Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement And Transform America

by Marc Freedman

Over the next three decades, the number of Americans over fifty will double, swelling to more than a quarter of the population. Already we are living thirty years longer than a century ago, with further gains expected in the coming years. The end result is a new stage of life, one as long or longer than childhood or middle age in duration, and one spent in unprecedented good health. Yet, as individuals, and as a society, we've shown little imagination or wisdom in using this great gift of a third age. Marc Freedman identifies the new longevity as not a problem to be solved, but an opportunity to be seized-provided we can engage the experience, talent, and idealism of older Americans. At a juncture when the middle-generation faces a time-famine, struggling to simultaneously raise kids and work long hours on the job, the older generation is awash in free time, poised to succeed women as the trustees of civic life in this country. In the process they stand to find new meaning and purpose in their lives, and abandon the limbo-like state unfulfilling for so many older individuals. Freedman argues that the aging phenomenon, the massive transformation that many portray as our downfall, may in fact be our best hope for renewal as a nation.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Marc Freedman, President and CEO of Encore.org, is one of the nation's leading experts on the longevity revolution.

He is a member of the Wall Street Journal's "Experts" panel, a frequent commentator in the media and the author of four books. The New York Times described his most recent book, The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife, as "an imaginative work with the potential to affect our individual lives and our collective future." His new book, How to Live Forever, will be published by Hachette Book Group in November 2018.

Originator of the encore career idea linking second acts to the greater good, Freedman co-founded Experience Corps to mobilize people over 50 to improve the school performance and prospects of low-income elementary school students in 22 U.S. cities. He also spearheaded the creation of the Encore Fellowships program, a one-year fellowship helping individuals translate their midlife skills into second acts focused on social impact, and the Purpose Prize, an annual $100,000 prize for social entrepreneurs in the second half of life. (AARP now runs both Experience Corps and the Purpose Prize.)

Freedman was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum, was recognized as one of the nation's leading social entrepreneurs by Fast Company magazine three years in a row, and has been honored with the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. He has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and King's College, University of London.

Freedman serves on the boards and advisory councils of numerous groups, including The George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the Stanford University Distinguished Careers Institute, the Milken Institute's Center for the Future of Aging, and the EnCorps STEM Teachers Program.

A high honors graduate of Swarthmore College, Freedman holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management. He resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Leslie Gray, and their three sons.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Resource for Grasping Emerging Trends in the Field of Aging.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by Freedman on how the Baby Boomers have a rare opportunity to do something productive with their next phase