There are significant challenges confronting Encores. That is why Encore NEO is passionate about the work it does. Some of the challenges Encore NEO helps Encores overcome include:
“Senior citizens,” a term that gained common usage in the late 1930’s, carries negative images of helpless, immobile, dependent individuals sitting around tables playing cards all day.
Not Encores. They strive to remain active, vital, relevant, independent, engaged, and even rebellious until they are carried away on a stretcher.
Retirement at age 65 also became widespread in the 1930’s with government policies designed to get older employees off the clock. Make room for younger workers! It is time for retirees to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labors in their few remaining years. An entire industry emerged to promote beautiful and addictive images of what retirement years should look like.
Nonsense. Research shows that moving from active work to idle retirement can be very harmful to mental, physical, emotional, and social well-being. Yet, many people feel cheated if they can’t “stop working” by age 65.
Employers believe that older workers are mentally slower, unable to learn new things, resistant to change, technophobic, and cost more to employ. And many older workers believe these myths. “I can’t figure out my computer. I need to get a 12-year-old to help me,” they say.
Nonsense. It simply isn’t true.
There are few jobs that fit Encores well. As Nancy Hellmich reported in a USA Today article (Boomers working to stay employed during golden years, April 30, 2014):
"Most Baby Boomers are envisioning a transition into retirement which involves reducing hours to afford them more time to enjoy life or involves encore careers that are more personally satisfying or less demanding. … The vast majority say their employers do not have policies in place to accommodate this type of transition, so it's likely they'll have to change employers or explore something entrepreneurial."
Many Boomers experienced severe financial reversals in the 2008 recession. Then they faced a tough job market profoundly changed by automation and globalization. Whether through their own ill-preparedness or unforeseen consequences, at least 60 percent of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Encores need to increase their financial literacy and generate sufficient revenue or secure financial reserves to live comfortably in their later years. Failure to do so will result in greater burdens on social welfare systems.