For over 25 years, Alan Bernstein and John Trauth have been making conference presentations and conducting seminars in both national and international venues. They are co-authors of Amazon's #1 best-selling retirement book, "Your Retirement, Your Way" (McGraw-Hill) and are frequent guests on radio and TV.  They are entertaining and high content speakers.  Their presentations and seminars are friendly and persuasive, tailored to the needs of each particular audience.  Using a multi-media format, they offer practical material on "Creating the Second Half of Your Life," intended to help those in mid-life realize their full potential.  They also offer keynotes and seminars on "Career Life Extension," proposing techniques that can help the employee and the company align their mutual interests. Their "MORe Program," mutually-optimized renewal, was named one of the 10 best HR practices in 2009 by the HR Daily Advisor, a division of Business and Legal Reports.  For keynotes, Alan and John are available either jointly or individually, depending on the interests and needs of conference organizers.  Half-day and day-long seminars require both Alan and John to be involved.

Alan Bernsteinis a psychotherapist and career counselor based in New York City.  For over 25 years, Alan has been working with individuals and companies to help manage transition and change.  His clients include individuals, professional sports teams and major hedge funds.  He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, (BA) Rutgers University (PhD/abd) and Yeshiva University (MSW). Alan has served on faculty at Rutgers, CUNY, New York Medical College and NYU in their post-Masters and Doctoral programs.

His volunteer work includes serving on Advisory Boards for three different nonprofit organizations helping disadvantaged New Yorkers prepare for mainstream life.  He is an avid runner, cyclist and yoga enthusiast, all of which help him keep a busy schedule balanced and fun. He and his wife Anne live in Manhattan but also spend time in their Connecticut retreat.  In addition, he spends as much time as he can with four wonderful grandchildren. 

John Trauth is a management consultant based in San Francisco. He was born in New York, graduated from Colgate University and received his Masters in Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College. He moved from New York to San Francisco to work as a management consultant, initially in the maritime industry, but found that he was better suited to the financial services industry. For the past seven years, with Alan Bernstein, he has been doing research and making presentations on personal transitions, balancing dreams with finances, and creative talent retention strategies which align the company's need for retention with the individual employee's need for renewal.

In his volunteer work, he is a member of the Advisory Council of the School of Business and Management at the University of San Francisco.  He is President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Francaise of San Francisco, an organization that promotes French language and culture throghout the world.  He is President Emeritus of the Olympic Club Foundation which supports athletic programs serving disadvantaged youth throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.   He and his wife, Astrid, live in Sausalito, California and spend one month a year in Paris, consistent with their NewLife Master Plan.

Speaking topics are presented below. Alan and John are available either jointly or individually, depending on the interests and needs of the conference organizers and participants.

MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:

Creating the Second Half of Your Life:  Turning Today's Challenges into Opportunities for Mid-Life Growth and Renewal

Today's economy presents multiple challenges.  Jobs are being lost.  Savings and investments have taken a major hit.  Retirement is off track for many people.  Rising tensions associated with these challenges threaten previously stable relationships.  Viewed through a different prism, these breakdowns can provide opportunities for breakthroughs. This keynote and day-long interactive seminar provide the perspective and the tools to help participants deal with today's challenges and create new opportunities for presonal growth and renewal.

Topics covered in this keynote/seminar include:

• How to dispel the many "myths" that prevetn you from moving forward with the next phase of your life.
• How to better understand yourself through analysing your personality to determine your underlying interests and motivational needs.
• How to use this informaiton to create a new life and/or career which will help you realize your full potential.
• How to assure that your resources are sufficient to support your next phase.
• How to prioritize your "new life" goals and summarize your personal renewal strategy on one page.
• How to manage your "new life" toward happiness and fulfillment.

Career Life Extension:  A Cost Effective Strategy for Retaining Key Talent in Difficult Times

The current deep recession has created "survival anxiety" in many businesses.  Companies are radically downsizing to align resources with reduced demand.  But human resources are not easily replaced, particularly older workers with decades of experience.  This keynote presents a creative approach for retaining key talent at reduced cost while also minimizing future recruitment and training expenses.  Companies that find ways to retain vital talent through the recession will be in a stronger competitive position to prosper during the coming economic recovery.  

