Take a seat.
This page is for anyone coming to Jack Lack’s Listening Chair for the first time, whether as a reader, a prospective Interview participant, or simply someone who is curious about the project.
What this site is
Jack Lack’s Listening Chair is a purpose-driven project exploring how people can live meaningful, fulfilling, and engaged lives across the life course, with particular focus on preparing for and living well in retirement.
The site offers three kinds of content:
Commentaries — written pieces exploring themes relevant to retirement planning and retirement living. Up to three Commentaries are published each week, drawn from across the full range of topics the site covers, so that whatever your stage or starting point there is likely to be something of immediate interest. The depth and detail with which each topic is explored grows over time.
Interviews — recorded conversations with people who have lived thoughtful and engaged lives. These are not famous people. They are people whose experience, perspective, and wisdom are worth hearing precisely because they reflect lives that many readers will recognise as similar to their own or to those of people they know and love.
Voices and Issues — a space shaped by readers and viewers. Questions, observations, and contributions from those who engage with the site may be featured here, and may in turn inform future Commentaries and Interviews. Experience and insight travel well across borders; what has been well answered in one culture may be exactly that for which another culture is still searching.
What this site is not
Jack Lack’s Listening Chair is not a source of professional, financial, legal, or medical advice. It is not a commercial operation. It does not advocate for any political, commercial, or ideological position.
Who this site is for
The site is intended for anyone who is thinking seriously about retirement — whether that retirement is decades away, approaching, or already arrived. It is also intended for families who may one day value the recorded voices and stories of older relatives featured in Interviews.
How the site works
Commentaries and Interviews alternate on a regular publishing schedule. Each Commentary is reviewed before publication so that it reflects current thinking and remains relevant. Interviews are published with the full knowledge and consent of participants.
Readers are welcome to submit comments and questions. Questions that require further research will be taken seriously and may inform future Commentaries or Interviews.
Standards you can expect
Every piece of content published on Jack Lack’s Listening Chair is produced to consistent editorial standards. Those standards are set out in full in the Editorial Policy, which is available from the site footer.
In every case you can expect content that is honest, careful, respectful of the people it discusses, and free from commercial influence.
Jack Lack’s Listening Chair is always here, as is your welcome.