Retirement Life Archives – Unretirement Project

Create Your Own 10 Word Retirement Definition

October 17, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

I read a very interesting post over on the Intentional Retirement blog titled, “My 10 Word Definition of Retirement”. I hope you’ll check it out. It’s a good read. Two things I found interesting about the post:

Everyone’s definition of retirement is different. And I mean this from multiple viewpoints. On an individual level and as a family. Because everyone’s definition is different, the path to get there is going to look a little different as well.
Everyone should take the time to develop their own definition. I think we have the foundation for the definition in “not working full-time” or “collecting Social Security”. But what does it really mean in terms of how we spend our time?

My real takeaway from the 10 word definition post is that we can create this activity for ourselves. You can do this a couple of ways:

Make a list. Put a date on your calendar to come up with 10 words that describe what you want out of retirement. Or put a piece of paper on your refrigerator and write down one word a day for 10 days. You get the point. After you create the list, put it aside for a few months and come back to it. Does it still describe what you want from retirement?

I could see this being an annual activity. Once a year, pull the list out and make sure you’re okay with it. If you want to change words, do it. At some point, you might want to share your list with family members. See if there are common words. Maybe there needs to be some discussion or compromise about other words.

Make a vision board. If you prefer visuals to words, find 10 images that represent retirement. You can keep them in a paper journal or post them on a site like Pinterest. (And if you’re not ready to share your images with the world, just label your retirement board “secret”.) Like with the words, you can revisit your images whenever you wish and change them as you like.

One of the things that’s nice about vision boards is you can eventually create smaller sections for areas like second careers, retirement locations, or retirement finances and add articles you want to refer to later. The other thing that’s nice about vision boards is you can search the internet for plenty of creative inspiration. Just be sure that the inspiration is something you really want.

It’s never too early or late to start thinking about the definition of your retirement. The definition is going to change. Trust me, I’m not retired (yet!) and my definition has already gone through some changes. And I’m cool with that.

My last takeaway from the post was that even when I become retired, it might make sense to every once in a while, revisit my definition of retirement. Very similar to my career. My career goals when I was in my 20’s weren’t the same as when I was in my 40’s. I could see retirement being the same way.

I’m beginning to think that the key to a successful retirement involves many of the same skills that I’m using to manage my career. Who woulda thought?!

How To Build Your Elevator Pitch

October 10, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

As working professionals, we’re aware of what an elevator pitch is. It’s those couple of sentences that we say to someone we’ve just met that answers the question, “Who are you, what do you do, and why should I pay attention to you?” No one would really ask this question, of course, and I didn’t write it this way to be evil or mean. But let’s be honest – this is the intention.

It’s called an elevator pitch because it’s supposed to be brief. Something you could easily say between floors during an elevator ride. Elevator pitches still matter as we’re approaching unretirement. Whether you plan to transition to part-time or try freelancing, having an elevator pitch is a perfect way to start a conversation or capture someone’s attention.

During AARP’s webcast on “Sharpening Your Networking and Interviewing Skills Online”, they talked about elevator pitches still being relevant, especially in job search. But here’s an example of how to use an elevator pitch when you’re not looking for a job:

Tell people who you are. As in your name, title, etc. I am amazed at times when I’m introduced to someone that they say their name but nothing else. For example, “Hi! I’m Joe.” doesn’t tell people who you are. But saying “Hi! I’m Joe, owner of MoJo Bakery” does.

Share what makes you special. Add a little something extra to your introduction like, “Hi! I’m Joe, owner of MoJo Bakery. We have the best brownies in the city of Denver.” You could also tweak this to reflect an accomplishment like “Hi! I’m Joe, owner of MoJo Bakery. We just won Denver’s Best Brownie award.”

Explain what you’re looking for and what you can offer. Sometimes people will upfront this part as in “We’re looking for tasters to try our latest brownie.” Or “I’m looking for a company to put brownies in their employee breakrooms.” Another approach is to introduce yourself and wait for a question like “Nice to meet you Joe. What brings you here?”

Elevator pitches have value in building relationships. And, in our unretirement, relationships are still important. They help us get jobs, volunteer board positions, and frankly, just build friendships.

Many of the skills we’ve learned over the years – like elevator pitches – are going to help us in our unretirement. We just have to refine the message to align with our unretirement goals.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA

Unretirement: Create Your Own Aging Strategy

October 3, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

I ran across a very interesting article on NextAvenue titled, “Let People Choose How They Age”. It’s a good read you might want to check out.

The gist of the article for me was that individuals should break some of those traditional stereotypes when it comes to retirement. You guys know I totally believe that. It’s what “unretirement” is all about.

But I think there’s a difference between saying, “I want to redefine retirement.” and actually doing it. Let’s face it. For decades, we’ve been told that, at a certain age, we stop working, and that’s it. We’re supposed to save enough money to take care of ourselves. Today is different. We don’t need to stop working at a certain age. We can earn money while collecting Social Security.

