Start A Second Career in Retirement

Anyone who has looked around this website knows that I was very happy to stop working when I thought my finances were stable enough to quit my job forever.  I never really liked my job enough to think about anything, but the freedom retirement would offer me.  However, a second career in retirement is something many people consider, especially if they can retire from their first job at an early age.  Many of the people we know who have started a second career were police officers and firefighters who were entitled to a nice pension and health benefits after twenty or thirty years.  At that point many of them are in their late forties or early fifties and enjoy leveraging their expertise in a second career.  Two former police officers we know work in security.  One is employed by a retail company and the other is a guard for his local school district.  I did not want anything resembling a job after I retired but I have to say they seem pretty happy with their choices.  One is actually starting his own business making protein bars and is using his post-retirement career as a source of funds for his little business.

The point is that they took the time to design a lifestyle that works for them.  That’s something many people approaching retirement don’t do, and they end up drifting through their retirement years without a lot of fulfillment.  A second career in retirement may be something you plan as you close out your first career.  A friend of mine who worked in research and development took it upon himself to get a law degree to pursue a second career in trademark law.  He loved research and crafting documents that protected the businesses he worked for so he decided to start his own practice.  He is far more intellectual than I will ever be but that’s what makes this period in your life so unique.  You can use your retirement years to do anything you want and, if hours of research in a library is part of what makes you happy, then do it.  Don’t let anyone talk you out of it if that’s what you really want to do.

Left to my own devices, I would have been happy doing historical research my entire life.  I did not make that career choice because I didn’t see how anyone could make money doing this for a living.  I should have done more research.  One of the things I do in retirement is to research historical events looking at different perspectives that may not have been fully considered by others.  While many people have told me to get a life, I have pursued this through endless hours that have given me great pleasure.  I haven’t written a book based on any of my research (yet), but I wouldn’t eliminate that as a possibility either.  I think there are many people who close out one career and embark on another and a second career in retirement has worked out very well for many people.

Your second career in retirement might be writing a novel.

One of my favorite writers is Amor Towles who is the author of Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow and A Table for Two.  I love his ability to create another world for the reader and his choice of words in doing so shows a master at work.  But apparently, writing was not his first career.  He had been a very successful fund manager prior to his literary success.  He deserves all the accolades that come his way because he is a very gifted storyteller.

Do you have a second career in retirement in your future?  Don’t eliminate that as a possibility before you investigate all the possibilities.  The great part is that you can use your retirement income as a “safety net” to take some of the pressure off.  Let’s face it, many people have dreams that they put aside when the need to make money to support yourself and a family becomes something that you can’t ignore.  How many music careers get terminated before they get off the ground?  How many novels don’t get written.  Retirement is the time to attend to forgotten dreams.  Even if you don’t make the best seller list, the fun you will experience and the wisdom you will gain as you sharpen your skills will provide more enjoyment than you thought possible.  It’s time to tap into your hidden “other self” and, perhaps, start a second career in retirement.  Become the writer or composer you were meant to be.  Become the starting centerfielder for the Senior League and win the home run title you always dreamed about. This time in your life is a gift that is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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