How One Boomer Executive Got Fired and Reinvented Himself

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Hi All!

While on a recent plane flight, I came across an article in USA Today about a new book, and its author, that I thought was very interesting and inspiring. But, before I jump into telling you about it, let me take a minute to explain why the article about the Boomer author’s journey grabbed my attention:

In October of 2011, I released my third book, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. I wrote it because there are a lot of new shocking statistics about how horribly prepared more than 47% of Boomers are for retirement (or even have enough money to cover their basic bills when they get older!). So I wrote my latest book to provide career options that Boomers can consider to make more money now, on-the-side of their current job if they’re employed, as well as what they can do after they “retire” from their current job or career to generate income later in life.

There. That gives you a general overview as to why the article topic grabbed my attention…now, back to that.

The book is called, “Diary of a Company Man: Losing a Job, FInding a Life”, written by James. S. Kunen (Lyons Press). And it tells his journey of being a 59 years old Baby Boomer executive who was fired from a good job at Time Warner, and found himself in what he, along with many other Boomers, describe as a place of: Too young to retire and too old to hire.

So, there Kunen was, caught in that scary place that many Boomers find themselves in where they find it hard to get a new job, yet they’re too young to quit working because they don’t have enough retirement savings, and/or they need to make a living now just to make ends meet.

I don’t want to give away the ending and how he survived this, so you’ll either have to read his book or read the article I did to get more details. But I will provide you with this brief book description from his Amazon book page:

The funny, insightful, and inspiring story of a 1960s campus radical turned corporate PR man who finds himself, along with his fellow baby boomers, in a place called “Too Young to Retire and Too Old to Hire”.

James S. Kunen—author of The Strawberry Statement, an account of the 1968 student uprising at Columbia University—chronicles his adventures on the road to finding meaning in work and life.

He traces his evolution from a rebellious youth who sees working as a kind of death, to a laid-off corporate executive who experiences not working as a kind of death, to a reinvented and reinvigorated individual who discovers something important and meaningful to do.

The experience of falling victim to America’s recession-ravaged economy (and the people who run it) leads him along a career path far different from anything he had planned. After years of making a living, Kunen finally learns how to make a life. Diary of a Company Man will be a revelation not only to baby boomers but to young people trying to figure out what to do with their lives.

So, how did he reinvent himself? Did he become self-employed? Did he find another corporate job in a different career? If you’re a Boomer and find yourself in a similar situation as Kunen, what can you do? Or if you still have a job but need to make more money for your retirement account, what can you do? Or if you’re looking for something you can do to generate income past 65 years old, what can you do?

For starters, you can pick up a copy of Kunen’s book, or my new book, for some ideas (both of our books are available in print and Kindle)! Unfortunately, all of this is a stark reality for over 35 million Baby Boomers, and the time to start thinking about future financial security, and career options, is now!