TED Talks are powerful presentations by experts and world-renowned thinkers. They are not longer than 18 minutes while most speakers aim for under 10 minutes.
Ted Talks are quality content covering any possible topic including health care, education, entertainment, climate change, and more.
I have shared the best TED Talks for seniors in another article. This article covers 10 best TED talks on retirement to make you redefine retirement and help you get the most out of your golden years.
1: The 4 Phases of Retirement
Dr.Riley Moynes points out that more than 10,000 Americans are retiring every day. Retirees spend an average of one-third of their lives in retirement.
By interviewing hundreds of retirees, Dr. Riley discovered a framework on “how do you squeeze all the juice out of retirement” and he shares his finding in this talk.
“I wish I knew then what I know now about the psychological challenges that accompany retirement. It would have made things much clearer and easier.”
Dr.Riley Moynes, while talking about his research.
This talk is helpful for both retired and about-to-retire people. It makes things much clearer for retirees and helps you in understanding what to expect when you retire.
You can also check out Dr. Riley's book The Four Phases of Retirement, a Canadian best seller and the basis of this TED Talk.
2: Rethink Retirement – Well-being beyond Your Bank Account
Clare Davenport helps you continue to live vibrantly during your retirement by redefining and redesigning the important stage of your life.
Clare is a life design coach and a change agent for well-being. She shares ideas and frameworks to help retirees get the most out of their golden years.
Rethink retirement with the new definition of ROI (Reform, Optimize, and Ignite).
- Reform (rethink and design) your retirement definition
- Optimize for your well-being in your retirement
- Ignite your path forward
Clare challenges you to create a retirement canvas, full of colors and textures of well-being. This talk helps you create your own ROI for increased satisfaction, productivity, and performance in retirement
3: Retirement: The Best Years of Your Life?
James Cobb argues that retirement years should be a celebration of your life bringing new experiences, and adventures.
He highlights some important statistics from different research, like:
- People are happiest at the age of 82 years
- Yet, 9 out of 10 are not looking forward to old age
He has talked to many residents of retirement villages and communities. James found them happier and satisfied but only 0.6% of UK seniors live in these communities.
The numbers are much higher in Australia, New Zealand, and the US (where 8% of those over-65s live in community living).
This talk highlights how health challenges can be managed easily and 92% elderly never need care in life.
James Cobb makes you look forward to old age and turn it into the age of celebration of life.
4: Redefining Retirement
Dean Waggenspack challenges the audience to redefine retirement away from depart, remove and withdraw.
He brings a new definition of Pay, Passion, and Purpose.
- Pay means generating income to meet financial needs. Recognize that many people need to/ want to work later in life. (Read: 12 Fun Retirement Jobs).
- Passion means doing something that is important to you. It can be a hobby, consulting or anything that makes you happy. (Read: 12 Fun Things for Bored Seniors to Do)
- Purpose means doing something for the greater good in the community and society. You can work with local charities and volunteer your time for causes of your choice.
Dean highlights how the greatest generation was the first and only generation to enjoy “golden years” (life without work but with financial stability).
Things have changed as 10 years are added to life expectancy. we are capable of doing more later in life thanks to less physically demanding work.
5: Is Retirement Bad for Your Brain?
With retirement comes a great opportunity to enjoy well-deserved vacations and have a great time of life without interruption.
Ross Andel points out that there may be a dark side to retirement. Under certain circumstances, retirement could speed up the aging of the brain and make you forgetful.
There is a hidden danger in form of increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
In his research, Ross focuses on identifying the ways to slow down cognitive decline that comes with age and reduce the risk of dementia among retirees through diet, exercise and leisure activities.
6: Saving for Tomorrow, Tomorrow
Shlomo Benartzi addresses the issue of saving in his TED Talk. It is easy to imagine saving money in the future but how about right now?
Shlomo points out that
- 50% of Americans do not have access to 401 (K) plan
- Only 33% of Americans actually save to a 401 (K) plan
- And only 1 out of 10 are saving enough for retirement
This is one of the best Ted talks on retirement planning that helps you understand why people are not saving.
The speaker highlights the necessary behavioural changes and ideas to help you save for retirement. You can check Shlomo’s book Save More Tomorrow for more.
Related Article: 9 Retirement planning blogs
7: Retirement Redefined
The surveys suggest that 92% of Americans ages 40 and older plan to work after their retirement, citing a longer life expectancy than previous generations.
John Shields advocates a purpose-filled retirement and helps you redefine retirement to gain many years of satisfaction and meaning.
He shares stories of retired folks who chose to not fully retire and contribute and share their wisdom with the younger generation.
This talk encourages you to be useful and relevant after your retirement.
8: Retirement is Redundant
Dr Catherine Rickwood challenges our assumptions about aging and retirement in her TED talk.
She questions the current approaches; age stereotypes and ageism are limiting imagination and innovation.
She proposes ways to rethink our approach to aging to create a different future for everyone.
9: Why You Should Think About Financial Independence & Mini Retirements
This Ted talk highlights how we are “time-poor” to have fun in our youth. Most of our time before retirement is spent working.
We only have an average of two decades of feeling “time-rich” to look forward to at end-of-life retirement.
Lacey Filipich shares a way to bring some of the “time-rich” feeling to our youth by combining financial independence and mini-retirements.
Lacy came across The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, a New York Times best-seller. The book encourages us to take time off as mini-retirements to have fun when we are not yet fully retired.
10: How To Live to Be 100+
Dan Buettner studied the world’s “Blue Zones”, communities whose elders live to record-setting ages.
In his TED talk, he shares 9 common denominators (diet and lifestyle habits) that helped these people to live longer and healthier lives.
You can adopt some of these habits and lifestyle changes for healthy aging and to avoid age-related issues.
I hope you liked this list of 10 TED Talks on retirement. Whats your favorite?
Sohail Ahmed
I love helping seniors with technology. This blog features apps, games, gadgets, technology tips, and tutorials for older adults … Know More