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2Young2Retire In the NewsFeatured in
the Associated Press Hudson Couple On Crusade WEEHAWKEN -- Howard and Marika Stone don't like to call themselves retired. Graduated, maybe. Or refined. The Stones -- Howard is 65, Marika is 58 -- founded the Web site 2young2retire.com last year after leaving their jobs in writing and business publishing for different chapters in their lives. Although Howard Stone is collecting Social Security, he says he doesn't feel that retirement, a word he associates with rest after a life of work, accurately describes his life. "It's kind of this unreal deadline for people that doesn't make sense anymore," he said. "The idea of rest and play for the rest of your life is the ticket to the hospital. There's no reason to be productive anymore." In last month's newsletter, the Stones sponsored a contest to do away with "retirement," asking their 1,500 subscribers to come up with a word to describe life after a certain age. If one looks up "retire" in the dictionary, Stone said, "it says withdraw. It says retreat. It says move away from the world. I don't know too many people that really want to do that. "There's got to be another way." Stone is not the only person who thinks retirement may be becoming dated. "We changed our name officially about two years ago," said Tom Otwell, a spokesman for the AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons. The organization changed its name to AARP because at least one-third of the organization's 34 million members are still in the workforce, Otwell said. An AARP study shows that 80 percent of baby boomers say they plan to work after official retirement age. "I think this is inevitable," Otwell said, referring to the move to find a new word for retirement. "Change is coming." The Stones, who live in a loft apartment with views of the Manhattan skyline, took up new pursuits after abandoning their longtime careers. Marika Stone went to Lenox, Mass., to become a yoga teacher, and now teaches a few times a week out of her apartment. Howard Stone, who said he threw himself a "graduation" party when he left his business publishing job, now works as a post-career coach. He gives people who have reached the official retirement age advice on what to do with the rest of their lives. Life after 50, he said, is "a great time of life to learn more and maybe find something inside that's been hiding since we've been doing the stuff we should be doing." The Web site, which features members' post-retirement stories and links to sites such as the Peace Corps and Sierra Club, has had more than 100,000 hits since it was launched. More than 35 people have submitted suggestions for a word to replace retirement in the contest, which ends today. One entrant proposed "graduation." Copyright © 2000 Bergen Record Corp. Home | True
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