Cricket-loving father and son Barry and James Rosenberg have combined their knowledge and experience to produce an e-book called 65 Not Out, which is aimed at helping people plan for retirement.
Barry, a career chartered accountant who now specialises in family business and farm succession planning, and James, Frimley Lifestyle Village manager, used a cricketing term as the name for their website and e-book. The concept has been developed for people nearing retirement and even those who ended their working lives a while back. The book, as well as an accompanying workbook, allows people to plan for their transition from work to retirement.
Barry says his experience as an expert in family business and farm succession and exit meant 65 Not Out was a logical next step.
“We got together in 2016 and started planning what we thought would be a pretty comprehensive programme to help people transition to retirement. I was nearing the end of my career and James was managing the Frimley Lifestyle Village. He saw quite a number of people come to the village and quickly lose a bit of their purpose, with their minds and their bodies becoming less active.“It is a massive change when you move from one phase of life to another – transitioning from a working life to a retired life is revolutionary and can be daunting. You go along each day and you’re busy when you’re working, then all of a sudden, there’s this huge change from a very routine, structured life to a life where you’ve got the ability to do what you want to do and time to do it,” says Barry.
Barry and James started the website with the intention of running it all online but have now changed that to a two-book downloadable concept.
The 52-page contents book along with the 32-page companion workbook is a one-off subscription-based purchase and can be downloaded from the website https://www.65notout.com/.
The programme details nine steps to assist people planing for retirement, while the 32-page companion workbook contains questions that allow for reflection on life and desires for the future. The nine steps are: transition to retirement; planning for retirement; health and well-being; business and farm succession and exit; money and finances; attitude and motivation; utilising technology; planning your estate; and travel. The book also has advice from experts in various fields.
James says that for many people, the big emphasis when talking about retiring is money.
“The first thing that pops into their head is money and obviously it’s important, but we also focus on other parts of life, especially health and well-being.”
Barry says that each section of the book has articles on different aspects of retirement.
“There is an article asking the question about what type of retirement you would like and one on what you will do in retirement. Then there is assistance with your health and well-being, keeping your body and your mind active and looking after your mental health.”
James adds that loneliness is also dealt with as it is a real issue facing retirees.
“We recently met someone who is struggling a bit with exiting a business but needing to at 69 years of age. The business was quite people-intensive, but now she is struggling a little to fill up her days. That is what we’re trying to help people avoid with this e-book.”
One way to counter loneliness is for retirees to move into lifestyle or retirement villages and the book looks at the benefits of this move along with the options available, including the ownership model versus the licence-to-occupy model.
“We talk about all the differences as well as the advantages and disadvantages of both models,” says James.
Barry says another critical aspect of later life is planning your estate.
“There are so many people that need a will but have not got one. Only 50 per cent of people in New Zealand who should have a will have got a will.“There are a lot of people out there who need to give attention to their estate planning. When they’ve finished work with more time to think about such matters, they should be seriously thinking about this because as we all know, anything can happen to anybody at any time,” says Barry.
“Another big issue for people in their 50s who are working is caring for their elderly parents who aren’t very well. Their own work consumes their lives and they really have no idea how to care for their elderly parents. This is just one issue that keeps many people awake at night.”
Barry, who ended his career in March 2020, now has a PhD to complete. He also writes a number of articles for the 65 Not Out Facebook page.
He says that many of the subjects he writes about come from everyday conversations.
“I just pick the topic of conversation up and then while it is fresh in my mind, I’ll put pen to paper and write, which goes up on Facebook. At the end of the year, we’ll incorporate all those articles into an updated version of the e-book.”
Barry and James both believe the most important part of their venture is helping people.
“If we help one person, if we make a difference to one person’s transition from work life to retirement, then we will be happy with that,” says Barry.
“We want to give people the tools to cope with some of the issues and the changes they’re about to make.”
