How to rewire, not retire

More Americans are turning 65 this year than any prior time in history.??

Today’s 65-year-olds are redefining a milestone long associated with retirement parties and the end of productive years. They are wealthier and by many measures, healthier, and expected to live another 20 years. A growing share are divorced. Many turn their focus to what they want in this next stage.?

Retirement expected and actual age depends on income and education.? ?Also,?according to the latest survey from the Physicians Foundation , a whopping 39 percent of physicians indicated that they would be accelerating their retirement plans due to changes in the healthcare system. So, if you plan to retire, or more appropriately, rewire, consider combining 1) your encore career with 2) your portfolio career that fits into 3) the sick care gig economy and that 4) follows the 10/20/30 plan.

New polling by Gallup finds that American workers are retiring at later ages than those in the past three decades.?

In 1991, U.S. retirees, on average, reported that they retired at age 57, but now the average reported retirement age is up to 61. Meanwhile, non-retirees’ target retirement age has also increased, from age 60 in 1995 to age 66 today.

But then there are the folks who dread such a day ever coming, who hope to sidestep it entirely, and plan to never retire. What drives people to keep working long past the age when they could comfortably leave the workforce? What benefits are they gaining that those who retire might miss out on??

Are you having trouble convincing your spouse or partner that not retiring is a good idea?

Here are 10 ways to screw up your encore career.? The biggest one is to start doing it the day after you retire. Like a retirement savings plan, the time to think about your encore career is at the beginning of the first one, not the end of it.?

Consider how the workforce is changing and become part of the sick care gig economy. ?Imagine not having to make rounds at O'dark hundred ever again.

Here are the things driving portfolio careers.? Plan to ladder your portfolio career.

Finally, cut yourself a break, give yourself some breathing room and fun time while you have the health and income to enjoy it, and follow the 10/20/30 Plan

People become doctors for many varied reasons in response to intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Some have fulfilling careers. Others realize they did the wrong thing but didn't have the courage to say so or do something about. Rewiring is a good way to find happiness and satisfaction regardless of your age or stage of career. Do it now so you won't have regrets.

?Based on the work of Hay Group and Harvard psychologist David McClelland, he identified five common motives, and how they impact the type of job you should seek:achievement, affiliation, power, autonomy and purpose.

Daniel Pink's list includes these three factors to increase performance and satisfaction:

• Autonomy — Our desire to be self-directed. It increases engagement over compliance.
• Mastery — The urge to get better skills.
• Purpose — The desire to do something that has meaning and is important. Businesses that only focus on profits without valuing purpose will end up with poor customer service and unhappy employees.

Here are 10 signs it might be time to quit medical practice, regardless of your age.

The list of things you can do to rewire using your transferable skills is long. For example, here is a guide to non-clinical careers and the 6Rs of career transitioning.

Here is how to know if you should rewire or retire.

Retirement is bad for your physical and emotional health.

The sources of stress will differ for individuals depending on your personal context and where in the seven phases of retirement you are. Provides definitions and coping mechanisms for six of the seven phases to help you identify them and manage your response during them. Regardless of the speci?c circumstances of your retirement, preparing for it emotionally and psychologically will help ameliorate the stresses that it can bring so that you can focus on enjoying the life you planned for with a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and connection that lasts.

By putting all these pieces together, you will stay involved, have fun and have the potential to make even more of a difference than you did practicing clinical medicine. You might even make a few bucks doing it.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack