Time for a Retirement Job?
I read an article about how to handle being fired and it rightly pointed out to maintain a positive attitude. Being mad and resentful does not improve your situation. Move on and look ahead is your best bet.
In my career I was fired a few times. Well in the recession of the early 1970s it was that I was laid off, kind of like what is happening today. Then in 1987 I was laid off as an real estate asset manager because tax reform gutted the apartment tax shelters. In both of those cases, I moved on and got a better job. In 1991 I was a Senior Property Manager for six years with a company and loved it, but the owner took me out to lunch on Jan 2 and told me a personal agency said I was being paid too much, and cut my modest salary back. This lunch was at a Chinese restaurant and my fortune cookie that day read “Adversity brings opportunity”. I put that fortune slip in my wallet and began planning to start my own business, which I did exactly one year later. This motivated me to make an uncertain change. My barber said starting a business is like wading in to a lake, you never know where the drop off is and you may go under at any time. A family friend advised me not to started a business, “it is just too risky” she said. But my wife supported me and I took the plunge, being well prepared with a years saving. By the second or third year I was making money and soon thereafter was making 4 times what I did being employed. So for me this negative event of cutting of my salary proved to be the best thing to happen to me. I was the steady conservative type and just don’t think I would have started my business without this event. Thank you Mr. Boss man, I really appreciate what you did for me. Sincerely.
In this economy it may be different when you are fired, especially if you are age 50+, which I understand is the group having the hardest time finding employment. Some of these Boomers may use this time to reflect on what they really want to do to have a more satisfying, let’s say retirement job. One with less pressure. How about a job you really enjoy. This type of retirement job will be good for your health. So take break, take inventory of your life and see if you can discover a new passion, or an old one you never perused. Most of us in the Boomer generation plan to keep working for as long as we can. Maybe it’s time for a whole new chapter, something different, maybe an encore career doing something totally different, something you like and have a passion for. You have to search for this new passion of yours and it could be difficult, but certainly worth it. Don’t let what others think you should do or not do weight too much on your decisions. Do what you enjoy and have fun doing and you will be happier, healthier and possibly wealthier too.