Opinion: Forever young: The Viagra generation is ready for its third adolescence
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For physician Katherine Schlaerth, early retirement is hazardous to your health; she believes that people continue to thrive when they are intellectually and physically engaged, which is all the better for their health.
Maybe there’s another part of the equation beyond work, though. In a Newsweek article pegged to the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Maria Shriver split, Susan Cheever writes about how older couples are calling it quits and returning to adolescence. Forget the midlife crisis. The red Ferrari you bought when you were 45 has nothing on this phase.
Untethered empty nesters of the Viagra generation, we can easily have a second or third or fourth adolescence, an adolescence probably far more successful than our first or second one. Adolescence without acne or arguments over car keys, or anxiety about the future; our future has already happened. We have had our marriages and our children and now we can focus on ourselves! This time maybe we can get it right. […] Nothing is as sexy as freedom, even for the old.
Perhaps this helps shed light on why so many wealthy boomers are reluctant to leave their money to their children -- because they plan on spending it.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s failings
Hipster culture currently having a senior moment
A better way to sell the perks of aging to young people
--Alexandra Le Tellier
