Rock On: Power, Sex and Money After 60

by Stella Fosse

2025 Published by Baubo Books, Salem, OR 

Women of any age can benefit from reading Stella Fosse's new book, "Rock On!" It will be most immediately useful to older women like myself, because it is packed with practical information and action steps that can improve our lives in so many ways. But I would also urge younger women to read it as they will become so much better prepared for all the myriad aspects of growing older as a woman, and it may change how they live their lives now and how they plan their futures. Fosse's warm, lively, and often very funny book gives us the blunt and unvarnished truth that we really need about every aspect of women's lives as we age: sex and love, health problems, work and retirement, and the financial realities for older women. 

Personally, I found the chapters on assessing and taking control of your financial life the most shocking but also the most useful and actionable. Fosse breaks it down for us: Most women end up with less savings, less assets, and less income than men in our old age.We are underpaid all through our careers and many women are not in the paid labor force for some years while having children, and women face age discrimination at a younger age and lose our  jobs earlier, and we often retire sooner to take care of aging parents. 

And since women tend to live longer, we have less money but have to make it last longer. But Fosse is no Debbie Downer! Instead she gives us lots of great advice on creative ways to mitigate these disadvantages and improve our financial lives as we age, and those chapters are pure gold, no pun intended! Some women enhance their financial security by postponing retirement, working part-time after retirement, doing contract work or consulting for extra income, working in the gig economy, or sharing their home with roommates to generate income. 

I also really found the chapters on creating a satisfying life after retirement really refreshing. She advises women to think carefully about the things we disliked about their jobs as well as the things we really enjoyed, and strategize ways to replicate the satisfying aspects of our jobs in whatever whatever we choose to do post-retirement. If you love the social aspects of working, make sure not to become too isolated from the world or spend too much time alone after you retire. If you enjoyed the status and identity your career provided, find some volunteer work in a similar role, or another activity that will provide that validation or status. If you loved the problem-solving aspects of your work, get involved in a hobby or community service that uses those skills and gives you that same type of satisfaction. She reminds us that we need to "explore ways to redefine your purpose in life," ways that are not tied to our careers or parenting now that we are entering a different stage of our lives. She encourages women to try new projects requiring new skills, in order to get over our fears and to discover new interests, but warns, "Be ready to suck at something new." 

Because of my previous career as a nurse, I was particularly interested in the chapters on health care. Fosse had a previous career as a scientist, and she talks at length about medical conditions that affect older women as well as medications being marketed to us. She provides especially astute advice on and how to get the most out of each encounter with health care providers: maximize your knowledge about your health, be prepared with questions, and learn to be more assertive with doctors about our health care needs. A special bonus is the chapter on Medicare, which explains in a few pages everything you need to know to make an informed decision about which Medicare plan to take. This is a decision that will have far-reaching implications, and most people are woefully uninformed about all the ways that which plan they choose will affect them both medically and financially. 

Another inspiring and encouraging section of the book talks about older women's experience of sex, love, and relationships. It was great to read about all the different ways older women choose to live our romantic lives as we age! She says, "Society tries to sexualize girls way too young, they tries to unsex women before we are ready." Fosse's key message is to reject society's limited beliefs about older women, to think through our own needs and desires, and decide for ourselves what role, if any, we want sex and romantic relationships to play in our lives. Fosse's credo for this section could be the essence of the whole book: "Passion abides." Our passion for life can abide through all the developmental life stages we go through, and this juicy and useful book is a great guide for women in our later years!