The Encore Project Podcast

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States — and the risk increases significantly with age. But it’s not inevitable. The lifestyle choices you make in your 60s and 70s have a measurable impact on your cardiovascular health, and even men who already have heart disease can significantly reduce their risk of a future event through the right combination of diet, exercise,...

Diabetes affects nearly 30% of Americans over 65, and for many senior men it’s a condition they’ve been living with for years. As you age, diabetes management becomes more complex: blood sugar targets shift, medications interact with other prescriptions, and the risks of both high and low blood sugar become more serious. In this episode, we give senior men a clear, practical guide to managing diab...

Retirement was supposed to be calmer — and for many men, it is. But stress doesn’t disappear with the end of a career. It shifts. Health concerns, financial uncertainty, loneliness, the loss of identity tied to work — these are the stressors that hit senior men hardest, and they’re often less visible and less talked about than the pressures of working life. In this episode, we look honestly at wha...

If you’re waking up tired no matter how long you sleep, snoring loudly, or your partner keeps noticing that you stop breathing during the night, sleep apnea may be the reason. It’s one of the most common and most underdiagnosed conditions in older men — and left untreated, it significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and cognitive decline. In this episode, we...

Arthritis affects more than 58 million Americans, and older men are among those hit hardest — yet many continue to undertreat it, either pushing through the pain or assuming nothing can be done. Both approaches are wrong. In this episode, we talk honestly about what arthritis is, why it tends to worsen with age, and — most importantly — what actually works for managing the pain and protecting your...

Both hiking and walking are excellent forms of exercise for men over 50 — but they’re not the same, and the differences matter when weight loss is your goal. Hiking burns more calories, challenges more muscle groups, and offers the added mental health benefits of time in nature. Walking is more accessible, easier on the joints, and easier to sustain as a daily habit. In this episode, we compare th...

The same workout routine that served you at 40 won’t serve you at 70 — and trying to force it will hurt more than help. The good news is that exercise in later life, when properly tailored to where your body actually is, delivers extraordinary returns: stronger bones, sharper cognition, better balance, more energy, and a significantly reduced risk of the chronic conditions that steal quality of li...

What you eat in your 60s and 70s has a more direct and measurable impact on your health than at almost any other stage of life. The aging body processes nutrients differently, absorbs certain vitamins less efficiently, and requires different amounts of protein, calcium, and hydration than it did in earlier decades. Yet most senior men are eating the same way they always have, unaware that their nu...

Most men think about their physical health and their mental health as separate concerns. They’re not. The research on this is unambiguous: depression slows physical recovery, anxiety elevates blood pressure, loneliness increases the risk of heart disease, and chronic pain significantly raises the risk of depression. For senior men navigating the health challenges of later life, understanding the m...

The most dangerous thing about many of the conditions that affect senior men — high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, abdominal aortic aneurysm — is that they develop silently. No pain, no obvious symptoms, until the situation is serious. Regular health screenings exist specifically to catch these conditions early, when treatment is most effective and least disruptive. In this episode, we wa...

Borrowing money after 50 is a fundamentally different calculation than borrowing in your 30s. With retirement on the horizon and income likely to shift to a fixed basis, the type of debt you carry — and the risks attached to it — matters more than ever. The core question is one most men haven’t thought through carefully: what’s the difference between secured and unsecured debt, and which one makes...

Your 60s are when financial planning stops being theoretical. The decisions you make now — when to claim Social Security, how to draw down your accounts, what to budget for healthcare, how to structure your estate — have consequences that compound over the twenty or thirty years ahead. Most men in this decade are working with an incomplete picture: they know roughly what they have saved, but they...

For many men, the idea of retiring before 65 is less a fantasy than a serious plan — but getting there requires understanding the financial vehicles that make it possible. 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, Health Savings Accounts, pensions, Social Security timing — each one plays a different role in an early retirement strategy, and knowing how they interact makes the difference between a plan that works...

Retirement gives you something most aspiring nonprofit founders never have enough of: time, wisdom, and a lifetime of skills. What it may not give you is capital — but that’s less of a barrier than you might think. Thousands of successful nonprofits have been launched with little to no startup funding, built instead on community partnerships, volunteer networks, and a clearly defined mission. In t...

 Frugal living in retirement isn’t about clipping coupons or giving things up. It’s about making intentional choices with a fixed income so that your money goes toward what genuinely matters to you — and stops leaking out through habits you’ve never examined. For men over 60 managing on Social Security, a pension, or savings draws, the difference between a stressful retirement and a satisfying one...

By 2030, every baby boomer will be over 65 — and the financial landscape those men are retiring into looks significantly different from the one their parents navigated. Healthcare costs are rising, Social Security faces uncertainty, and market volatility has become a permanent feature of investment life. For senior men approaching or already in this window, retirement fund allocation — how you dis...

Here’s a number that stops most men cold: according to Fidelity, a 65-year-old retiring today will need approximately 65,000 just to cover healthcare costs throughout retirement — and that figure has more than doubled since 2002. For men over 50 who are still in the planning phase, healthcare expenses are almost certainly the most underestimated line item in their retirement budget. In this episod...

Few things unravel a family faster than a disagreement over inheritance. What begins as a legal and financial matter quickly becomes personal — old wounds resurface, siblings stop speaking, and relationships built over decades can fracture in the time it takes to settle an estate. For senior men who are thinking seriously about their legacy, understanding how inheritance conflicts start — and how...

The Elderly Tax Credit is one of the most underused tax benefits available to senior men — largely because so few people know it exists or understand how it works. Unlike a deduction, this credit directly reduces the taxes you owe, which makes it genuinely valuable for seniors living on fixed incomes. But eligibility depends on meeting specific income thresholds, and understanding those limits is...

You’ve spent decades building your estate. The last thing you want is for a significant portion of it to disappear in taxes before it reaches the people you intended to provide for. Inheritance tax planning is one of the most consequential financial decisions a senior man can make — and one of the most commonly delayed. In this episode, we cut through the confusion about who actually knows this te...

There’s a quiet paradox at the heart of service: the more you give to others, the more fully you live. For senior men navigating retirement, that insight isn’t just philosophical — it’s practical. Men who serve others with genuine faith-driven motivation consistently report higher levels of purpose, peace, and daily joy than those who don’t. In this episode, we explore what it actually means to se...

 What does it take to find genuine joy in the later chapters of life — not the performative kind, not the forced optimism of someone who hasn’t been paying attention, but the deep, abiding joy that persists even through difficulty? In this episode of The Encore Project Podcast, the answer emerges from an unlikely partnership: faith and wisdom. Drawing on the research-backed insights of The Encore...

 Life in your later years rarely stays still. Retirement reshapes your identity. Health changes what you can do. Friends and loved ones move away or pass on. Social circles shrink. For senior men who have always defined themselves by what they do and who they provide for, these transitions can feel disorienting in ways that are hard to admit. In this episode, we offer a practical, honest guide to...

For a growing number of retired men, leaving the workforce doesn’t mean leaving behind the work that matters. Encore careers — second careers built around social impact rather than financial gain — are giving senior men a way to channel decades of expertise into something that serves their communities and sustains their sense of purpose. Whether it’s mentoring young professionals, consulting for n...

Senior men are among the most underutilized resources in any community. Decades of professional experience, hard-won wisdom, deep local knowledge, and genuine availability — these are assets most communities desperately need and rarely tap effectively. In this episode, we make the case for why senior contributions matter, examine the specific ways retired men are making a difference through mentor...