My first retirement reality bite came when I was in my mid-20s. I saw first-hand the utter devastation of a large company going bankrupt and the effects it had on the oldest employees. It’s a hard thing to forget.
When I had the chance to join Fidelity Investments in 1992, I thought it would be a fun job at a cool and well-respected company. It turned into an amazing journey focused on helping people get ready to enter retirement. I didn’t want reality to bite them in the you-know-what!
So, my career passion is all about retirement and how Baby Boomers can and are reinventing retirement. I believe that every financial decision is a retirement decision – – not just the dollars you sock away in your retirement plan at work or an IRA. (By the way, you do have an IRA, right?)
My life passion is my family. I am a wife, mother, daughter, aunt, and now a great-aunt. It is the time spent with my family that I treasure most.
Here are a few tidbits I thought you’d find interesting about me:
On the personal front, I am:
- Happily married to wonderful hubby, Dan, my college sweetheart. The first 35 years have been great, and we are wondering what’s in store for the next 35? If you are wondering too, take a look at my blog post: Ten Things We’ve Learned On Our Next Ten Adventure.
- The proud mama of 2 wonderful daughters, both college grads, both University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (Ski-U-Mah!).
- A young Baby Boomer who is really looking forward to retiring one day. My to-do list for retirement gets longer every year.
- Known to say, “There are so many things I want to do that work is getting in the way!”
- Obsessed with my family ancestry. I feel like I’m getting to know those old Scots and French and English ancestors up close and personal.
- Falling behind in creating scrapbooks and photo albums – especially of my girls. Need to get back on track before I forget everything.
- An excellent cook and baker, but not good enough to be on The Great British Baking Show (or any other cooking show!). You will find successful retirement “recipes” in the “Marcia’s Retirement Kitchen” part of the website, plus some other tasty recipes for baking.
- Really unhappy when I have to clean up the kitchen or do laundry.
- Lucky that my best days include talking to interesting people about their real-life stories. You can read about some of these stories in my Boomers In Action section.
On the professional front, I have built a lot of retirement knowledge over the years:
- 26 years (who’s counting?) leading retirement marketing, retirement income, product development and training efforts around the country for large financial services companies and financial advisors.
- 13+ years as a Retirement Business Consultant where I help financial firms and advisors develop and grow their retirement businesses.
- 10+ years developing a deep knowledge of Social Security and Medicare and how to think about making the best decisions before you push the button. My blog includes a number of helpful Social Security posts with more to come.
- 15+ years presenting retirement topics in a highly-engaging style to Baby Boomer and financial advisor audiences across the country.
- Author of: What’s the Deal With… Retirement Planning for Women?
“In this thought-provoking, but non-traditional, fun approach to planning for a woman’s retirement, Marcia Mantell guides women through the key questions they’ll need to answer before they will be prepared to retire”.
- I’ve found, in general, that none of us Baby Boomers is so sure what retirement will mean. I enjoy sharing down-to-earth, practical information to help make the transition.
- Favorite retirement strategies: Maximize Employer Plans to the Match, Use Roth IRAs, Save More than You Think, Watch Leading Economic Indicators, and Read, Read, Read!
- I’m so glad you found Boomer Retirement Briefs. You might start by reading my welcome article, then taking a look around the site to see what hits your hot button.
Send me your thoughts about how you will retire and what you are looking forward to when you have more time.
Start reinventing your retirement today!
