Alumni consider 'engaged' retirement

Some alumni returned to Prince­ton last month to relive the intellectual experiences they enjoyed in the past. Others came to gear up for the future.

On Friday, Feb. 25, about 75 graduates participated in a conference about volunteering, board service, and building late careers in the nonprofit sector. The event, “Engaged at Every Age,” aimed to help alumni move beyond their professions and conventional retirement. The event was sponsored by AlumniCorps, formerly known as Princeton Project 55.  

Keynote speaker Marc Freedman, CEO of Civic Ventures, a think tank on baby boomers, work, and social purpose, said that advances in medicine and technology have expanded life expectancy, opening up a new period between midlife and old age.  

“There’s a sense of mortality that just becomes a reality in a way that it isn’t when you’re 23 years old,” Freedman said. “And at the same time, there’s a realization that the road might not go on forever, but it might actually continue for quite a bit.” People want to take advantage of this space in their lives, but policies and institutions don’t always make that easy, Freedman said. He advocated policy changes that would enable retirees to save income as they prepare to become social entrepreneurs.