In class #3 of the Timeless Happiness series, Tara and Tina take on the topics of money and finances. Tara puts on her “financial planner hat” and walks us through the importance of effectively managing our economic life and the role of finances in our overall well-being. If you are hoping for hard numbers and figures — hold onto that hope for a future episode - because this episode concentrates more on the emotional side of money and finances.

Tara challenges us to consider our personal priorities and values in viewing our financial situations. She stresses the need for a healthy and balanced relationship with money that allows us to both enjoy the present AND plan for the future. She reminds us that money should be viewed as a tool that helps us do the things we want in life.

Tara ends the episode by introducing the “3 essential questions” by George Kinder to help change our perspective about the importance of money in our lives and its role in our happiness. This episode hopefully makes us look at money differently and helps us re-evaluate our relationship with it.

On today’s episode, we talk to Matt Donovan, the husband of co-host Tina Donovan.  Tina has spoken quite frequently throughout our previous episodes about her marriage and her husband. In this episode, we hear Matt discuss, in his own words, his middlescence journey which has been defined by his desire for change and for more time.

In this episode we discuss with Matt the following:

• • His lifelong curiosity, his passion for exploration and his eagerness to try new things
  • Reflections on his personal and professional achievements
  • The struggles of these last years of his career
  • The impact of his parent’s midlife strife on his teenage years and his own middlescence experience
  • The tension between wanting to leave the corporate world and the concern for financial security and healthcare
  • The need to not take life too seriously and to give oneself time to explore and grow
  • His hopes of pursuing his neglected interests of travel, painting and playing music

We hope you enjoy putting “a voice to Matt’s name” and hearing his perspectives on many of the middlescence milestones.

In this episode of Messy Middlescence, Tina and Tara share their insights from the second timeless happiness class. They share their experiences with the homeplay exercises, highlighting the challenges and eye-opening moments they encountered.

They discuss trying to design ideal weeks for retirement, including the influence of a spouse or partner, free time availability, and shifting from a Monday to Friday routine. They also emphasize the importance of adapting structures, different seasons, and being open to new possibilities in the next phase of life.

They explore the concept of ikigai and finding purpose. Additionally, they delve into the power of contribution and leveraging your knowledge. The hosts encourage listeners to think about their ideal days and use journaling to explore their visions for the future. They emphasize the significance of considering the deathbed questions and living with purpose throughout the messy middle of life.

Tara and Tina continue their recent focus on retirement and retirement planning by interviewing Beth Nemeth who is right on the cusp of retirement.  If the previous episode left you feeling anxious that you have not started thinking about your retirement plans, this interview with Beth will hopefully ease some of that anxiety. It is important to realize that most people for various reasons don’t plan their retirement.  And often, it comes upon them unexpectedly or abruptly.  It is also true that for many us, we are so busy doing and living our life, that we don’t have the time, energy or bandwidth to plan our next phase. 

The interview with Beth, in which she so courageously shares so much of herself and her story, portrays an extremely realistic journey to retirement.  From her dedication to her job as a school counselor to concerns about her family's health, Beth reveals the layers of complexity that impact her decision to retire. Although the specifics of her retirement years are still unknown, Beth has strong values of family, personal growth and making a positive impact that will define and shape the specifics of her next chapter.  Most importantly, Beth emphasizes the importance for patience, embracing change and self-reflection which are excellent lessons for anyone contemplating a big change.

This podcast episode revolves around a class Tara taught at the Princeton Adult School called Timeless Happiness. This class focused on how to prepare for your next phase - be it a career change, role change or retirement. Many of the most common retirement challenges are discussed including identity loss and time management. The importance of flexibility, patience, and exploration is also emphasized. Christina and Tara delve into the essential elements of a well lived life, including contribution, relationships, health, and community engagement. Specific exercises from the class are shared such as envisioning an ideal retirement week and assessing personal areas of improvement. The podcast highlights the importance of finding happiness, embracing change, and designing a fulfilling retirement next phase based on individual values and aspirations. Overall, it offers valuable advice and guidance for navigating through the different phases and aspects of the second half of life.

In this episode, Tina and Tara tackle the complex issue of midlife job crisis. They discuss the pervasive job unhappiness experienced by many individuals in their forties and fifties and question its causes.

Acknowledging both the complexity and size of this topic, they begin by exploring the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence and the changes that occur with these in middle age. They also address the challenges and risks associated with transitioning careers and the various life aspects and pressures that can influence this.

Tackling the notion that it might be too late to start over, they encourage listeners to embrace change and identify their strengths to find fulfilling work. They promise to revisit this issue in upcoming episodes.

In this enlightening episode we discuss retirement and aging with Kellie Walenciak based on her published article 'The Secret to Immortality: Why I Will Never Retire'. Kellie challenges the conventional notion of retirement, advocating for a shift towards working “by choice” to find purpose and meaning in one's later years.

Kelly's own experiences, as well as her inspiring stories of others, highlight the importance of staying curious, embracing change, and continually learning throughout life. She also discusses the concept of “Blue Zones”, where people live longer and healthier lives, and which emphasize the cognitive and social benefits of staying active and engaged.

Overall, this episode offers valuable insights and advice for those in middlescence looking to age intentionally and age well.

On today's episode, we talk to co-host’s Tara Conti-Bansal's husband, Nimit Bansal. As you will hear in our discussion, for Nimit, there's no big crises, no huge questions or seismic shifts happening, but our discussion highlights an aspect of middlescence that we haven't really discussed much yet, that midlife does not need to be a crisis. It can be a rewarding time of self-acceptance and gently shifting priorities.

As a result, we have titled this episode “Smooth Sailing.” But do not be misled by the title. There are just as many significant lessons and valuable wisdom to be gleaned from this episode as from some of our others.

In this episode you get to hear about Nimit’s:

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

On this short episode of Messy Middlescence, Tina and Tara share the idea of a "Favorite Things Party" and how they use it with their family and friends.

Happy New Year! In place of New Year resolutions, consider creating an annual "theme" instead. In this episode we discuss the how and why around creating a theme in hopes of motivating others to do the same.