What is the Third Age Portfolio?
The Third Age Portfolio suggests that, in much the same way you plan and execute a financial portfolio for the later adult years in your life, you are now able to plan a portfolio for non-financial, lifestyle/life choice elements of your life. Just as a productive and effective financial portfolio is diversified, so too should the non-financial portfolio for your Third Age be diversified.
The Third Age Portfolio is that balanced set of activities, relationships and life commitments that brings you a sense of accomplishment, fulfillment, completion, new learning, joy, resolution, opportunity to make the world a better place... a chance to live out what, in the past, were only dreams. It is a time to expand horizons. It is a time to confirm and deliver the legacy you have developed and that only you can leave to those you love. It is a time to seek new answers. For many, it is a time to ask new questions and try new directions.
What are the components of the Third Age Portfolio?
The Third Age Portfolio draws experiences and opportunities from five critical areas. The blending of those five areas into a unified portfolio varies from person to person and allows for the development of a personalized portfolio that works best for that particular individual. Many adults find that the portfolio works best when there is a somewhat equitable balance of the five distinct portfolio areas. Each portfolio element needs planning and is worthy of serious thought and introspection.
The five major elements of the Third Age Portfolio are:
Wage/Fee work: The amount of time and energy you will spend in the next phase of your life earning income of one kind or another.
Relationships- Family/Friends: The amount of time and energy you will spend in the next phase of your life developing, sustaining, re-defining and investing in relationships with family and friends.
Lifetime Learning: The amount of time and energy you will spend in the next phase of your life studying.
Civic/Community Engagement: The amount of time and energy you will spend in the next phase of your life giving back to your community through service.
Health/wellness: The amount of time and energy you will spend in the next phase of your life actively working on staying healthy.
What this Third Age Portfolio Questionnaire tells you
Responses to this Third Age Portfolio Questionnaire will give you scores in each of the five critical portfolio areas. The scores will indicate which of the five areas are strong and provide an excellent base for your Third Age and which areas could use some development and additional consideration. The scores will provide you, perhaps in conjunction with a trusted advisor, the opportunity to ask an array of follow –up questions for which you may or may not have answers.
Scores are based upon how the 100 questions in the questionnaire are answered. This is an individual Third Age Portfolio, a non-judgmental, personal look at the areas of most important possibilities for the future from a well-rounded frame of reference. With it, you now have the basis for making any modifications to that profile that will best serve you, your family and your community. In some areas that might mean simply keep on doing what you are doing. In other areas, the Third Age Portfolio might suggest that this is a good time to think about and test new involvements, new experiences, new relationships, new service projects and new learning. This is your portfolio and you can make those changes yourself.
What your responses to the Third Age Portfolio Questionnaire tell you.
Individuals taking the Questionnaire will receive a graphic depiction of their Third Age Portfolio. Accompanying their Portfolio will be, based upon their scores, an insert on those areas in which their portfolio could benefit from further exploration and thought. Each insert further details that specific Portfolio area as well as some steps that can be taken to increase the involvement in that area, thus enriching their overall portfolio.