Again, if we’re trying to break the retirement mold and create our own unretirement, it takes time. And it means thinking about our aging strategy. And then being prepared to put those thoughts and plans into action.

How do we want to spend our time? There are so many different things we can do: traveling, volunteering, working, etc. And frankly, there’s no reason we can’t do them all. It seems to me though, as we age, we will need to reprioritize the ways we spend our time. We need to be prepared to do that on a regular basis. And communicate it to the people in our lives. That includes family, friends, managers, and co-workers.

What impact will health have on our plans? At some point, we have to confront our health. Even if we eat right and exercise regularly. As our health changes, can we find activities that we enjoy? Is it possible to still volunteer or work part-time? If possible, it could make some sense to take a personal skills inventory and identify some knowledge and skills that we want to work on now…when we have the time to do it at our pace and convenience.

Will our finances force us to change our retirement plans? It would be wonderful to say that when we retire that we won’t have to live on a budget. Chances are that won’t be the case. So, first, we must learn how to create a retirement budget. In addition, we must make some very adult decisions about things we might never do because the budget doesn’t permit. When we’re in our 20’s and 30’s, we figure the money will always show up. At some point, we have to address the possibility that it won’t.

As we think about our unretirement and retirement, we have the ability to pave our own path. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we will be able to do whatever we want. It will be necessary to balance our wants and needs with the resources we have available to us. That doesn’t mean we can make our unretirement and retirement an enjoyable and fulfilling time.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of San Francisco, CA

Networking: It’s Still Important in Unretirement

September 19, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

AARP recently hosted a webcast on how to “Sharpen Your Networking and Interview Skills”. If you missed it, it was an interesting session and you can still catch it via the archive. Of course, one of the big topics during the webcast was how to network. Frankly, it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who only network when they need to. Which is usually when they’re looking for a job.

Add to that, the number of people who swear that they’ve learned their lessons about always needing to network. Then once they land a new job, what do they do? Yep, they stop networking. They completely forget that conversation where they swore they’ve learned their lesson and realize they need to continuously network.

One of the best books I’ve read on the subject of networking is Keith Ferrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone”. I do have to admit it was kinda ironic that I read the book while traveling (alone) from a conference. But we won’t go there today.

In addition to the takeaways in Ferrazzi’s book, I’ve learned a few things about networking over the years. But, it might be easier to explain what networking is by saying what it’s not:

Something to cross off your ‘to-do’ list (as in “I networked today.”)
Only connecting with people who you feel can do something for you
Calling someone just to ask for favors
Giving your resume to everyone you meet
Only talking with your posse and not meeting anyone new
Handing out your business card to everyone you meet

The purpose of networking is building relationships. Let me say that again. Networking is about building relationships. And, how do you build solid relationships? I think of listening, smiling, sharing, helping, and connecting. Let me add that building relationships is a two-way street. Good networking has a balance to it. It’s not about one person always making the call. Or one person always asking a question. It’s about equal giving and sharing.

One last thing about networking. It’s not about always saying yes to every request that’s made of you. That’s a sure-fire way to starting feeling like you’re being taken advantage of. Learning how to say “no” is an equally important business skill.

Networking is still a critical skill in unretirement. As we get older, we can’t simply say, “I don’t need to network anymore.” We might want to network to find a part-time job. Or a consulting gig. Maybe just to get some information about Social Security or Medicare. We could also use networking to get a sought-after volunteer role, like being an usher at the local community theater (i.e. think about all those free shows!).

Networking isn’t just about getting jobs. So, we need to keep refining our skills and cultivating our network. Because that’s how we help others and get the things that we want.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the Flora Icelandic HR Management Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland

Choosing the Right Unretirement Gig

September 4, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

One of the reasons that we started this blog was to share our experience with blogging. Little did we know when we started HR Bartender that it would become something that we love to do while making a little money.

And my guess is we’re not alone when it comes to retirees or soon-to-be retirees wanting to find a little something they can do and make a little side income. But I will admit, blogging might not be for everyone. So, how do you find what makes sense for you?

Well, one of my favorite career sites is The Muse. They recently had an article about “How to Choose the Right Side Hustle for You”. Of course, the article is focused on anyone, but I thought this could be perfect for individuals thinking about their unretirement.

Developing a side hustle or side gig (whatever you want to call it), takes time. Just because you’re doing to do it on the side doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put any thought into it. Having a side hustle still involves business plans, licenses, taxes, etc. Here are three things to consider when choosing the right side work:

What do you want to do? Not simply “What am I doing now?” Or “What am I good at?” You might choose to do something completely different in unretirement. Maybe follow a dream you’ve had for years. But it’s worth taking the time to think about where you want to focus your energy because that might give you some indication of skills you want to polish up.

