Friday, March 03, 2006
Joining the Ranks of the Self-Retired
Encouraged by government, we are spending longer in formal education to acquire knowledge skills. We are also working harder to create wealth. Finally, we are contributing more of our personal wealth to pensions to maintain our standard of living when we retire.
The problem is that this linear view of our working life is increasingly one which is not seen as sustainable. Also, it is increasingly seen as one which is too rigid and at odds with a good work-life balance.
Consider some relevant facts. Life-expectancy in Ireland has increased from 66 in 1950 to 77 in 2000, and is expected to exceed 81 by 2050. At the same time, the retirement age has decreased from 70 in 1950 to 65 in 2000. Add to this the fact that we are spending more time than ever before in formal education, with the average age of a person entering the work force increasing significantly since 1950, and one vision of the future that emerges is the following.
In the not too distant future, we could well spend the first thirty years of our lives preparing for entry to the workplace at the expense of more rounded personal development; the next thirty years working with increasing intensity at the expense of any semblance of a balance between this and other aspects of our lives; and the last thirty years of our lives struggling to maintain a standard of living in the face of exploding energy and healthcare costs.
Some readers may suspect that I am now about to go on to describe how government and employers should help us avoid this possible future. In fact, what I want to do is propose that we take matters in to our own hands and become self-retired.
To join the ranks of the self-retired, all that is required is that one realizes that it is increasingly within our power to redistribute some of the quality time that will be available to us in our retirement throughout our working lives. Specifically, that it is within our power to decide when we are retired, and that this may well be at different times throughout our lives. Times when it is important that we put our families first, that we go back to university to renew our intellectual capital, or that we pursue an important personal goal. It is clear, that by choosing this path, we would be agreeing to defer that time at the end of our lives when we would be retired in the conventional sense.
There are two factors, which make the notion of becoming self-retired an idea whose time has come.
First, as the transformation of Ireland in to an open knowledge economy competing in global markets proceeds apace we and our colleagues find ourselves increasingly time and knowledge poor but information and resource rich. While at the same our retired colleagues are increasingly time and knowledge rich but resource and information poor.
Second, the increasing availability of broadband infrastructure and the evolution of web-based services, allows virtual communities of individuals to be created and allows the members of these communities to interact in ever more satisfying and productive ways.
As a consequence, it will be increasingly attractive for individuals to choose to redistribute their retirement years throughout their working life and, in order to fund this choice, to continue to work beyond the nominal retirement age.
Evidence of this trend is provided by the success of InnoCentive, a company recently identified by the Economist as one that is leading the way. InnoCentive, an internet company spun-out of Ely Lillie, allows scientists and engineers in pharmaceutical and life-science companies to post research and development problems for other scientists and engineers and offer a reward for the best solution. These scientist and engineers, often themselves recently retired from such companies, compete to propose and demonstrate the best solution to the problem and to win the reward. These rewards, in some cases, can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When I met one of the founders of InnoCentive, Darren Carroll, he told me about a recently retired research chemist who had signed up to solve a very challenging problem set by a major pharmaceutical company. The challenge was to simplify the synthesis of one of their most important drugs. To meet this challenge, he set up a small laboratory in the shed at the bottom of his garden and worked there between 6 am and noon each day. Eventually he posted his solution on the InnoCentive website. This solution was reviewed by the company who posted the challenge. They were amazed, his solution would allow them significantly reduce the cost and time required to make their drug. Since then, the pharmaceutical company has not only paid the reward, but also retained the ‘retired’ chemist as a consultant. With the resources available to him under this contract, he has employed a young chemist from a local college, and together they are attempting to solve more challenges.
Some will view the prospect of redistributing their retirement years throughout their working life, and joining the ranks of the self-retired, as not practical or as too risky. Others, a growing number, will see this as an opportunity to create a more satisfying and more sustainable lifestyle for them and their families.
Donald Fitzmaurice
The problem is that this linear view of our working life is increasingly one which is not seen as sustainable. Also, it is increasingly seen as one which is too rigid and at odds with a good work-life balance.
Consider some relevant facts. Life-expectancy in Ireland has increased from 66 in 1950 to 77 in 2000, and is expected to exceed 81 by 2050. At the same time, the retirement age has decreased from 70 in 1950 to 65 in 2000. Add to this the fact that we are spending more time than ever before in formal education, with the average age of a person entering the work force increasing significantly since 1950, and one vision of the future that emerges is the following.
In the not too distant future, we could well spend the first thirty years of our lives preparing for entry to the workplace at the expense of more rounded personal development; the next thirty years working with increasing intensity at the expense of any semblance of a balance between this and other aspects of our lives; and the last thirty years of our lives struggling to maintain a standard of living in the face of exploding energy and healthcare costs.
Some readers may suspect that I am now about to go on to describe how government and employers should help us avoid this possible future. In fact, what I want to do is propose that we take matters in to our own hands and become self-retired.
To join the ranks of the self-retired, all that is required is that one realizes that it is increasingly within our power to redistribute some of the quality time that will be available to us in our retirement throughout our working lives. Specifically, that it is within our power to decide when we are retired, and that this may well be at different times throughout our lives. Times when it is important that we put our families first, that we go back to university to renew our intellectual capital, or that we pursue an important personal goal. It is clear, that by choosing this path, we would be agreeing to defer that time at the end of our lives when we would be retired in the conventional sense.
There are two factors, which make the notion of becoming self-retired an idea whose time has come.
First, as the transformation of Ireland in to an open knowledge economy competing in global markets proceeds apace we and our colleagues find ourselves increasingly time and knowledge poor but information and resource rich. While at the same our retired colleagues are increasingly time and knowledge rich but resource and information poor.
Second, the increasing availability of broadband infrastructure and the evolution of web-based services, allows virtual communities of individuals to be created and allows the members of these communities to interact in ever more satisfying and productive ways.
As a consequence, it will be increasingly attractive for individuals to choose to redistribute their retirement years throughout their working life and, in order to fund this choice, to continue to work beyond the nominal retirement age.
Evidence of this trend is provided by the success of InnoCentive, a company recently identified by the Economist as one that is leading the way. InnoCentive, an internet company spun-out of Ely Lillie, allows scientists and engineers in pharmaceutical and life-science companies to post research and development problems for other scientists and engineers and offer a reward for the best solution. These scientist and engineers, often themselves recently retired from such companies, compete to propose and demonstrate the best solution to the problem and to win the reward. These rewards, in some cases, can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When I met one of the founders of InnoCentive, Darren Carroll, he told me about a recently retired research chemist who had signed up to solve a very challenging problem set by a major pharmaceutical company. The challenge was to simplify the synthesis of one of their most important drugs. To meet this challenge, he set up a small laboratory in the shed at the bottom of his garden and worked there between 6 am and noon each day. Eventually he posted his solution on the InnoCentive website. This solution was reviewed by the company who posted the challenge. They were amazed, his solution would allow them significantly reduce the cost and time required to make their drug. Since then, the pharmaceutical company has not only paid the reward, but also retained the ‘retired’ chemist as a consultant. With the resources available to him under this contract, he has employed a young chemist from a local college, and together they are attempting to solve more challenges.
Some will view the prospect of redistributing their retirement years throughout their working life, and joining the ranks of the self-retired, as not practical or as too risky. Others, a growing number, will see this as an opportunity to create a more satisfying and more sustainable lifestyle for them and their families.
Donald Fitzmaurice
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
ePlanetVentures Founder Featured in Red Herring
Nice article about Asad Jamal, one of the founders of ePlanetVentures in Red Herring
