Retiring TO, not Retiring FROM
Designing My Next Life in Semi-Retirement
Designing My Next Life in Semi-Retirement
I have been working since I was sixteen years old. I worked part-time while I was in college, and immediately started working full-time with my first teaching job after college. I have never stopped working full-time. Until now.
The Decision
As of July 1, 2020, I will be semi-retired. I had a career in education for sixteen years. I had a career in sales leadership for sixteen years. I have been an entrepreneur for sixteen years. That is a lot of years, and each of my three careers lasted sixteen years.
Earlier in this year of 2020, I started thinking about retiring. I started asking myself all of the questions that go into making a retirement plan. But even before I did that, a dear friend of mine, who retired from her major career just last January, said something about her decision that I have made the cornerstone of my retirement decision: The major life change will not be a retirement from what I was doing before, but instead a retirement to a new life that I design for myself.
My 2020 Word of the Year: Reclamation
Reclaiming Your Life by Reclaiming Your Powermedium.com
The Questions and the Answers
Q. Is my financial situation stable enough to maintain my current lifestyle throughout my retirement year? A. Yes, a combination of my retirement savings, my pension, my health insurance and my life insurance, and my husband’s salary and benefits provide me with a financial cushion strong enough to completely retire and not have to worry about money on a monthly basis.
Q. Will I continue to make my health a priority? A. Of course. Without your health, nothing else matters. Working out daily with a combination of yoga, cardio, and weights will help me to stay healthy and vibrant in these later years.
Q. If I am not completely retiring, what does “semi-retirement” mean to and for me? A. Many people retire from their careers because they have reached some arbitrary “retirement age” or because they are tired of doing what they have been doing for decades. In my case, I like the work I am doing with my businesses and I plan to continue working my businesses, just not full-time.
Q. What activities will I do now that I will have more time? A. Like many other people, I have lots of creative hobbies to pursue, and my husband and I will be working on the remodeling and redecorating of our historic home. Those activities are so much fun for me.
Retiring TO a NEW Life
Because I have choices, I can choose when and how I work on my businesses, and how and when I pursue other activities. Starting on July 1, 2020, I will mostly only work in my home office about three days a week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. There may be some times when I do some work-related activities on other days for a few hours here and there, but for the most part, I will be retiring TO four-day weekends.
Because I have choices, I can choose when and how to work with the community groups and non-profit organizations I’ve been involved with in the past several years. The amount of time I devote to those organizations will always be balanced with my desire to have more time for the other activities I enjoy. I am not looking to replace one job with another.
Because I have choices, I can set my schedule to be whatever I want it to be. One of the benefits of my self-employment years was that I worked when and where I wanted to work. I didn’t have to work “9 to 5” and I enjoyed that freedom. That will continue in my new semi-retirement life. I won’t have to wake up or go to sleep based on someone else’s schedule.
Because I have choices, even when I am working my businesses, I have the flexibility of working from anywhere I happen to be. As a business coach, marketer, publisher, and podcaster, I have several different areas that I work in my businesses. But as long as I have my MacBook Pro, my iPad Pro, my iPhone 11 Pro Max, and internet access, I am in business.
Pushing the Reset Button
So I am retiring from having to adhere to what circumstances and other people think I should be about or think I should be doing at any time. I am very excited about retiring to a new life that is not centered primarily around any component of living. I will continue to be a wife, mother, grandmother, and homemaker whenever I want to be. I will work on the different areas of my three businesses when I decide to work on them. I will pursue my hobbies and lend my talents to different organizations on a schedule that I set.
About Me
I am a native of Detroit, Michigan, USA, a wife, mother, grandmother, solopreneur, and homeowner. I would love for you to follow me on my personal Facebook and on my personal Instagram. Any opinions expressed in this publication are my own.
I invite you to read the stories in my other publications: Your Business Your Brand Creatively and Detroit Ink Publishing.