Paige Power

  I briefly touched on the concept of paying attention to what you are paying attention to. This is a critical first step if you are considering beginning a second act career. My hope is that you are still employed but are approaching the time when you will “retire” and begin your encore career. If you are already retired and find yourself running low on cash, you may have to take on part time work in a less desirable field while you work out how you will work in a way that earns and sings to your heart. In my book “Your Golden Ticket Years: Find Your Passion on a Post Career Entrepreneurial Ride” I tell the story of Juan Quezada Celado a Mexican pottery artist. Mr. Quezada Celado discovered ancient pottery while looking for firewood in the hills near his home. He was compelled to learn how to make pottery using the same methods the ancient people of the area used. He was successful in this endeavor and when his pottery was discovered by American anthropologist Spencer MacCall...

 

  Around the time I left the country for a year to travel the world at age 50, I had the good fortune to listen to a podcast called “Aspen Ideas To Go”. The person speaking, Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity said the following, I’m paraphrasing- Long life is not the problem. We cannot sustain 30 years of retirement based on 40 years of work. Research has found that most Americans are healthy enough to work well into their seventies, and work is generally beneficial in keeping the mind and body active and to combat loneliness and tedium. It’s important to consider what you will do with your time before you decide to retire. If you have deeply held interests in the form of hobbies, and you have a nice social circle, that may be enough. But for many our careers are also part of our identity. If you’ve become accustomed to having a schedule, people asking your opinion, earning money, and having influence, retirement may be a rude awakening. ...

  How old will you be when you retire? For many that age will be sometime between 65 and 72 years old. Did you know that until recently retirement wasn’t even considered an option? Until 1935 there was no American social security option, and people tended to work until they died. The motivation to create a social security system was partly based on a speech by physician William Osler, who suggested that men’s best years were between twenty-five and forty. Thereafter they were not creative and after sixty workers were useless. Additionally, it was seen as beneficial to get older workers out of the workforce to make room for younger workers to grow. Women were allowed to collect social security on their husband’s records once they died, but it wasn’t until 1956 that women could earn social security benefits on their own records. I plan to never retire for a lot of reasons, primarily when I decided to take a few years off work to travel the world I knew I would be setting back ...

  If you haven't guessed or if you haven't read my books or blog posts, you may not realize that I write for a specific segment of our economy. That segment comprises individuals who earn a decent living but struggle to effectively manage their money. This group includes individuals earning around $70,000 annually or families earning $130,000. While their earning power is absolutely fine for a nice lifestyle, it's not sufficient to make them wealthy. I don't cater to affluent individuals. The truth is that most of us will never achieve wealth. However, we can still thrive and achieve financial stability with the right mindset. When I began my journey towards being debt-free, I earned 20% below the median income for my area. It was undoubtedly challenging, but it taught me valuable lessons about self-sufficiency, delayed gratification, and finding genuine joy instead of seeking temporary happiness through material possessions like a new pair of shoes. Did you know ...