Encore Engagement Trumps Volunteering, Corporate Exec Finds

"As a society and in any major enterprise we tend to have a greater respect for that which we are paying for," he says. "Based on my prior attempts to volunteer I found that absent their being some skin in the game there wasn't the corresponding commitment on the part of whatever organization you might be involved with."

That commitment takes the form of simple things like adequate work space, a telephone, a computer, and access to stakeholders and resources. "Without that, then you are basically put into an environment where you have to, more or less on your own, address those kinds of concerns," he says.

While receiving a stipend is important symbolically, Arnold says he is motivated by a sense of satisfaction.

"The opportunity to take my prior experience and to continue to learn and have the satisfaction knowing that what I am doing is making a difference is a tremendous satisfaction to me. In this country we need to think differently in terms of what retirement consists of and how you approach that from an expectation standpoint," he says.

"There is the opportunity to learn in a new area and learning is key to life. If you aren't learning you are dying."