The Inaugural Monthly Call Was Great!

By Erica and Karen

As you know, we have responded to member requests and instituted a monthly call where members can meet one another, virtually, and speak about anything that is of interest to them.

Our first call was Thursday, November 15. About 35 people attended, and the call was fun and lively. 

Members of different ages and retirement stages, from different geographic locations in the U.S. and Canada, attended. 

We talked about all kinds of things, including recent political developments; the political and financial power we have as a cohort; TV shows; travel; life changing challenges; and many other topics. 

Strong interest was expressed in having members introduce themselves, virtually, which we did on the call and we will explore doing in other ways.

The founders also described some ideas we hope to implement soon to make it easier for members to communicate with each other.  These include:

• A member survey, so we can learn more about each other; 

• A member directory, including personal contact information and other personal details, such as years of retirement, geographic location, past career experience. 

• A bulletin board where members’ questions or comments about specific topics—early, middle, long term retirement issues; aging without a partner; returning to work; what keeps people up at night; and current interests.

• We have for some time been investigating how a new platform might facilitate these initiatives.  Some members suggested an app, for which we would need additional funding, but we have other ideas that we hope to present shortly for input.

Next steps:

• We will create and distribute a questionnaire to gather member input on desired topics and features.

• We will develop a member directory with profiles.

• We will explore creating a bulletin board for focused member communication.

• We will propose a list of topics for future discussions based on member feedback.

Thanks to all who attended. We had fun, and we think you did too! See you next time.