After decades in real estate, Dave Hughes was ready for his encore career. He applied for jobs at nonprofit organizations near his new home in eastern Oregon, hoping to capitalize on his years of church volunteer work. He got no offers.

"We needed the additional income," he says. "My wife...

As many as 9 million people ages 44 to 70 already have chosen encore careers, putting their experience to work for the greater good, according to a new MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures study. Another 31 million are interested in joining them, adding to their list of job benefits personal meaning...

It's safe to say the debt commission's proposal to raise Social Security's retirement age to 69 has more to do with trimming finances than it does with a compelling vision of longer working lives.

But there is a bountiful fiscal and social harvest to be reaped...

Receiving almost no attention in the uproar over the debt-reduction plan from the co-chairs of President Obama's fiscal commission is the final proposal: "Promote Smart Retirement Decisions."

Commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson are sketchy on the details, and they credit the proposal with...

There's no need to force people to work longer by raising Social Security's retirement age. Many Americans already are doing so -- by choice.

President Obama's debt commission appears set to recommend a gradual increase in Social Security's retirement age, perhaps to 70, to help bring...