Ben Franklin’s Second Half
Photo: National Portrait Gallery
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
Ben Franklin
We all have heard about Ben Franklin. The kite experiment. The printer. The signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
You may not have thought of him as an exceptional manager of the second half of his life.
Most Americans have heard of much of Ben Franklin’s rags to riches story: His birth into poverty, his 2 years of formal schooling, his teenage escape from indentured servitude to his abusive older brother James.
I have been inspired by Ben Franklin for most of my life. However, it is only recently that I discovered him as an example of intentional mid-life transition.
Franklin was interested in science and politics from an early age, but they took a back seat to his focus on building a successful printing business, first learning the trade from his older brother James, to his establishment of his own business when he escaped to Philadelphia. In the 1730s and 40s, Franklin had a major influence on the emerging science of demography. In 1743, at age 37, he published observations of storm behavior that greatly influenced the science of meteorology. In physics, he was an early supporter of wave theory to describe the behavior of light. The same year he founded the American Philosophical Society, for the advancement of scientific inquiry.
In 1747, at age 41, Ben transitioned control of his printing business to his foreman, executing an 18-year buyout agreement, with the intent of focusing more on science, philanthropy, politics and statesmanship.
In 1748, age 42 he was elected to the Philadelphia City Council.
At age 43 he was elected Justice of the Peace.
At age 45 he helped found the first hospital in the colonies.
At Age 46 he organized the first homeowner’s insurance company in the colonies. He reported on his famous experiment, using a kite, to prove that lightening was electrical.
In 1753, at age 47, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. He was appointed deputy postmaster-general of British North America, where he reformed and greatly improved the mail system.
At age 49 he helped found what later became the University of Pennsylvania, the first non-sectarian college in the colonies.
In 1757, at age 51, he was sent to England to represent the Pennsylvania Assembly. He established the principle of evaporative cooling with fellow scientist John Hadley, while in Cambridge, England.
At age 53 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Saint Andrews in recognition of his accomplishments in science.
At age 58 he was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House.
In 1770, at age 64 he published the first chart describing and naming the Gulf Stream.
From 1771 to 1788 he finished his autobiography.
In 1775, at age 69, he was named first postmaster-general of the new United States Post Office.
From 1776–1785 he served as wartime commissioner for the United States in France, securing the critical military alliance in 1778 and negotiating the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
In 1785, at age 79, he was instrumental in keeping the Constitutional Convention on track and was elected President (Governor) of Pennsylvania.
Along the way he invented such useful items at the lightening rod and the Franklin Stove, which was a leap forward on wood burning efficiency. He preferred useful invention to pure science.
He accomplished all of this in his second half, the latter part while suffering from horrifically painful gout attacks which could leave him bedridden for weeks, sometimes months. I wonder how much more he might have achieved today, with the highly effective medications to prevent gout have been discovered in the intervening centuries.
Dr. Franklin frequently expressed the desire to be useful to his fellow human beings, in business, philanthropy, and politics. In his final Last Will and Testament, amended a few months before his death at age 84, he introduced a major charitable bequest with the phrase “as I wish to remain useful, even after my death…” His desire to “be useful” may have been the most important and motivating force of his life.
What about you?
Are you bored? Do you sense you may be at a point of mid-life transition?
What small tweak might you make to become more useful?
What plans could you put in place for your inheritance plan to be useful, even after your death?
I am available for an hour’s conversation, at no charge, to help you unpack the answers to these and other questions. I can be reached from my website, www.strategiceexit.com or russ@strategicexit.com
Russ Kyncl is a financial planner specializing in planning to thrive in the second half of life. He is author of the book Visions to Do Good, the Personal Philanthropy of Benjamin Franklin, available on Amazon.
