Ken Dychtwald

The Birth of Life’s Third Age & the Retirement of Retirement

Today there are more than one billion people over the age of 60 worldwide, thanks to steadily rising longevity and the aging of the massive global Baby Boom generation. Most 60-year-olds can expect to live another 20 years or more, and with impending breakthroughs in exponential and precision medicine, living to 100+ will soon become commonplace.

Dr. Ken Dychtwald, who has been North America’s leading visionary and original thinker about the “age wave” for more than 40 years, will explain how the combination of rising longevity and the aging of the Baby Boomers will forever change our lives, families, communities, government programs, and the consumer marketplace. He’ll explain why the 20 th century notion of “retirement” has become too narrow and obsolete, and he’ll provide a mind-stretching preview of the new “Third Age” that is rising worldwide.

Topics to be covered include:

• The emerging medical breakthroughs and technologies that have the potential to dramatically improve health, aging, and longevity for all.
• How a cyclic lifeplan—with repeated personal reinventions—will turbo-charge demand for new ways to repeatedly learn, give/volunteer, work, and enjoy life.
• The new measure of lifelong success and the ideal roles for 21st century “modern elders”.
• How we can work together to eliminate ageism and envision an abundantly healthy, continually curious, and satisfyingly purposeful Third Age.

The Longevity Revolution: Triumph or Tragedy?

History’s greatest accomplishment—increasing longevity—could ironically become civilization’s greatest crisis. Left “uncorrected,” it could cause an economic misalignment of every aspect of society from pensions to playgrounds; global pandemics of degenerative diseases, including a billion humans with dementia; and a gerontocracy that could spark political age wars.

Gerontologist/psychologist/futurist Ken Dychtwald outlines four parallel “moonshots” that are needed to transmute these potentially grave problems and by so doing match healthspan to lifespan; safeguard financial security for all generations; stimulate a longevity marketplace; and provide a 21st century purpose for modern elders.

The Rise of History’s Biggest Untapped Market - It’s Hiding in Plain Sight!

Men and women over 50 now make up 33% of the total U.S. population and 44% of the adult population but control more than 70% of total wealth. Due to the combination of rising longevity, declining fertility, and the aging of the Baby Boom generation, this group is now bigger than the entire market of most countries. As active and curious consumers, they are responsible for 53% of all food and grocery purchasing; 55% of all travel and leisure consumption; 56% of new car and truck purchasing; 68% of OTC drugs and 77% of all Rx drug consumption; and 78% of all retirement accounts. However, people 50+ only appear in 15% of advertisements and are disproportionately portrayed as old, sick, and homogenous.

Dr. Ken Dychtwald, who has been North America’s leading visionary and original thinker about the “age wave” for more than 40 years, will explain how to best target this massive, misunderstood, misrepresented, and wildly untapped new market. He’ll illustrate why 20 th century notions of “lifetime brand loyalty,” “retirement,” and “seniors” have become obsolete and how with impending breakthroughs in precision medicine, living to 100+ will soon become commonplace. And he’ll provide a mind-stretching preview of the products, services, marketing, and advertising that will succeed at meeting the needs and aspirations of this new “Third Age” while eliminating the ageism that has impeded shareholder value for too long.

The Future of Health, Medicine & Aging in a Post-COVID World

Due to the combination of rising longevity, declining fertility, the aging of the massive global Baby Boom, and the impact of COVID-19, all dimensions of health and healthcare—as well as aging and longevity—are being transformed.

In this revealing glimpse into the future, presented by Age Wave visionary Dr. Ken Dychtwald, he explores:

• How long might we live?
• Will our later years be a time of health and vitality or illness and disability?
• What advances are needed in diagnostics, medical/nursing skills, public health, preventative and rehab fitness, functional nutrition, and scientific advances to ensure that our healthspan matches our lifespan?
• What are the solutions to the coming caregiving crunch?
• Will super-longevity be purchasable on the open or black market?
• How do we feel about “longevity inequality”?
• What will be the new purpose of elderhood?
• Will health be affordable?

COVID-19’s Impact on Our Lives: New Perspectives on Health, Family, Finances, Community & Purpose from Five Generations

In this new presentation, created in the wake of the world-changing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ken Dychtwald will present a thought-provoking analysis of how different generations have been impacted in some very different ways.

