Author Archives: Warren Flick

Lessons for Later Life from Madame Bovary

Posted on by

Courtesy of Jerry Murbach, doctormacro.com

Good literature draws us near and shines imagined light on hidden corners of our common nature. In retirement we have time to occasionally relax with a good book and examine some of our own unlighted places.

One appealing aspect of course is that most dedicated reading occurs in a favorite chair, and who is to know if a reader sometimes dozes off? That’s part of retirement too.

I recently read Madame Bovary, written by Gustave Flaubert and published in mid-nineteenth century France. The book is often on lists of great novels, and it concerns a theme that is always in fashion—adultery in marriage. At the same time, it goes deeper than adultery and treats aspects of human nature that bear heavily on today’s world. Continue reading →

Building Soil, Building Families

Posted on by

Much of the eastern United States has been cultivated or otherwise used in agriculture at one time or another. The land was used roughly by our ancestors, though they may not have known how to use it better. Soil conservation ramped up after 1930, but by then the eastern U.S. had endured up to 300 years of untutored soil use, causing great amounts of erosion. Creating new soil is an act of reparation, requiring dedicated work and patience.

Building soil may be like building families, especially for grandparents. Grandparents often work quietly, at odd moments, maybe in the background. Continue reading →

Breaking Away in Retirement

Posted on by

Later Living: Breaking Away in Retirement

Later Living submitted a byline to the Athens Banner-Herald that was published online and in print this morning. The piece offers readers five paths to breaking away in retirement. 

Before retirement, most of us live in established routines. We rise early and head to work, where we perform familiar tasks; we come home to our families, have dinner, enjoy the evening, and go to bed. One day grows into the next.

Such patterned living is built on years of small adjustments to the demands of school, then work, family and community. It started in kindergarten — showing up, following instructions, adopting goals and meeting expectations. By the time of retirement, most of us live with a sort of automated proficiency.

At retirement, we chuck the job, but without a deliberate effort to break the routine, ingrained living patterns remain; retirement slides along with new responsibilities gradually filling the time spent at work. There is nothing wrong with that pattern, but it may amount to a missed opportunity.

Read more at Online Athens.

Two Important Benefits to Rebalancing Risk in Retirement Investments

Posted on by

Investments can be complicated, but they don’t need to be. Investors just need to know their objectives and some intelligible ways to achieve them. Generally, investors want high returns and low risk. Once they achieve suitable exposure to both, rebalancing—maintaining balance among components—keeps investors on a steady course.

High returns usually come from owning stocks. History has shown that over long periods of time, stocks almost always out perform bonds, real estate, and many other investments. Alternatively, stocks are often risky.

Bonds usually produce lower returns, but they tend to be less risky. A portfolio that combines a diversity of stocks and a diversity of bonds is likely to generate good returns with only moderate risk. Continue reading →

Marking the Entrance to Retirement

Posted on by

Retirement is a major life event that deserves to be marked and noticed. It compares to initiations into adulthood or marriage, both of which are actively celebrated. At work, we honor careers that are ending, but retirement should be inaugurated with its own special activity.

Whatever the chosen activities, a good retirement initiation involves reflecting backward to interpret what has gone before, looking inward to better understand yourself, and preparing for what might be ahead. Continue reading →

Adding Facebook—a Virtual Social Life—to Your Mix

Posted on by

Computer photo by Wilton Rodregues

Do you have a virtual social life as well as a real one? Facebook, a social networking site dominated by young people, is also becoming popular with retirees. That trend will likely intensify in upcoming years as Boomers, most of whom are already online, move into retirement. A fundamental reason underpins Facebook’s likely growth among older people: friends can be hard to make in later life, and at its core, Facebook is about friends.

Continue reading →

Uh-oh

Posted on by

This morning I was at my desk working on a blog post when I noticed music playing nearby. It was a little too loud, and it seemed to be coming from another room. I got up, walked to the doorway and hollered for Barbara, “That music you’re playing—where is it coming from?”

“I’m not playing music,” she answered from the back of the house.

So I looked around nearby rooms, found nothing, then returned to my desk only to discover the music coming from my computer. Uh-oh, I thought.