Topics covered in this keynote include:

• How to assess your company's potential talent and skill-set loss from turnovers and pending/future retirements.  
• How to recognize and dispel the popular myths surrounding older workers, retirement and part-time employment.
• How to employ specific techniques adopted from Fortune 500 companies to restructure jobs around the capacities, needs and interests of mature workers.
• How to educate younger workers to see the retention of older workers as an opportunity for their own growth and advancement.
• How to create a talent management strategy which reduces personnel, recruitment and training costs while at the same time retaining key talent essential for the future success of the company.

 Re-Thinking Retirement After the Meltdown

The poor economy and stock market correction have required many people to re-think their retirement plans.  This major keynote address presents an intelligent way for making these decisions and realigning retirement goals with available resources.  It is a multi-media presentation which covers all the key points in Alan’s and John’s best-selling book, “Your Retirement, Your Way:  Why It Takes More Than Money To Live Your Dream.” John and/or Alan present their full retirement planning curriculum, including how to prepare psychologically, strategically and financially for this major life transition in the light of current economic realities.

Common retirement myths are presented, and audiences are exposed to a process which includes self-analysis combined with strategic and financial planning techniques which can lead to a satisfying and fulfilling retirement.  These presentations help audiences relieve the stress they may experience preparing for retirement by clarifying the transition issues and how to navigate step by step. 

Keynote Add-On’s
Workshops:  Two 60-90-minute workshops are offered in conjunction with the above keynotes which present practical applications of the material.  

Seminars:A three-hour seminar is offered in conjunction with the "Rethinking Retirement" keynote which is conducted by both Alan and John and includes specific techniques for psychological, strategic and financial preparation for retirement. Each individual participating leaves with a clear vision of his/her ideal retirement lifestyle and the essential elements of a strategic plan to realize their dreams.  Finally, a one-day format involves participants in developing more individual plan details, using the full Birkman Personality Profile.  Each participant leaves the one-day seminar with his/her completed “NewLife Master Plan.”  

OTHER TOPICS

For medium-size and larger companies:

How To Survive The Coming Brain Drain:  Preserving Human Capital in Face of Massive Baby Boomer Retirements

This keynote covers many of the same topics as "Career Life Extension" above, but includes more demographic information which shows that employers will be severely impacted in the years ahead by the massive retirement of “baby boomer” senior staff.  Since the baby boom was followed by a baby bust, there will not be sufficient numbers of younger workers to replace them.  Employers in many industries are at risk of losing up to half of their senior staff and must address this issue if they hope to sustain effective operations and maintain thier competitive advantage.  This keynote covers the following topics: 

• Demographic predictions of the coming workforce crisis in America and what progressive employers in both the private and public sector are doing about it.
• Methods for accurately predicting turnover and potential skill-set loss and developing your company’s overall retention strategy.
• The five most common retirement myths of this major life transition, and why traditional concepts of retirement create difficulties for both the employee and the employer.
• Why 40% of recent retirees say they were happier when they were working, and how employers can help future retirees avoid that fate.
• The new “MORe” concept (“Mutually-Optimized Renewal”) developed by Alan and John, and named oneo f the 10 Best HR Practices in 2009 (see above).  MORe differs from the more traditional “phased retirement” approach by using personality assessments to help restructure jobs and preserve essential skills while also providing opportunities to prepare the next generation of leaders.
• In summary, how both employers and employees can prepare intelligently for this major transition to their mutual benefit.

For Financial Planners and Insurance Agents

How to improve your life coaching skills with clients approaching retirement.
This presentation covers why it is important for pre-retirees to first determine their ideal retirement lifestyle, based on their own personality, interests, abilities and needs, and then restructure their sources and uses of income to support that lifestyle.

For Aging Organizations and Networks

How to provide counsel and referrals to other resources for retirement planning for clients approaching retirement.
This presentation covers how to help pre-retirees avoid major mistakes in their early retirement years. How to counsel retirees who feel unfulfilled and restore higher functioning through recreating a sense of structure, community and purpose in their lives. Referrals to other personal assessment and financial planning resources.

For University Alumni Conferences and Workshops

Various Topics:
Presentations and seminars of various lengths (see below) , including one-hour, three-hour and full-day formats on retirement planning concepts and applications, including psychological, financial and strategic aspects. The longer sessions (three-hour and full day) include interactive group work.  How to avoid and/or fix an unhappy and unfulfilling retirement.  All of these presentations cover the topics in “Your Retirement, Your Way”  at various levels of detail.