Synthesizing a wide range of cutting-edge and highly acclaimed new Age Wave research, this presentation will explore:

• How the pandemic has transformed people’s lives, relationships, hopes, fears, finances, and purpose.
• How the coronavirus public health crisis has affected each of the five generations differently.
• The negative and positive influences the pandemic has had on women vs. men.
• What younger adults have begun teaching older adults about dealing with this disruption and its aftermath.
• What older adults can teach younger adults about dealing with this disruption and its aftermath.
• Why there is more need than ever for “empathy” and “interdependence” among the generations.
• How the role of purpose has been redefined for everyone in the time of COVID.

The Future of Retirement: New Timing, New Purpose, New Funding & New Planning Help Needed

With the convergence of rising longevity, the aging of the massive Boomer generation, and widespread financial insecurity stemming from the COVID pandemic, there is a greater need than ever for trusted, holistic financial guidance. Americans want financial professionals who seek to understand what matters most to them and their families and can help them achieve their goals.

This new presentation by Dr. Ken Dychtwald, the nation’s foremost visionary and expert on longevity, aging and retirement, draws on his new book What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age, as well as cutting-edge new research that spans five generations. He’ll outline the most important questions in retirement planning today and explain how financial professionals can demonstrate greater empathy to safeguard a well-lived retirement by providing targeted solutions for these uncertain times.

Topics to be covered include:

• Why has financial peace of mind become far more important than wealth?
• What are the greatest worries in achieving a financially secure retirement?
• How could “generational generosity” jeopardize retirement?
• In what ways is women’s rising financial power transforming the field of retirement planning?
• How will the demands of eldercare, sibling care, grandparenthood, singlehood, and “rehirement” impact retirement planning?
• Leaving a legacy: managing the greatest generational hand-off in history.

Alchemy of Travel: In Search of Peak Experiences

Amidst our high-tech, high-anxiety, and workaholic culture, there is an awakening appreciation for the immeasurable value of great times with friends and loved ones, the satisfaction of continued personal growth, and the excitement of encountering new people, places, and cultures. Fueled by COVID fatigue as well as the dual Boomer liberations of empty-nesting and retirement—and turbo-charged by Millennial FOMO—hundreds of millions of men and women worldwide are hoping to enjoy more “time affluence” than at any other point in history.

This dynamic new presentation by Age Wave guru and author of the new book, Radical Curiosity: One Man’s Search for Cosmic Magic and a Purposeful Life, explores the forces causing an unquenchable curiosity for stimulating and nourishing “peak experiences” of every form and flavor. Dr. Ken Dychtwald will uncover the abundant opportunities for both entrepreneurs and industry leaders who understand the emerging new travel consumer.

Topics to be covered include:

• Longevity: more life, more time, more personal reinventions, more travel.
• Coming out of COVID: how post-vaccine, pent-up demand will be unleashed into the travel marketplace.
• How the unprecedented “age wave” demographic phenomenon will both boost and transform the travel marketplace worldwide.
• Why the “freedom zone” is now the most liberated and liberating time in life.
• Life’s true valuables: the growing importance of experiences over things.
• 2.5 trillion hours to fill: tapping the enormous “longevity economy”.
• In search of “peak experiences” and how they can both be programmed and marketed.

From Newark to Big Sur to Davos to Elderhood: The Keys to a Meaningful, Magical & Purposeful Life

In this wide-ranging conversation with “age wave” guru Ken Dychtwald, he shares stories and lessons from his first 70 years of life. From his working-class roots in New Jersey to the “tune in, turn on, drop out” cliffs of Big Sur and the pinnacles of the human potential movement, from launching his company Age Wave to rising to global prominence as a fellow of the World Economic Forum, from facing the death of his parents while coming to terms with his own aging process, Ken offers invaluable guidance through the lens of a man constantly seeking self-discovery and self-improvement—providing a glimpse into a visionary’s extraordinary world, and a guide for claiming a powerful vision of one’s own.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts and original thinkers about aging and longevity, Dychtwald will share an entirely different and far more personal side of his life, drawing from his new book Radical Curiosity: One Man’s Search for Cosmic Magic and a Purposeful Life. He dives deep to examine the arc and legacies of his own life through touching stories, mind-stretching adventures, and unique encounters with many of the world’s great leaders and influencers to show readers his keys to a meaningful, magical, and purposeful life.

Key themes to be covered include:

• The importance of perpetual openness to self-discovery, self-improvement, re-invention, and untapping one’s potentials.
• How serendipity and coincidence can play just as big a role in your life as good intentions.
• How to juggle the new roles of love, marriage, parenthood, caregiving, and work in today’s high- tech, high-pressure world.
• The importance of lifelong curiosity, courage, and resilience if one is hoping to change the world.
• Perceiving not only youth—but adulthood, middlescence, late adulthood, elderhood, and ultimately death—as respected and important parts of life’s journey.