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To paraphrase Edward Rooney,

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the principal in 
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off,"

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we give good kids bad ideas.

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We tell them to go to school,
study hard and get good grades.

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And if you do,

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you will get out into the workforce
and get a good, secure job.

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Then, after about 40 or 50 years,

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you'll have enough savings
and benefits to retire

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and live out the golden 
years of your life.

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It's a quaint idea, really,

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because, today, nearly half of the people
in this country have zero savings.

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The majority of Americans have
no pension coverage from their employers,

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and, just this past January,
the Social Security Administration said

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that the average monthly benefit
was just about $1,300,

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which isn't going to get you very far
in a city like Chicago.

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On top of that, we're living longer.

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A couple of years ago,
Prudential unveiled a billboard

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that said that the first person was born

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who will live to be 150 years old.

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Can you imagine that?
Living to be that old?

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Under that scenario, you could still
be an intern when you're 50,

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and, when you reach the age of 70, learn
that you're only halfway to retirement.

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Then, you'll go to your
financial planner, and they'll say,

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"Well, I've got good news
and I've got bad news.

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The bad news is you don't have
nearly enough money to retire,

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but the good news is you still have
30 more years to get there."

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(Laughter)

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In all seriousness,

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we are entering an era
where most people in this country

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will no longer be able to retire by choice

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and, instead, will be forced
to work well into their 70s, 80s,

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and potentially even beyond.

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If this is the new reality,

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how can you ensure that you'll be able
to live out the golden years of your life

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rather than dedicate
the entirety of your life to your work?

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We need to reinvent and redefine
what retirement means,

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as well as the path to get there.

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Instead of waiting until the final
chapter of life to retire,

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we should take small interim
retirements throughout our life,

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allowing ourselves the chance
to refresh, re-energize

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and reinvent ourselves and our careers.

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I fear that, if something doesn't change,

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we are on track to the worst socioeconomic
crisis this country has ever seen.

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One of the most fundamental
principles of financial economics

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is portfolio diversification,

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which most simply means:
don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

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Spread your risk around.

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So, for example, instead of spending
all of your money on a house,

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you should spend some
of your money on a house,

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leave some money in cash

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and invest some money 
in other investments.

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That way, if the housing market goes bust,

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the way that it did several years ago,

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your loss is limited
by your diversification in other areas.

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Ironically, when it comes
to our education and our careers,

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we do the exact opposite.

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When you're 18, we tell you to go think
about the one thing that you want to do,

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seemingly for the rest of your life.

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And at this age, it's also illegal
for you to drink a beer.

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(Laughter)

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Then, when you start working,

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you're going to be told to get really good
at this one particular job function.

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It won't be expected
that you diversify yourself,

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and you probably won't be expected
to pursue other interests,

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because the general belief
is that, if you follow this one path,

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you'll be successful,

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and, if you don't or if you move
from one path to another,

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you're increasing your risk
and you're more likely to fail.

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But neither of those assumptions is true.

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Our world is changing so rapidly today,

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by the time young people
graduate from school,

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they're entering a world different

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than the one their education
prepared them for.

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The skills and the value
that you and I bring to our jobs

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in a short period of time
may be replaced by technology

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or be irrelevant altogether.

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If portfolio diversification
is so important in financial economics,

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doesn't it make sense that we do
the same thing in our work and our lives?

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Several years ago, at the age of 32,

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I took what I called my first retirement.

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While I had been saving some money
for my ultimate retirement,

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I had also been putting money aside
for this interim leave.

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I left my job as director
of a business consulting firm,

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to go overseas, 
build my skills, my experience

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and pursue several entrepreneurial ideas.

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This was not an impulsive decision,
nor was it one with a definitive plan.

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My goal was to refresh, re-energize
and redirect my life and my career,

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so that, when I re-entered the workforce,
I would have a new path to embark upon.

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I imagined in my head
a surge of people telling me

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that what I was doing was crazy,

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that I was completely ruining
my consulting career,

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that if I stayed just a few more years,
I'd make partner, more money,

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the gap on my resume
would be insurmountable

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and I would never find work ever again.

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On the contrary,

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those sentiments were not
communicated by one single person.

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Instead, they said,
"I wish I had done what you're doing.

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You're fortunate 
that you're not locked in.

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Take the chance to do it while you can.

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You have the skills and the experience
to do whatever you want later."

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Even more surprisingly,

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these words were not communicated to me
by my millennial peers.

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They were communicated to me
by people in their 60s.

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Today, these same people
are delaying their retirement,

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not because they want to continue working,
but because they can't afford not to.

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They're beginning to reinvent
themselves in their 60s,

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just to have a shot at their golden years.

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There is an increasing number
of people in this country

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who are losing faith in traditional
employment and retirement,

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so much so that there is
an explosion of people

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desiring to escape the nine-to-five.

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Intuit, the software company,
estimates that, over the next four years,

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40% of our workforce 
will become freelance.

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Today, that is where
much of my income comes from.

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We, millennials, are utilizing technology
and connectivity among people

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to have a better shot
at achieving the economics that we need

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and the flexibility that we want.

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This is happening

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because, as we are having much longer
work lives than that of our elders,

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we're going to have
several different careers,

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not just that one that we
decided on when we were 18.

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We will have diverse portfolios
of education and experience,

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allowing ourselves to shift

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in ways that our parents
and grandparents never imagined.

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Companies that are leading
the fight for young talent

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are investing in their people.

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They're giving them
the freedom and the flexibility

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to improve and build their skills

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and build that diverse portfolio
of their career.

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Some wonderful companies
are even giving paid sabbaticals,

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allowing people to refresh
and re-energize their careers.

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Companies must understand

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that, if they don't invest
in the future of their people,

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their people's futures won't be with them.

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Now, I am not suggesting that you stop
saving for your ultimate retirement.

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Don't do that.

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And I'm not suggesting that you quit
your job and hop on a plane to Thailand,

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although that's a pretty great idea.

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(Laughter)

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What I'm suggesting that you do
is start to think about your life story

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and look at your work
and retirement a bit differently,

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and not as a guarantee.

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The responsibility
for refreshing, re-energizing

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and reinventing yourself
throughout your life falls to you.

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Don't wait to diversify
your life portfolio.

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Don't risk becoming one
of the nearly 70% of this workforce

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that is not engaged in their jobs.

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Your golden years,
they are not many years away.

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Your golden years are right now.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)