When grappling with your retirement planning, some of us tackle the issue the way we would any robust challenge – with lots of caffeine. A post on Inc. magazine’s blog proposed that any time you’re in the process of making a major life decision, you should go on 50 coffees – informational meetings with friends, acquaintances, and former colleagues – to provide yourself with the opportunity to review your plans with a diverse audience (www.inc.com/peter-thomson/50-cups-of-coffee.html).

My initial reaction was, “Wow, 50 coffees? Who has that kind of time? 10 might be more realistic.” But at the essence of the article is a brilliant idea for anyone planning their exit from the top — folks grappling with the post-career “what’s next?” question. It’s a natural way to hash out retirement hopes and ideas, and make some interesting new connections, which might be especially important while exploring the possibility of a post-career bridge job or launching an encore career.

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As we approach our mid-60s, messages about retirement start to pour in. As a society, our thinking about retirement has fossilized around the notion of age 65. Although that age point is creeping upward, society still tells us that the mid-60s is the age when we should be thinking about retirement, and social notions about retirement still revolve around the traditional “golden years” full-stop exit from the workforce.

But many of us in our mid-60s aren’t ready for the career exit ramp. For reasons of pleasure or necessity, some of us want to continue to work. And for those of us who are phasing out of our careers, many want to continue to remain engaged and do “work” that’s meaningful, whether that’s for a paycheck or not.

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