"PERSONALITY-BASED RETIREMENT"; AND THE END OF EMPTY NEST SYNDROME?

Welcome to the debut of The Heather Taylor Show, Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital Blog! The new, hour long radio broadcast on Wednesdays from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. is the DC area's only radio show created especially for the nearly three million Boomers residing in DC, Virginia and Maryland. Experts predict Boomers will live longer lives. What will we do with those bonus decades? What's next?--That's the question we ask (and answer!) on The Heather Taylor Show, Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital.

Each weekly edition of the show features authors, journalists and other newsmakers covering topics like health, fitness, money, careers, retirement, travel, entertainment and lots more.

"What could be scarier than ghosts and goblins on Halloween?"

It's the question we asked this week on our Halloween edition of Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital.

Which of these answers pushes your panic button?

- Not having a retirement plan
or
- Watching your last child leave home and realizing that the nest is empty

Halloween notwithstanding, my two guests quickly took the scare out of either question.
Starting with a co-author of the book, My Next Phase, The Personality-Based Guide to Your Best Retirement (Springboard Press), Randy Burnham, psychotherapist, psychologist and co-founder of My Next Phase, a retirement planning company. stressed the importance of self-assessment. Knowing our social, planning, and stress styles, according to Burnham, can keep us from "flunking" retirement. Questions to help determine what kind of person each of us is include What are your social, planning and stress styles? Your personality, not your bank account, says Burnham, hold the key to a successful retirement.

If someone told you that after your child leaves home could be the most joyous, life-affirming, energizing time in your lfe, would you believe them?

Social psychologist and journalist, Carin Rubinstein, author of the book, Beyond the Mommy Years, How to Live Happily Ever After...After the Kids Leave Home (Springboard Press) says yes. Thirty million mothers between forty and sixty years old are about to face childless households for the first time in decades, she says. Those post-mother years can be a time of great transition and joy. Her book, based on a 1,000 person survey offers a clear and well-researched guide to living life with confidence.