A Second Career – At Age 50

I was reading an article this week at www.Inc.com by John Brant called “How I Did It: Bob Moore, Bob’s Red Mill” and it really made me think. Bob Moore recently retired from his second career at 81. The kicker is, his second career was as the owner of a start up that generates $70 million a year in revenue. That’s awesome!

So often when we think about retirement we tend to picture quitting that ball-in-chain job at 65 and cruising the open road in a magnificent 40-foot  RV… for the next 20 to 30 years? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that driving around the country or any leisure activity for that matter, would be enough to fill my time for  all of retirement.

Is it really appropriate to plan for retirement as if you were never going to work another day in your life? I don’t think so, at least not for me. Bob Moore’s ideal retirement was about being an entrepreneur and grow a business that he loves until he reached a point where he could give it away. 

What will you do in retirement? The funny thing is, we spend all our adult lives saving and dreaming about getting there but once it finally arrives often people don’t know what to do! For most of you retirement could be 15 or more years away but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t start thinking about what will fill your time. Try answering these questions:

In retirement will your life be the same or very different?

Will you live where you are now or far, far away?

What will consume your time work or leisure?

Will your days be scheduled or spontaneous?

Will you prefer to be home or traveling?

To have success at saving for the future you must have an end point. If you don’t know what you are going to spend the money on, how will you know if you are saving enough? Take an hour and read about Bob and how he did it, and then dream about how you will do it.