Welcome To Fabulous Tampa The Reinvent Yourself City
Published: Aug 9, 2007
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TAMPA - Tampa has sports palaces, a performing arts center and, yes, big-city traffic. But it may never escape being labeled as a retirement town, where the elderly come for sun and leisure.
The same goes for St. Petersburg. Not that long ago, St. Pete seemed the model for restful retirement. Even the locals referred to it as "God's waiting room" because of all the elderly men and women passing time on city benches. Then the city's downtown waterfront district got a makeover - it's now vibrant with upscale condos, galleries and parks - and so did the city's reputation.
Still can't convince your cousin in Seattle, who envisions the Tampa Bay area as one big shuffleboard court, that the retirement burg buzz isn't true? Let us supply an update for future chats.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine recently named the Tampa and St. Pete area among the best for retirees because it is "the place to go" for those who want to reinvent themselves. They may leave a career in midlife to pursue new dreams and new jobs, perhaps through formal employment, or maybe not.
If that seems odd (isn't "working retirement" an oxymoron?), you're right. Language hasn't caught up with the twisty new paths that now lead into the golden years.
Some phrases try to hit the board. Reinvention is just one. There's "repotting," "going into Phase 3" and writing your second act.
Writer Marc Freedman calls it "making encores." He is the author of "Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life." His premise is that these encores benefit boomers. Many can expect to live a long time; they can find satisfaction in working and have much to offer.
Kiplinger's recognized Tampa and St. Petersburg as reinvent-yourself kind of towns after senior editor Robert Frick visited last spring. Frick sensed a creative vibe when he met boomer-age men and women who seemed to be onto something new.
"If you don't define retirement as golf, white belts and canasta, then Tampa Bay is the place to go to kickstart a second (or third) act," Frick writes in Kiplinger's June issue.
Katee Tully, 52, agrees. She moved to St. Petersburg in February, leaving behind a job as a college administrator in New York City. She isn't working, but she isn't retired. She pushed pause but isn't on sabbatical. She prefers the word "reinvention" to describe this phase of her life.
"St. Petersburg is a good place to turn yourself inside out … it's a place of no boundaries," she says.
Tully will go back to work, perhaps soon. But, she says, "I see myself creating something new and different."
Local universities have noticed the reinvention trend, and they are anticipating the return of the boomers. It's a hot topic for higher ed, says Lagretta Lenker of the University of South Florida.
Older retirees tend to audit classes for some brainy recreation, but boomers want credits, says Lenker, who directs USF4YOU, an innovative center at the University of South Florida that serves nontraditional students. The center opened last year on the USF Tampa campus.
Boomers come in to get started on second careers and retooling. Programs range from graduate certificates to master's degrees. Lenker has noticed many choose teaching or something to do with health care. She says boomers returning to college at USF may be more practical compared with boomers in other regions of the United States, where the No. 1 pick is to study liberal arts.
Not everyone who comes in for career counseling at USF4YOU decides on new careers with booming job markets. Counselor Gerene Thompson remembers the man in his late 40s who no longer loved being a salesman. She coaxed him into talking about what he did love: museums. He decided he would study museum management.
Of course, there are some fiftysome- thing boomers who just feel busted; they don't have the energy to work on their first career, let alone jump into a second.
Being exhausted isn't unusual at that age, says Freedman in "Encore." By then, people have raised children, climbed the corporate ladder and endured years of stress.
Freedman's solution: the gap year. People get to take a year off to recharge.
The point is that change is good, and a midlife change doesn't require acting younger; it's about feeling reinvigorated.
No one needs to keep chirping "60 is the new 40." Sixty is the new 60, Freidman says.
RESOURCES
•The USF4YOU center at the University of South Florida caters to boomers and other nontraditional students. The center offers pre-admission and career counseling and referrals for USF degree programs. Call 1-888-873-4968 or go to www.usf4you.org.
•"Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life," by Marc Freedman (Public Affairs, $24.95)
•"Thinking About Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself in Midlife," by Susan Crandell (Hachette Books, $24.99)
•Civic Ventures, located in San Francisco, offers extensive information about work in the second half of life. Go to www.civic ventures.org.
•AARP's Web site features articles and personal stories about the boomer boomerang in higher education. Look for "Back to College" at www.aarp.org.
WHAT'S NEXT?
"The Boomers' Guide to Good Work," an online publication by the think tank Civic Ventures, notes these ways in which boomers find their second acts.
Career recyclers: They use expertise in one field to evolve into a new one. (A computer specialist teaches computer science, for example.)
Career changers: They start fresh, choosing new fields. (A court reporter becomes a fourth-grade teacher.)
Career makers: They create their own jobs, such as starting a business.
To read the complete guide, go to www.civic ventures.org. Click on publications, then booklets.
RESOURCES
WHAT'S NEXT?
Reporter Susan Hemmingway can be reached at shemmingway@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7951.
