I Always Wanted to Live in a Third World Country and Now I Don’t Have to Move

Some of you have told me that you would like to move into the forest (retire) but you can’t afford to. But many of us are going into the forest not entirely by choice; the downturn in economics has pushed us into it. If one is over fifty and unemployed, the likelihood of being employed ever again in life (at least in any job that could support you in any real way) is near zero. With the lack of jobs in the marketplace, ageism is rampant and the loss of a job usually leads to permanent unemployment. Baby boomers are finding themselves in devastated circumstances – unemployed or underemployed, houses underwater and in foreclosure, 401 (K)s and savings depleted, and no health insurance to rely on in their later years. This article in the New York Times speaks of the increasing suicide rate of baby boomers due to hopelessness and the comments following it are eyeopening and terribly sad; forced retirement is becoming the norm and the results aren’t pretty. We have turned into a third world country and we didn’t see it coming.

My own decision to go into Vanaprastha (retirement) is not based on financial security but great austerity. Although many of you think I am rolling in money, nothing could be further from the truth. My midlife divorce devastated me financially (I couldn’t afford a lawyer) and left me with a big mortgage. New in my profiling career, I refinanced my home to support my pro bono work. I accepted television work without compensation because this is what increased my visibility and helped promote criminal profiling; 3000 appearances later, I was still unpaid (that is how it works, folks, almost none of those commentators you see on Nancy Grace earn a penny from HLN). I have been up for my own show a couple dozen times; it never came through. Documentary producers always tell you, “We don’t have much of a budget,” so, I only did one here and there when they would cough up the fee. I get speaking engagements that make for a good payday, but these are few and far between. I went back to school to get a masters that saddled me with a $30,000 debt, but can’t get work as a professor except as an adjunct which pays minimum wage (unless you give your students extremely little your time) on a part-time basis. And if you don’t grade inflate and allow plagiarism, you get fired (as I did from the program I developed for the college for also minimum wage earnings). Being an author is another disaster these days; advances are low and publicity is rare unless you are an infamous character like Amanda Knox (she got a four million dollar advance and massive PR).

No, I am not rich. My house is underwater due to refinancing to keep my work going. I have zero savings. I have little belief I am going to get any substantial earnings in the future (although it may happen one day that I suddenly get a great offer to option one of my books for a movie or I do actually get my own show or one of my books becomes a surprise bestseller). So, I am in the same boat as most baby boomers and my vision of the future isn’t retiring to a beachfront home in Hawaii and being able to travel the world in style. What I am focusing on is an ancient third world style of retirement, going into the forest (Vanaprastha), in the more historical Hindu style and I think more Americans are going to have to accept this form of retirement over the ones our parents experienced. We are going to need a change of mind and heart and it is going to be very difficult for many Americans in a culture of disconnection and consumerism and individual egotism.

Back in November, when I realized my parents (both diagnosed with Alzherimer’s) were going to need more of my help in the future, I decided I couldn’t be at the beck and call of television networks that don’t pay me for my time; that I couldn’t continue to offer pro bono work to police departments that don’t follow up on my profiles due to politics; I couldn’t spend every moment of my life pursuing publicity for speaking engagements and book sales in order to pay my bills or I would never be available to my parents. Also, my daughter got married last year and is looking forward to having a baby; I don’t want to be an absentee grandmother. I don’t want to be racing around, pressed constantly for time, trying to eek out enough money to cover a business and a still large mortgage (room rentals are also down 80% in my town, so there goes that income). That is why I decided to walk away from my career. I am giving up my home and I am striving to live simply, freeing up my time so it can be put to use helping those around me.

This actually is what retirement used to be for most of the world in the past; one raised one’s children and then became an elder. One didn’t have a big house to support, a costly car payment, tons of toys that needed buying, and expensive entertainment a la fancy vacations and restaurants. One could retire because one didn’t need to have very much money anymore to live. With little disposable income, baby boomers won’t be able to continue living in the style to which they have been accustomed. It is a brave new world or, actually, a return to the brave old world.

This world is not necessarily a bad world, however, as many are viewing it. This style of retirement may be just the medicine our culture needs to bring us back together as families and communities, to return good values to our lives, to increase our spirituality, our connectedness, and help us find our true worth. I am actually looking forward to it. Sometimes we need a push to go to the place perhaps we should have been aiming for all along. Rather then extending the second stage of life (career  and success building) until we keel over and never even experiencing the third stage (retirement) and the four stage (spiritual preparation for leaving life), maybe this economic downturn will put us on a better path. It may be that the many baby boomers finding themselves in the forest will be a boon for our society, that the benefits of more people accepting and living the third and fourth stages of life will become evident during the next decade. Maybe the forest will save us all.