Retiring

In Pursuit of The Future

By Robert Powell, A Dow Jones Column – September 27, 2007
Dow Jones News Service English
(c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Most retirement gurus are extremely pessimistic about the future. Some are modestly hopeful. But there is one who is "wildly optimistic" about what's in store for the millions upon millions of aging baby boomers. Meet Joseph Coughlin, Ph.D., director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab.

Coughlin and his team of researchers are stationed in a building like many others on the MIT campus, nondescript and near the banks of the Charles River. But what they are doing is anything but nondescript. They are "innovating" the future. And if half the things the AgeLab is working on become a reality, then the future will indeed require shades.

In short, the AgeLab is working on a future where older citizens not add just add years to their life but add life to their years. And it's a life that will include fun, purpose, health, wealth and - not surprisingly - technology. "We see that it will be a great time to grow old," said Coughlin, who last week released, along with The Hartford, research about retirement rationalizations.

Yes, there are plenty of reasons why gurus are pessimistic. People tend to tell themselves little lies about retirement, according to the AgeLab's and The Hartford's study. They tend to think that they won't live that long, that someone will take care of them, that they will save whatever they can for retirement and then wing it.

And there are plenty of reasons people are pessimistic. For starters, there are many depressing "facts" about retirement that are presented under the guise of motivating Americans to save more or prepare for retirement. Trouble is, those facts have not inspired Americans to act at all. "We have done a dismal job of helping people understand why they should think about tomorrow."

But Coughlin isn't keen on a world that has its collective head in the sand, where desperation becomes the mother of innovation. Instead, Coughlin wants to create the future, absent the desperation. "We want to invent the future, otherwise we know what it's going to be."

So what will the future hold? Well, I am freshly returned from a visit to the AgeLab where, among other things, I got to drive in the most expensive video game this side of the Mississippi - a Volkswagen hooked up to a big-screen TV that tested my driving skills (I only exceeded the speed limit a couple times), and I got to check out a shopping cart outfitted with a computer that tell shoppers whether the cookies they are about to drop in their carts are on their diet or not. But that doesn't tell the half of it.

Possibilities

Here's what in store on several retirement fronts:

• Thinking differently. Retirement as we know it today is not sustainable, either on a personal level or a public level. So first off, Coughlin says business, government and individuals will have to rethink all things retirement. Most organizations, he says, were created yesterday and use yesterday's thinking to create solutions.
  "The lifestyle assumptions and calculations based on our parents' retirement are incomplete and incorrect," he said. In other words, Coughlin doesn't want firms to create investment and insurance products that are based on the proverbial nest egg number or vague concepts such as retirement dreams; rather he wants financial firms to design products that will provide income to Americans who want to modify their houses as they age or who still have transportation needs long after they stop driving. In addition, he sees technology - eye-tracking software specifically - being used to help redesign the best way to present information on food labels and mutual fund prospectuses and the like to buyers. "Boomers are not the first generation to get old, but they are first to have health and wealth and the expectation that things will be different," Coughlin said. "They are the first to make old age cooler...It's a fundamental disruption."
  
• Health and wellness. "We are about to see baby boomers sever the link between health and health care," Coughlin said. Boomers - thanks in part to the rooting of the ownership society concept - are intent on pursuing wellness and technology will play a big part in that pursuit. Shoppers will, for instance, use smart cards to learn right in the aisle - not at the checkout counter - whether the food they are about to drop in their grocery cart is on their diet or not. And Americans will also use kiosks in their pharmacy to learn about drug interactions and warnings. "We want people to use technology to make the right choice at the right time," he said.
  
• Entrepreneurship. Boomers want to quit what they are doing to do something with "real promise." That means the next crop of entrepreneurs won't be newly minted MBAs but Americans over age 50 and especially the group referred to as "soccer moms." Soccer moms, says Coughlin, are ready to charge back into the work force. Trouble is, most companies aren't set up to bring back them back in a productive way. Most firms can't give soccer moms the flexibility they want, so members of that group are likely to launch their own companies.
  
• Working beyond age 65. Time was when people would stop working at age 62 or 65, never to punch a time clock again. Now, however, people are living longer and will need to work longer for a variety of reasons.
  
• Education. Having a college degree at age 21 doesn't make one smart for a lifetime. According to Coughlin, boomers are likely to age not in place but on a college campus where they can enroll in college courses but also have ready access to health care. "Boomers will want to remain alive not just live longer," he said.
  
• Employers. Employers of the future will set the agenda for how people navigate longevity. Indeed, employers will, for instance, establish employee-benefit programs that include not just day-care centers for children but for elders as well. In addition, employers will introduce wellness and lifelong learning programs designed to reduce costs and retain workers. "Employers want their workers to be at the top of their game for a lifetime," said Coughlin. "Employers will give workers a chance to reinvent themselves."
  
• Financial advisors. Way back when, financial advisors were called customer's man. Years later, advisors became more sophisticated. But in the years to come, Coughlin said advisors will become even more sophisticated and multitalented, helping clients not only with their money but with their career and life's purpose.