In this episode of Revolutionize Your Retirement, host Dori Mintzer talks with Michael F. Kay about what it really means to transition from career to retirement. They explore identity, purpose, joy, and the challenge of redefining success beyond a job title. Michael shares insights from his book How to Craft Your Chapter X and offers practical tools to help listeners navigate this important life transition with intention and authenticity.

Connect with Michael F. Kay
LinkedIn
Website
Podcast
How To Craft Your Chapter X

What to do next:

• Click to grab our free guide, 10 Key Issues to Consider as You Explore Your Retirement Transition
• Please leave a review at Apple Podcasts.
• Join our Revolutionize Your Retirement group on Facebook.

In this episode of the Revolutionize Your Retirement Interview with Expert Series, host Dori Mintzer welcomes back author Bruce Feiler to discuss his new book, A Time to Gather, and why rituals matter more than ever. Together, they explore how rituals help people navigate transition, reduce loneliness, and create connection in a fragmented world.

Bruce shares the personal experience that sparked the book, including his family’s transition from an empty nest to a full nest and back again, and how that led him to study group rituals around the world. He explains the difference between individual life transitions and collective “group quakes,” and why modern people are increasingly creating bespoke rituals for divorce, illness, grief, retirement, and other major life changes.

This rich conversation also explores examples from Bruce’s research, including divorce parties, grieving circles, rituals for loss, and customized ceremonies that help people face shame, fear, and uncertainty with support from others. Bruce outlines five core elements of an effective ritual: boundaries, stakes, compromise, empathy, and hope.

Connect With Bruce here:

Website: https://www.brucefeiler.com/

Substack: https://brucefeiler.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

LinkedIn: / brucefeiler

Instagram: / brucefeiler

Youtube: / @brucefeilervideos

A Time To Gather: How Ritual Created the World and How It Can Save US, is available from Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and from independent booksellers. Prior to the book’s release date of May 19th, you can order a signed copy from Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY. Go to https://brucefeiler.substack.com/about to find the link.

What to do next:

• Click to grab our free guide, 10 Key Issues to Consider as You Explore Your Retirement Transition
• Please leave a review at Apple Podcasts.
• Join our Revolutionize Your Retirement group on Facebook.

This episode features retirement transition expert and former lawyer Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons, author of Encore: A High Achiever’s Guide to Thriving in Retirement, in conversation with host Dori Mintzer about how high achievers can rethink retirement as a creative “encore” rather than an ending. Elizabeth shares her own story of leaving Big Law, the contrasting retirement examples of her father and grandfather, and what she’s learned from 16 years of helping professionals design more intentional, energizing next chapters.​

Together they explore how to bridge identity beyond job titles, move from a life dominated by work to a richer “mosaic” of relationships, wellbeing, contribution, and play, and shift from reacting to others’ demands to actively creating your own structure, time use, and definition of fulfillment. Through stories of clients who rediscovered passions like jazz, community leadership, and even Broadway, Elizabeth illustrates practical tools—such as “shaking the snow globe” with reflective questions, experimenting instead of seeking instant mastery, and using annual and daily planning to align time with what matters most.​

Key ideas:

• Retirement as another “graduation,” where you carry forward your enduring self rather than your business card.​
• Shifting from a monolithic work‑centered life to a flexible mosaic that includes health, relationships, learning, service, and joy.​
• Moving from a reactor mindset (responding to others’ agendas) to a creator mindset (designing your own days, experiments, and projects).​
• Using small, low‑risk experiments to explore new interests and locations instead of needing a fully formed plan from day one.​

Connect with Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons

• Website & programs: encoraco.com​
• LinkedIn: Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons​
• Book: Encore: A High Achiever’s Guide to Thriving in Retirement (available via major booksellers)

What to do next:

• Click to grab our free guide, 10 Key Issues to Consider as You Explore Your Retirement Transition
• Please leave a review at Apple Podcasts.
• Join our Revolutionize Your Retirement group on Facebook.