I saw a bumper sticker recently that said, RETIRE: ?I was tired yesterday and I?m tired again today.? That was the most literal definition I had ever seen! It struck me as profoundly interesting. Perhaps retirement itself, or the act of being tired, (following this definition), has reached the end of its useful life.

Retirement has been thought of in ways like cheese at the end of the tunnel. Most Americans will work through the prime of their lives with one eye looking forward to that magical moment when they can leave it all behind to golf, fish and garden. Even though they might suffer through jobs they hate, hours away from their families, shouldering stress of professional responsibilities they don?t personally care about, they persevere in hopes of ?retirement?.

The belief is that earnings will cease at some point and a lifestyle recipe made of Social Security, company pensions and personal savings will kick-in to pick up the slack.

The only problem is, this nifty formula is coming apart before our very eyes.

Social Security checks are typically too small for anyone to depend on exclusively. Whereas 40% of companies offered pension plans to their employees in 1980, now only 21% do. According to the Department of Commerce in October 2005, the overall personal saving rate (not including pre-tax saving instruments such as a 401k) was charted as 0.07%. Oops!

Even so, most of us will continue to hold fast to the very same earning model that grows suspect with each passing day for its ability to insure later-years security. With fingers crossed, we hope not to lose our job to outsourcing or downsizing and that our company will make good on our pension plan for our golden years. What other option is there?

Not to mention, the idea of saving more is a complete joke for most people. Given increasing regular credit use simply to make ends meet and the exponential rise in the cost of living for basics like health insurance, transportation, energy, food and housing costs, individuals and families are getting squeezed: On one side, keeping up with interest-bearing credit card and loan payments and on the other, skyrocketing cost of living expenses. What middle-class family can save more in this economic climate?

The good news is that retirement?s much needed transformation, Reinspirement, is on the horizon. REINSPIRE: I was inspired yesterday and I am inspired again today!

This new model is not just for one?s later years: It begins the moment you choose it. Though still under construction as a fully fleshed-out concept, one thing is certain: Passive earnings, whether from pensions, savings, Social Security, stocks and bonds or some combination thereof, are not to be exclusively depended on but thought of as one component only of a later-years plan. Purely passive income (retirement) has become a habitual way of thinking about our later years. But as everything in life changes, so must our thinking and actions on this subject. Some level of active cash-flow engagement (reinspirement) will likely be called for in order to successfully maintain long-term financial equilibrium. Time to get reinspired!