New Ventures In Retirement
New Income – Reinvention
By Nancy Bearg
Reinvention. What a powerful word. It’s perfect for Boomers, as we think what we want to do next. Certainly, it isn’t just Golf, Gardening, and Grandchildren.
For millions, it is or will be new work. My co-authors and I call it Reinventing into New Work. It’s a way to keep making income while expanding into something new, something for which you may have an old or new-found passion.
What Others Are Doing to Reinvent Themselves
Ray was a hotshot lawyer in Los Angeles when he retired and turned to baking brownies and macaroons from family recipes. Soon these yummies were in upscale restaurants and catering businesses. After a few years, he changed to Task Rabbit, to answer the varied needs of Millennials, Gen Xers, and Boomers alike. Ray loves the flexibility of going online each day to pick these jobs that have allowed time and funding for his travel habit. Uber and Airbnb are other new economy jobs for Boomers, in which they are their own boss.
Many people go back to school to change their career path completely.
Russ is a retired AT&T executive who went to divinity school and became a Unitarian minister. He had his own church for a while then switched to being a visiting and interim pastor.
Others return to school for degrees or certifications. Teaching is popular—and often a lifelong desire—and can take the form of substitute teaching, regular teaching at any level, or English as a Second Language in the US or abroad. A new degree or certificate is not always required. I teach a university graduate course as an adjunct professor based on my experience, with a master but not a Ph.D.
You can invest your ideas and knowledge in others and their ideas with angel investing. Kevin has raised three angel funds and also directs a program at Boise State University called Venture College, which offers students a customized self-paced work plan to launch a business or non-profit venture.
David sold his medical equipment company and retired with his wife to Santa Fe, NM, where he started working with others as an angel advisor. That got him interested in research that was going on in Albuquerque with the University of NM Medical School and Sandia National Labs, which led him to invest in a new technology to detect tuberculosis earlier, cheaper, and with more specificity. Today, he is managing that company, securing funding, and marketing to the World Health Organization.
Relying On Your Ingenuity
Creativity can lead to a new vocation and income. Jan was a lobbyist for a telecommunications company in Washington DC. When she and her husband retired to the Southwest, she began painting, focusing on botanicals. Today, she sells her paintings through galleries and her own website, as well as teaching art lessons. Dan, a former senior executive in a technology corporation, took up painting and guitar and now sells his paintings and performs concerts in the US and France.
Some people successfully create new enterprises. Cheryl is creating a new Institute for Nature-Based Learning in Vermont that leverages her previous careers in education, nonprofits, and business. She had retired and moved to Vermont to be near her new grandson. Cynthia went from being an insurance executive managing thousands of employees around the world to creating her own start-up company to coach other executives how to create infrastructure and necessary setups to start new businesses.
Sharon moved from insurance executive to creating WAHVE, Work at Home for Vintage Employees, to capture the power of retired Baby Boomers with 25-30 years of experience. Working virtually, she hires and places interim employees as insurance agents and brokers. The business is booming. The interim employees love working from home, while the companies benefit from lower costs and the amazing talent they procure.
Is Franchising For You?
Franchises are popular among Boomers, with Boomers signing up faster than any other American age group. They are also starting small businesses at an amazing rate.
Many of these ventures involve Boomers as a market. Americans 50+ constitute the third largest economy in the world. What would you want to do to market to Boomers? And, more importantly, and broadly, what are your own ideas for new ventures and income streams in your next chapter?
Nancy Bearg is a Founding Partner at Reboot Partners LLC and co-author of The Retirement Boom: An All-Inclusive Guide to Money, Life, and Health in Your Next Chapter (Career Press 2015).”
Reboot Partners are the go-to experts on helping people reboot into their next chapter, servicing individuals and corporations. The website is http://www.rebootbreak.com. New Ventures In Retirement
Category: Passions Over 55
