion, The Third Act, a new book by Edgar M. Bronfman is a bust as an offering toward establishing a more clear, balanced and reasonable view of what retirement looks like and will look like in the U.S. But, first, give me a moment to digress.

I've got a pile of newspaper and magazine and even web-based articles by journalists with apparently no near-term plans to retire who build articles around quotes from financial planners with the same mindset. In these articles, we get forewarnings about possible problems and disappointments with retirement: 'a life of leisure is not all it's cracked up to be' or 'people discover a year or so into retirement that hitting the golf course daily is boring and traveling is tiring.' These are direct quotes from a recent article written by an Eileen Ambrose from the Baltimore Sun, who gives us this other tidbit: 'Executives miss the deference once shown by underlings now that they are merely among other retirees.' Do you believe that? She seems to be saying that, to some, spending the rest of one's life 'merely among other retirees' would be a fate worse than death! And this leads us to a review of Mr. Bronfman's new book.

The thesis of The Third Act seems to be that it is not only right, but also very possible, if you work at it, for folks who were prestigious and important in their work life to retain similar status and recognition in retirement. To prove his point, the author brings us name after name of big shots, what they did in their careers and what they are doing or plan to do in retirement. The end result, unfortunately, is a self-serving, name-dropping effort that tries to make us believe that the author and his buddies are on to something unique in their quests for a meaningful retirement.

I think the book is baloney. You'll find no retired bus drivers or ex-cops or clerks from back offices featured here. No, every 'retired' person introduced in this book is 1) a big shot by definition and 2) a dear friend of the author. Wouldn't it be really nice if all the big shots, including the author himself, had the opportunity to write a good-selling book about themselves and their buddies in retirement? Such a system would keep them where they deserve to be: in the limelight and gaining income at the same time. Baloney!

Starting with the author, who really is writing a book about himself more than anything else, the people in the book are those of privilege. His father, for example, ran The Seagram Company, and his son, the author, became CEO after him, and, guess what, the author's son took over after him. In this theme, the author introduces former president Jimmy Carter right off as 'an excellent exemplar of the vitality and promise of the Third Act.' Not exactly a typical retiree, of course. When Carter finds that he's a million bucks in debt when he leaves the White House, he simply signs for a book deal to wipe that out. Boy, do we learn something there that will help other retirees be successful. Not!

Then there is the overachieving Dr. C. Everett Koop, who the author says will be 'going full speed until the day he dies.' While this goal may be a worthy one in retirement, who is the enemy? In the book, Koop goes on to define his fear that he may become like others he knows in retirement who 'cease to be interested in life and follow their wives around the supermarket.' Again, surely a fate worse than death, like, I'd guess, a former sports star relegated to sitting on the bench. Baloney!

We are introduced to lawyers and CEOs, directors of art galleries and presidents of Universities, and, perhaps most importantly, celebrities. Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace make the list, but the most unabashedly silly parts of the book are reserved for 'my friend Kitty Carlisle Hart.' She offers other retirees or soon-to-be-retirees such important advice as 'I'm out every day and every night, and I'm always put together. I've got my makeup on, my hair done, and I have a nice dress. Whatever else may come my way, I'm up, I'm out and I look good.' Cool!

The author tells us that he and his wife met Ms. Carlisle years ago while on a trip to Jamaica, where he shares with us that he 'leaned over and lightly kissed those smiling lips.' An important insight, for sure. Later, the author says, 'Kitty is real tonic. She's charming, beautiful, and tough as steel. She personifies the can-do factor so necessary in the Third Act.' While this may be true, we doubt if she would have made the book if her name didn't precede her.

While the book is a light, quick read and will not hurt anyone in the process of its publication, it is, again, in my opinion, a bust as far as providing meaningful insight for retirees or soon-to-be retirees. For those looking for better guidance and deeper insight, might I recommend "breaking the watch," by Joel Savishinsky and "The Joy of Not Working," by Ernie Zelinski