MetLife Mature Market Institute® Releases Free Life Directions, Retirement and Encore Careers Guide, DVD and Workbook

The MetLife Mature Market Institute has released a workbook with a DVD containing assessment tools, information and resources to help those contemplating whether or not to retire and how to move on to encore careers. The workbook, also useful for those adapting to the economic downturn, is designed for individuals contemplating the next phases of their lives with information on how to find purpose and direction. A follow-up to the Institute’s January 2009 study, Discovering What Matters: Balancing Money, Medicine and Meaning, the workbook is available free to the public.

Based on methods developed by leading author, life coach and executive educator Richard Leider, author of Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life, the workbook/DVD advises people to adjust their priorities and create goals that will lead to happiness and fulfillment. It also contains information to help people adapt to life’s inevitable transitions, both positive and negative.

"Our study, Discovering What Matters, revealed that while having enough money to be comfortable – a different standard for everyone – remains important, it’s not the only, or even most important, focus for many. The study shows that the most content people also focus on the non-financial essentials in their lives, even during difficult economic times,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D. director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. "Living the ‘good life’ for middle-aged and older Americans, the study reports, is equated with having a sense of purpose about their lives. Based on interviews with more than 1,000 Americans between the ages of 45 and 74, it defined the good life as having health, a financial safety net and the time to do what is important. For those searching for new directions, encore careers and/or retirement, this workbook can help them find a direction with both fulfillment and meaning.”

The workbook is straightforward and easy to use with worksheets and a series of questions relating to lifestyle, environment, health status, finances, relationships and community.

According to Richard Leider, "The ‘good life’ is an integration of various components in a person’s life for which each component enables the next. Living the ‘good life’ means living in the place you ‘belong,’ with the people you love, doing work that benefits others. Given that people today are living longer, planning for the purpose that they want to achieve later in life is essential.”

Specifically, the workbook and DVD provide exercises that focus on the following:

• Trigger Events & Life Lessons – How will major life changes, such as a loss, divorce, job change or move, help you move forward?
• The Good Life Inventory – What key characteristics are you employing to help you achieve the best life has to offer?
• The Repacking Place – What makes a place "the” place for you?
• How Much Is Enough – What will you need, financially, for the future?
• The Repacking Sounding Board – Who are the trusted individuals in your life who will offer the right kind of counsel and support?
• The guides also contain a list of "repacking resources” for further investigation.

Richard Leider/Inventure Group

Ranked by Forbes as one of the "Top 5” most respected coaches in America, Richard is a best-selling author with over 30 years experience in coaching people to live and work on purpose. Founder and Chairman of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm that helps people discover the power of purpose, he is an internationally recognized coach who works with many leading organizations. As a workshop leader, he has taught over 100,000 executives from 50 corporations worldwide.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute®

Established in 1997, the Mature Market Institute (www.maturemarketinstitute.com) is MetLife’s research organization and a recognized thought leader on the multi-dimensional and multi-generational issues of aging and longevity. MMI’s groundbreaking research, gerontology expertise, national partnerships, and educational materials work to expand the knowledge and choices for those in, approaching, or caring for those in the mature market.

MMI supports MetLife’s long-standing commitment to identifying emerging issues and innovative solutions for the challenges of life. MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance, employee benefits and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin American, Europe and Asia Pacific regions.

For more information about the MetLife Mature Market Institute, please visit: www.maturemarketinstitute.com.

Single copies of the workbook, Discovering What Matters: Your Guide to the Good Life and the study, Discovering What Matters: Balancing Money, Medicine and Meaning, can be downloaded from www.maturemarketinstitute.com. The workbook/ DVD can also be ordered by e-mailing, MatureMarketInstitute@metlife.com, or by writing to: MetLife Mature Market Institute, 57 Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT 06880.