Where will these marketing geniuses turn their attention next? Just as they followed the baby boomers from the first box of life to the second, they have been making war plans and strategies for the transition from the second box of life to the third. Millions of people and trillions of dollars will be in transition. It's when your life is changing and you're moving through life transitions that you particularly need new products and services.

It's also true that, in general, you may be at a financial high point when you're in the later part of the second box and the early part of the third box. You may still be pulling down a full-time salary and be at the peak of your earning power, but (ideally) you're finished with the financial obligations of raising your children. You're cashing out of employer retirement plans and moving to a new house. Transitioning from the second to the third box of life, you may have more access to more liquid cash than you've ever had in your life. Access to all this liquid cash can even make you a bit giddy and impulsive. Marketers, of course, have been studying all this. And making plans for you.

Their plans don't have anything to do with actually optimizing your well-being. Or making your retirement engaging or meaningful. Or making sure you're socially connected or live in a vital community. Or keeping you healthy or physically active. Not that they don't want you to have these things—they just don't particularly care one way or the other. What they do care about is that you keep buying their products and services and experiences. And when you approach the end of your retirement, marketers won't know and won't care whether your retirement was ultimately fulfilling or not. They just want to make sure that you keep consuming—to infinity and beyond (if possible).

This article is excerpted from 'What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement: Planning Now for the Life You Want', written by Richard N. Bolles and John E. Nelson.