The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life 
The Power Years is your step-by-step guide to repowerment and personal reinvention after forty. In this unique guidebook, world-renowned psychologist and leading authority on aging Ken Dychtwald and award-winning journalist Daniel J. Kadlec combine their decades of cutting-edge research and reporting to reveal how you can make the Power Years the best years of your life—by far. As we baby boomers move into the next stage of life, we now have the opportunity to experience a mold-shattering period of reinvention and personal growth, career liberation, nourishing relationships, and financial freedom. The Power Years helps us envision and embrace this new chapter of life as we develop a carefully thought-out plan for personal fulfillment.
Sharing the inspiring stories of fascinating people as well as plenty of prescriptive advice, the authors reveal how you can: Rediscover your life's purpose Find a new balance between satisfying work and enjoyable leisure Thrive in the home and location of your dreams Rekindle long-held passions and/or find new interests Rediscover and forge vital relationships Keep your financial life running smoothly Contribute to society and leave a lasting legacy Have fun again!
From staying connected with your kids, family, and friends to going back to school for the fun and challenge of it, from finding new companions to volunteering, from exploring a new career to traveling the world, The Power Years is your complete road map to living your best possible life—right now.
The Power Years is a step-by-step guide to repowerment and personal reinvention after forty. In this unique guidebook, Ken Dychtwald and Daniel J. Kadlec combine their decades of cutting-edge research and reporting to reveal how readers can make the Power Years the best years of their lives. The Power Years helps readers envision and embrace this new chapter of life as they develop a carefully thought-out plan for personal fulfillment. Sharing inspiring stories of fascinating people and plenty of prescriptive advice, the authors reveal how to rediscover life’s purpose, find a balance between work and leisure, rediscover and forge vital relationships, keep finances running smoothly, and more. The Power Years is a complete road map to living the best possible life–right now.
"My life keeps getting better, not just because I've enjoyed success in the business world, but because I wake up every day with a passion for what I do. You can—and should—discover that feeling too. Let Dychtwald and Kadlec show you how. They've written a crisp, actionable guide to a great rest of your life."
—Donald J. Trump, Chairman of Trump Enterprises and author of Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life
"The Power Years, brimming with insights culled from decades of leading-edge research, turns conventional notions of retirement upside down. This upbeat, thoroughly enjoyable book will help you both envision and fund your dreams. Truly, it's a 'user's guide to the rest of your life.'"
—Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of Your Money
"Are you going to live longer—or will it just feel like it? The Power Years is a wonderful guidebook that helps us realize our potential by redefining our expectations as we mature and grow more powerful. An exceptional resource for anyone ready for a new view of their coming decades."
—Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., Professor of Surgery at Columbia University and author of YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
“For anyone beginning the second half of life, The Power Years will psyche you up for the great adventure ahead.”
--Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do With My Life?
“In the field of ‘middlescence,’ as he calls it, Ken Dychtwald is the master. I count on his brilliance, his pioneering ideas, his courage, and his optimism and we would all be poorer without him. I recommend The Power Years without reservation. It is a must read.”
--Richard N. Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute?
“I have been learning from Ken Dychtwald for years and am convinced that he is today's most original thinker on this important subject.”
--President Jimmy Carter
“While powerful and complex currents of demographic change are sweeping the globe, little has been said about what the post-World War II generation wants from later life. In The Power Years, Dychtwald and Kadlec provide a well-informed and optimistic roadmap for how this new chapter of life need not be a period of retreat and decline, but instead holds the potential for becoming a time of renewal and personal reinvention.”
--Sir John Bond, Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc
“If you want to make your future years the best years ever--to feel ageless and experience a dynamic, purposeful, joyful, and full life--read The Power Years.”
--Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the #1 New York Times bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series and coauthor of The One Minute Millionaire
“Ken Dychtwald and Daniel J. Kadlec have written a fantastic book filled with compelling data and anecdotes that show that the so-called declining years are anything but. The Power Years helped rid me of much of my worry about what lies ahead and gave me specific, solid ideas for how to make the next 50 years top the first 50 for financial success, career satisfaction, and overall fun.”
--James J. Cramer, author of Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World, CNBC commentator, and cofounder of TheStreet.com
Reviews
Much of the content of Dychtwald's book validated what I already knew about the "third-age" - we'll be living longer and healthier, we'll have new freedoms, we'll have clout in the marketplace (as members of the largest population bubble - the boomers), we'll be open to change, we can't depend on Social Security, etc. Some of the chapters gave me something to look forward to "See, Feel, Taste and Touch the World", "Lifelong Learning Adventures". The chapter on "Achieving Financial Freedom" wasn't particularly helpful, but maybe that's because I've already spent a considerable amount of time researching and considering that topic already.
If you're entering your "Power Years", hoping to rediscover life's purposes, find a balance between work and leisure, find new interests, leave a legacy or any of the latent desires and wishes we hold for our later years, the book is a good primer, will provide plenty of food for thought and ideas, and will kick-start your journey into the "power years".
The book is generally good, although a lot of the subject matter is common knowledge (people are living longer, Social Security is in a financial pit, etc.), it does seamlessly blend the social and societal impacts of longer life with the financial issues involved. Although I don't agree with the authors on everything, their points are well taken and worth listening to.
The book is very good at citing websites that contain much valuable information for people interested in business and retirement related lifestyle changes, and is especially strong with the theme of education. Chapter seven concerns financial planning and is a good, but very general overview. If you really want to understand this subject, you will need to buy a separate book. I also urge readers to be very cautious about the recommendations the authors make regarding annuities.
I was born in late 1964, so demographically I get lumped in with the baby boom generation. The friend that gave me this book was also born in 1964, and while we both are technically baby boomers, we both identify far more with the succeeding generation. One of the detractors of this book (and indeed some other books that I have read by boomers) is an occasional smugness about being a boomer. I noted that tendency a couple of times early in the book, but I was pleased when near the end of the book the authors made the following statement during a discussion of volunteerism and legacy: "Unless you find ways to give something back and keep contributing in your later years, you will help cement our generation's reputation as a bunch of narcissists." I was glad that the authors frankly acknowledged this perception, which while it is not applicable to all boomers of course, is widely held, especially by younger generations.
This book is a good summary of some demographic trends in American (and world) population, notably the trend toward working in retirement. The book does offer some insight into the future, but offers no specific planning advice for an individual. The strength of this book is in the resources it points out, most of which are available on the Internet, and in getting the reader to think in unconventional ways about retirement. This book is an interesting place to start, but it must be viewed as just that: a starting point on the map to retirement.
All chapters are poorly written with bad advices.