When I resigned from my 30 year career as a pastor, people would ask how I was enjoying my retirement. The question annoyed me. I told them I was too young, too poor, and too good looking to retire. The reply was consistent, “Two out of three ain’t bad!”
What will you do when it’s your turn? Trust me. The day will come when your career ends and you must choose what to do with the next chapter of your life.
- Your company will downsize and force you out.
- You will reach the mandatory retirement age.
- You lose the ability to perform your job and are terminated.
- You will lose heart and cannot continue in your career.
What then? What’s the plan? When your career ends how will you make ends meet?
Warning: here are your only 5 options when your career comes to an end.
1. Take conventional retirement.
This is the path most people take. Sign up for Social Security and fill out the paperwork to receive a pension if you have one. Experts are saying a person needs a million dollars in a financial portfolio to retire. If you meet that standard, congratulations, I’m happy for you. But I read most people nearing retirement age have less than $5000 saved. That’s one reason why I’m not high on conventional retirement. (If you missed my recent post about this you can read it HERE.)
2. Stand by the mailbox each day hoping the mailmen gives you an envelop announcing you’ve won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes.
This option isn’t looking good. Did you forget Ed McMahon died in 2009?
3. Hope you have a really rich unknown uncle who dies and leaves you an inheritance.
It happens. A rich uncle dies and leaves a large inheritance to someone who never knew he existed. This might happen to you but the odds of the next option working out might be greater than this one.
4. Volunteer to have your body frozen using cryonics until the fountain of youth becomes reality.
Good news: scientists know how to freeze a person using cryogenics. Bad news: they’ve not figured out to unfreeze you and restore life. I’m not in the mood to wait until they figure it out.
5. Reinvent yourself for the next chapter of life.
This option recognizes you have talents, skills, experience, and passion which can be used to revamp your life. This is the option I chose. I focused on how to retool my passions and skills into a slightly different direction. And life is great
When your career ends which option will you choose? Options 2 through 4 aren’t very attractive. So there are two choices. Will you retire in the conventional sense? Or will you find a way to reinvent your life for the next stage?
To retire is to wind down and fade away. To reinvent is to gear up and make a difference. Your life. Your call. Make the right choice.
How would you LOVE to make a living when your current career comes to an end?
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