Why I retired at 32 | Carl Seidman | TEDxIIT

Millennials will soon make up 60% of the workforce, causing a major disruption in how Americans work and live. Companies must adapt to meet their needs. The solution is for the workforce to do something unexpected.

Carl is a strategic management advisor whose perspectives on life and work have attracted the attention of businesses and journalists around the world. He has worked with nearly 200 companies and thousands of professionals, aligning business growth with interpersonal relationships and communication. Carl helps leaders craft empowered work cultures and speaks to young professionals about enhancing their confidence, acting on their ideas, and becoming more engaged in the workplace.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

To paraphrase Edward Rooney,

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

we give good kids bad ideas.

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

And if you do,

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

Then, after about 40 or 50 years,

you'll have enough savings
and benefits to retire

and live out the golden
years of your life.

It's a quaint idea, really,

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

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

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

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

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

On top of that, we're living longer.

A couple of years ago,
Prudential unveiled a billboard

that said that the first person was born

who will live to be 150 years old.

Can you imagine that?
Living to be that old?

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Laughter)

In all seriousness,

we are entering an era
where most people in this country

will no longer be able to retire by choice

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

and potentially even beyond.

If this is the new reality,

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

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

We need to reinvent and redefine
what retirement means,

as well as the path to get there.

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

we should take small interim
retirements throughout our life,

allowing ourselves the chance
to refresh, re-energize

and reinvent ourselves and our careers.

I fear that, if something doesn't change,

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

One of the most fundamental
principles of financial economics

is portfolio diversification,

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

Spread your risk around.

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

you should spend some
of your money on a house,

leave some money in cash

and invest some money
in other investments.

That way, if the housing market goes bust,

the way that it did several years ago,

your loss is limited
by your diversification in other areas.

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

we do the exact opposite.

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

seemingly for the rest of your life.

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

(Laughter)

Then, when you start working,

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

It won't be expected
that you diversify yourself,

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

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

you'll be successful,

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

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

But neither of those assumptions is true.

Our world is changing so rapidly today,

by the time young people
graduate from school,

they're entering a world different

than the one their education
prepared them for.

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

in a short period of time
may be replaced by technology

or be irrelevant altogether.

If portfolio diversification
is so important in financial economics,

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

Several years ago, at the age of 32,

I took what I called my first retirement.

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

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

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

to go overseas,
build my skills, my experience

and pursue several entrepreneurial ideas.

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

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

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

I imagined in my head
a surge of people telling me

that what I was doing was crazy,

that I was completely ruining
my consulting career,

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

the gap on my resume
would be insurmountable

and I would never find work ever again.

On the contrary,

those sentiments were not
communicated by one single person.

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

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

Take the chance to do it while you can.

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

Even more surprisingly,

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

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

Today, these same people
are delaying their retirement,

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

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

just to have a shot at their golden years.

There is an increasing number
of people in this country

who are losing faith in traditional
employment and retirement,

so much so that there is
an explosion of people

desiring to escape the nine-to-five.

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

40% of our workforce
will become freelance.

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

We, millennials, are utilizing technology
and connectivity among people

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

and the flexibility that we want.

This is happening

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

we're going to have
several different careers,

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

We will have diverse portfolios
of education and experience,

allowing ourselves to shift

in ways that our parents
and grandparents never imagined.

Companies that are leading
the fight for young talent

are investing in their people.

They're giving them
the freedom and the flexibility

to improve and build their skills

and build that diverse portfolio
of their career.

Some wonderful companies
are even giving paid sabbaticals,

allowing people to refresh
and re-energize their careers.

Companies must understand

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

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

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

Don't do that.

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

although that's a pretty great idea.

(Laughter)

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

and look at your work
and retirement a bit differently,

and not as a guarantee.

The responsibility
for refreshing, re-energizing

and reinventing yourself
throughout your life falls to you.

Don't wait to diversify
your life portfolio.

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

that is not engaged in their jobs.

Your golden years,
they are not many years away.

Your golden years are right now.

Thank you.

(Applause)