What are you willing to invest? Starting a side hustle might take some money. Some side hustles take very little. When I began consulting, all I needed was a desk and a computer. Both of which I had at home. Other side gigs might take saving and purchasing equipment over time. If you begin the process while you’re working, then you can budget for the expense while you still have income from another source.

How much time do you want to spend? The main reason I’m bringing this up is because how much time you want to spend doing your side gig could tell you if a marketing investment will be necessary. If you don’t mind starting slow and working your way to greater income, then little or no marketing might be okay. If you want to have a certain amount of income right away in your unretirement, then it might take a more robust marketing plan.

And let me add, these questions also allow you to decide if you like the side hustle you’ve chosen. That way, if you decide that the side hustle you thought was going to be so fabulous…well, isn’t, you have time and resources to change it.

It’s perfectly logical to think about having a side gig during unretirement. But the time to consider developing one is when you’re still working. That way the pieces are in place when you’re ready.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Denver, CO

Is It Possible to Flunk Retirement

August 8, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

A friend of mine recently recommended the book “Don’t Retire, Rewire!” by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners. The focus of the book appears to be very similar to the concepts of unretirement, meaning that when we stop working full-time in Corporate America, we don’t have to sit around and do nothing.

I haven’t finished reading it, but one of the early sections that captured my attention was a list titled “The Top 10 Reasons Why People Flunk Retirement”. My initial reaction was “Can you flunk retirement?!” For me, the word “flunk” conjures up the idea that we failed, and we can’t recover. There were two interesting things about the list.

Beyond “didn’t have a plan”, there was no mention of money, finances, insurance, estate planning, etc. While I don’t believe that retirement is all about the Benjamins, we do need to be realistic about having the means to live and take care of ourselves during retirement. Even if that involves living with a family member. And I could see individuals who don’t feel they’ve prepared enough financially for retirement feeling like they’ve flunked that aspect.

There were several reasons that fell into the category of “assumptions”. For example, I assumed my partner would be my social life. Or I assumed that rest and recreation would be enough. And finally, that I didn’t know myself very well. I’m not sure these are mistakes that an individual can’t recover from. Now, I’m not saying it will be easy. The process of self-discovery can be hard. Not only do we have to come to our own conclusions, but we might have to share our feelings with friends and family.

But the real takeaway for me wasn’t to focus on the flunking part. It’s to figure out how to move forward.

In today’s business world, we appear to be much more accepting of failure than ever. Billionaire business people like Sir Richard Branson and Spanx founder Sara Blakely remind us that it’s okay to make mistakes. But I can see how people could feel different about flunking at 20 than flunking at 60. They also might choose to handle the situation differently based on their circumstances.

We have to view our unretirement and retirement as a journey. A journey that starts early in life. Will there be stumbling blocks and changes along the way? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean we’ve flunked life or our retirement. It does mean that we need to find ways to adjust.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while wandering the streets of Miami, FL

Retirement: Is It About Money or Happiness

July 18, 2018 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

Years ago, I started reading a blog called Get Rich Slowly. The blog was written by a guy named J.D. Roth who started blogging his journey to dig himself out of massive debt. Along the way, he got divorced, moved, sold his blog, and eventually bought it back. The reason I’m bringing this up is because he was the guest on a podcast recently for NewRetirement, which is a retirement planning tool.

Quick side note: I don’t know anything about the NewRetirement platform. That’s not an endorsement or a slam. Maybe someday I will…but that’s not the reason for today’s post.

Today’s post is about something Roth said in the podcast. “Even though I’m writing about money, I’m actually writing about the pursuit of happiness.” This sentence made me wonder. Is retirement about money or the pursuit of happiness?

Yes, of course, we need money to live. But as we’re planning our retirement, should we be so focused on the money that we’re not thinking about what makes us happy? It reminded me of a few things.

There are many low-cost and no-cost things that make me really happy. Like a cuppa tea in the morning (or evening). Watching football on Sundays. Reading a good book. Happiness isn’t always about buying things or taking expensive trips. I need to keep that top of mind in my retirement plans.

Prioritizing expensive things that I’d like to do could be helpful. It’s true – there are once in a lifetime trips I’d like to take. And maybe see Hamilton, which appears to be expensive. But if I prioritize and save, hopefully I can make those splurges happen. Which would make me very happy.

My wants and needs will change over time. It’s possible something that makes me happy today will become “meh” in the future. And that’s okay. Hopefully, I won’t spend money on a “meh” experience nor do I want to experience regret in not doing something I could have.

While we’re saving money and getting ourselves ready for retirement, it’s equally important to ask ourselves, “What will make us happy?” Keep in mind part of that answer could be to have a semi-retirement or an unretirement. The good news is that we can have what makes us happy if we plan for it.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Key West, FL