Life’s Third Age, introduced by gerontologist and psychologist Dr. Ken Dychtwald, begins around retirement age and extends into the 80s and beyond. This phase offers increased freedom, autonomy, and opportunities for personal growth through lifelong learning. This age is distinct from earlier life stages focused on education, career, and family. Technological and healthcare advancements will continue to enable people to remain active and vibrant well into their 90s and beyond, fostering a more engaged and fulfilled older generation. As the global aging population increases over time, how we rethink Life’s Third Age will significantly impact societies and economies.
So, you turn 60 and then what? We chat to Dion Chang, one of SA’s most respected futurists and the founder of Flux Trends.
“It feels quite surreal turning 60. You blink, and suddenly you find yourself at a major milestone again. With people living longer and healthier lives, reaching 90 has become more common than it was ever before. At Flux Trends, we consult for businesses and financial services, and this particular paradigm shift around reimagining retirement means all our existing retirement algorithms are outdated. People now face two or three decades of life from when they reach retirement age, which raises questions around finances, insurance, investing and saving, staying fit and active, as well as cognitive engagement.”
Dion was inspired by Dychtwald’s concept of Life’s Third Age, leading to the idea of ‘rewirement’ as a way to address what people do in retirement beyond traditional activities like golf and fishing. “Interestingly, in our work with executives, we found that many fear retirement more than death. The Boomer generation’s identity is fully entwined with their work and the younger Gen X persona is very similar in this regard.
“The concept of rewirement offers a new perspective, suggesting that retirement doesn’t have to signal an ending but rather a chance to reconfigure one’s life.”
All major life events with beginnings and endings, from giving birth to ending a career, all involve a grieving process. You have to say goodbye to what you knew or expected and embrace the unknown. “In my work, I’ve always dealt with the end of old ideas to make way for the birth of new ones. Flux Trends guides companies through disruptions by helping them let go of outdated concepts and adopt new technologies or systems. This process of approaching new things mindfully and strategically reminds me of the important work birth doula’s do with expecting mothers.” We all know what a birth doula does but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us, Dion turned his attention to the important work of the death doula. During this time, everyone across ages was reminded of the importance of fully appreciating and living your life while you can.
Dion shares more on his personal rewirement journey, training to become an ‘end-of-life companion doula,’ a term he far prefers to ‘death doula’. “I suppose I’ve always offered a doula service— first in helping organisations navigate shifts. So my rewirement feels like a natural one. The parallels between end-of-life care and business care are striking. Just as there are signs of terminal agitation towards the end of life —such as visible cognitive decline or changes in behaviour—so are there similar indicators within businesses in distress, such as declining revenues or disruptive technologies that can signal it’s time for a much needed change.”
In fully exploring this arena of letting go, Dion discovered that many people experience what’s known as disenfranchised grief when they lose a pet. Society is dismissive of this particular grief, suggesting it’s not as significant as losing a human loved one. Euthanasia-related guilt is especially hard to let go of. Dion has since completed additional doula training focused on pet grief. “I will eventually extend my services to more human-focused support, but I want to approach that carefully.” His work will extend to providing emotional and spiritual support to people going through all major transitions. The role of a doula is to provide comfort and to guide and support people so they can be fully present, even in the most challenging situations.
Dion continues, “When it comes to the concept of rewirement, especially for those approaching retirement, my No. 1 piece of advice is to leave no dreams or desires unfulfilled. This means being proactive about your goals, relationships, and the legacy you want to leave behind. If you’ve always dreamed of making croissants nonstop, just go for it—take that pastry course! We can learn from Gen Z, who approach work and life differently. In a recent study, we explored Gen Zs attitudes toward their personal, professional, and civic lives. The research highlighted how this generation maintains boundaries between work and personal life, often balancing side hustles and multiple, varied interests and projects. Younger people today seem to maintain separate personas for their work and personal lives. In a work setting, this fragmented identity means that while employees may offer bosses their work persona, they won’t give their employers everything of themselves.”
This leads us to discuss the challenges this creates for HR departments and middle management, which struggle with retaining Gen Z employees who seem indifferent or hard to pin down. Just as you think they’re starting to settle in, they leave to pursue new ambitions. To address this, it helps to think of traditional work environments like a game of chess. There was a clear hierarchy, a set of rules and strategies and an obvious winner and loser. “Today’s work environments need to provide a continual learning experience, akin to progressing through levels in a video game,” says Dion. Providing a faster pace and encouraging employees to move across different departments can help them understand the entire company ecosystem. This agile approach benefits the company as it helps prevent siloed thinking and methodologies, increases team collaboration and leads to more engagement and better retention.
The instructional corporate model no longer fits. Today’s employees, especially those in Gen Z, value their own voice and agency – namely, their ability to make choices and act independently, exercising control over their own life and decisions. Things like loyalty and commitment are no longer measured in time spent and deliverables, but rather in impact and real results. “Before the pandemic, Gen Zs mantra was that they wanted a lifestyle, not just a job. They saw work as something you do, not a place to go to,” says Dion. Their focus is on results and outputs, not the time spent or location. “Post-pandemic, this sentiment is spreading across all generations.” People across ages are now seeking a balance between work and life. This provides a great opportunity for seniors to work remotely and lend their experience and wisdom to a younger workforce, whilst also embracing the trend of reverse mentorship to learn new technologies and more.
“We can learn a lot from Gen Z, particularly their drive for workplace rights, which people must realise benefits everyone of all ages, not just Gen Z themselves.”
If Millennials were focused on ping-pong tables and yoga at work, then Gen Zs like Greta Thunberg are our social justice warriors. They have strong boundaries and they’re vocal about their rights. Interestingly, there’s a generational irony for many Millenial and Gen X managers who struggle to understand Gen Zs expectations, whilst promoting conscious parenting practices to ensure their own Gen Alpha children grow up to be self-empowered, vocal and boundaried.
We turn our attention to Gen Alpha. “When we were younger, we had to go to the library to find information, but now, it’s just a matter of saying, ‘Hey, Google.’’ I often tell parents and teachers they are no longer the ultimate source of knowledge—Google is. So, instead of spoon-feeding information like we were taught in school, it’s important to instill a sense of curiosity in children. If you do that, they’ll use tools to find answers on their own, such as asking, ‘Hey, Google, what’s the distance between Earth and Mars?’ This shows how differently today’s youth access information. The best word to describe Gen Alpha is an Afrikaans one – they’re the ‘paraad’ generation, which means ‘ready’ or ‘prepared.’ They are even more militant than their grandparents, but armed with the latest technology at their fingertips. Don’t lie to Gen Alpha, they’ll catch you and call you out!”
Dion’s released a new book called The Future: More Than 80 Key Trends For South Africa, which he’s co-authored with fellow futurists, Bronwyn Williams and Faeeza Khan. Each trend is concise – about a page and a half, and the book is structured using an acronym used by Flux Trends: TRENDS, covering Technology, Retail and Marketing, Economy, Natural World, Diplomacy, and Sociocultural trends. This structure allows readers to explore different sections independently, providing snapshots of various fields without needing to read the book in order. Globally, especially in countries with aging populations, there’s a renewed focus on intergenerational interaction. A global trend called ‘time banking’ is emerging as a literal spin on the expression ‘time is money’, whereby people across generations exchange skills, advice, or good old fashioned company, in one hour time time slots. Buy the book to learn more about time banking and 79 other trends!
