Latest / Retirement Plot Twists / Episode 2 Deb's Retirement Journey
Transcript
- Cathryn: Hello and welcome to our second episode of Retirement Plot Twists. Today we have Deb with us who is going to share a little bit about her journey, how it started, and where it's ended up. So, Deb, if you could tell us a little bit about yourself, maybe what kind of job you had before your retirement and how you planned for that. Well, I was working for over forty years in the biotech industry, which I thought was a pretty good success, considering all the ups and downs the industry's had. I was at a high management level in the company, at my last position and sixty-four years old, thinking of let's take this position and make it into a part-time position and then I'll figure out what I want to do to retire. My background is that my parents did not retire. So I have no experience whatsoever how to retire. my father owned his own business and my mother worked there with him until she passed away, and he literally worked up until two weeks before he died. So I have no experience with retirement. my plot was to go to my boss and say, you know I'm needed here, but not as much, and I don't want to be needed as much. And I was going to offer to work part-time for about a year, take me to age sixty-five, and then make the move. So as usual with jobs, you are waiting for your performance evaluation and your bonus or your your raise to come through. And that's when I was gonna lay it on them that hey I'd love to do this part time, Well, about a week after the reviews were done, my boss came into my office and said, Can you come and talk to me? And of course the HR person was standing right behind him. So they took me into a small conference room and told me that I was laid off. Wow, so that must have been a shock. Yes, yes. I didn't even get to lay down my plans until they already threw a wrench in the whole thing. the nice thing was that I did get a severance package and but it really made me realize that I really didn't have any plans. and at that point there were very few of my friends that were retired. so I took that first year and didn't do as much as I used to, which was wonderful. spent more time visiting some friends, having lunches. I tried out a couple of different volunteering jobs. I also ended up working at the local golf course for two days a week to wrap out their season because the college kids had left and they needed people. So I thought this was great. Are you a golfer? I do golf One benefit they have is that I get to play for free. Mm-hmm. Which was wonderful, cause then through that I also met some people playing golf. So after you started working at the golf course, did that satisfy you, or did you feel that you needed to do something different or continue on for the next season? Well, one of the first things that hit me because I had been working in the industry so long, full-time, was that so much of my identity was caught up in being who I was at work. and When you get cut off from that, I mean we're talking about forty to fifty hours a week every week. you get a cut off from that, you're like, Who am I? the thing that was nice about the volunteering, the thing that was nice about the golf is I got actually into other communities where I started having a different not a different identity, I think I would say that way. They didn't know me as a boss, they didn't know me as some you know, intense employee somewhere else. I got to be colleagues and friends with these people that I volunteered with or at the golf course I worked with. Okay, so the season ended and you continued how so? Did you end up doing other things or did you look to get another kind of position? Well, at the end of the golf season, it went to November. So that brought me right into Thanksgiving and then Christmas, and then visiting a friend in Florida. But when those things were over and the beginning of spring started again, that's when I was like, do I want a part-time job? Do I need some more money for my retirement account? Because it is enough enough. I don't know what that number is. and that's when I was poking around looking for jobs, dropping some resumes here and there. I had one company that was a contract company that was looking for work for me all last year and lo and behold I decided I didn't want to work at the golf course as much. I was doing the volunteering thing and they contacted me in June and said, We have a part time job for you. And it's only for a four month stint and it's only twenty hours a week and I said, This is what I wanted. so you found a job ultimately. It found it found me. It found you. Okay. And are you doing that now? It sounded like the perfect job. It was part-time, short term. I didn't have to decide to leave it. It was going to be over in a a specific amount of time. Another plot twist is that another company that I also had done some consulting for contacted me the same week and said that they had a job for me also, where it would only be ten to fifteen. hours a month and I said, I can do both. So let's just I felt kind of loyal to these people that have been h trying and trying to help me. So I'm like, okay, let's do this. And I said, this will be my test. This will be my test about whether I'm really ready to retire or I'm stepping into another working situation where I want to go back. So at this point you're working two part-time jobs. That's correct. So can I ask what is part time as far as the number of hours per week for each job? one job is twenty hours a week and the other one is between five and ten. Okay. So now I'm working thirty hours out of a forty hour week. All right, so that sounds pretty full time. Yes, and this was an eye opener as well that you know, I had started going back to the gym regularly, I'd been taking long walks in the summer, in the spring, and all of a sudden I'm like, my goodness, I have a meeting instead. And I thought to myself, now that I've been doing this for a couple of months, I don't want to do it anymore. I wanna really want to retire. Really? Yes. So when did these part-time jobs end and how are you feeling about that? I did wonderfully at both jobs, one of which did not have an end date, and the other one they would like to continue me. So now I may have to break up with them. So breaking up a second time, only this time you're doing the breaking up. Yes. Yes, on my terms. So you're right, so it's on your terms, you're the one with the power. I'm the one making the decisions. Yes. have you let them know yet? No. But right now, in the back of my mind, I am already going back to my list of things I was doing and saying, put this back on the schedule. This is what I want to be doing. You know, lunches with friends where it takes me an hour to get there and we spend a couple hours together. going on vacations spontaneously, with little amounts of planning. turning golf into really just an activity for me and not a job. Mm-hmm. and just to see what else is out there. Wow, so you've really had quite a journey over the past year or so. Yes. you've come full circle back to retirement. Yes. Only you have a different way of looking at it now. I do. Well, thank you so much for sharing your journey with my listeners. You're welcome. Yeah, I think it's incredible what you've gone through and where you've ended up and can't wait to hear what you do next in your next chapter. Thank you.