Expert on Aging Reveals How to Live a More Fulfilling Second Half of Life

When economist Debra Whitman, the chief public policy officer for AARP and a globally recognized authority on aging, was approaching her 50th birthday, she began to wonder what was in store for her own second 50. Suddenly, the questions she’d been studying for years became personal. These questions — How long will I live? Will I be healthy? Will I lose my memory? How long will I work? Will I have enough money? Where should I live? And how will I die? — led her to writing The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond.

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In this conversation recorded Sept. 17 at the 92nd Street Y, New York as part of its Spark Your Health talks series, Tara Parker-Pope, the Well+Being editor for The Washington Post, talks to Whitman about living longer, keeping our bodies and brains healthy, maintaining a sense of purpose, increasing financial security and clarifying what matters as we near the end of life.

Find The ­Second Fifty at aarp.org/Bulletin50 or wherever books are sold (100 percent of AARP’s royalties from The Second Fifty book sales support the charitable work of AARP Foundation).