{"id":8554,"date":"2020-11-16T08:36:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8554"},"modified":"2020-11-16T08:40:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:40:47","slug":"how-not-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8554","title":{"rendered":"How Not to Retire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>In April, Dave Summers lost his job as director of digital media productions at the American Management Association, a casualty of layoffs brought on by the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Summers, 60, swiftly launched his own business as a digital media <\/span>producer,<\/a>\u00a0coach and animator who creates podcasts, webcasts and video blogs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

And in September, he and his wife, who teaches nursery school, moved from Danbury, Conn., to Maryville, Tenn., which they discovered while visiting their son in Nashville. \u201cMy new work is all virtual, so I can live anywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only is it a cheaper place to live, we love hiking and the outdoors, and our new town is in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Droves of small businesses have been shuttered by the economic fallout of the coronavirus, but for Mr. Summers, starting a new one was the best option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sitting on a massive nest egg, so I need to work to keep afloat,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also about being healthy and happy. I can\u2019t just retire because underneath it all I\u2019m creative, and I have to be busy doing stuff and helping people tell their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dave Summers; photo courtesy of Dave Summers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the coronavirus pandemic is causing many older workers who have lost jobs, or who have been offered early retirement severance packages, to\u00a0decide<\/a>\u00a0to leave the work force, others like Mr. Summers are shifting to entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

In fact, older Americans had already been starting new businesses at a fast rate. In 2019,\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0from the Kauffman Foundation, a nonpartisan group supporting entrepreneurship, found that more than 25 percent of new entrepreneurs were ages 55 to 64, up from about 15 percent in 1996.<\/p>\n

Across the age spectrum, there has been a rise in new business start-ups since May, according to the\u00a0Census Bureau<\/a>. The surge is likely \u201cpowered by newly unemployed individuals opting to start their own businesses, either by choice or out of necessity,\u201d according to the\u00a0Economic Innovation Group<\/a>, a bipartisan public policy organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder women, in particular,\u201d said Elizabeth Isele, founder and chief executive of\u00a0the Global Institute for Experienced Entrepreneurship,<\/a> \u201care highly motivated to start their own businesses to foster their own economic self-reliance, support their families and also provide employment for others in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read on The New York Times<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Losing his position during the pandemic was a blow for Mr. Summers. He was depressed for a day or two, he said, but he already had been doing what he calls \u201cout of school projects\u201d and had a personal website that he quickly remade into a professional one.<\/p>\n

Start-up costs for his virtual business were under $2,000. The biggest challenges, he said, were \u201cfinding time to keep my technical skills up-to-date, and pricing my services right.\u201d The biggest reward? \u201cIt is a freedom I could not have imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nancy Ancowitz; photo courtesy of Nancy Ancowitz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For many retirees, or those nearing retirement age like Mr. Summers, \u201cstarting a new business by repackaging the skills and experience honed for decades into a new career is exciting,\u201d said\u00a0Nancy Ancowitz<\/a>, a New York City-based career coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hits you, especially during the coronavirus crisis, that time no longer feels unlimited,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re aware of your own clock ticking. Since you don\u2019t have a seemingly endless vista of work ahead of you, you may be motivated to finally retool and learn a new trade, or just try something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some of Ms. Ancowitz\u2019s clients in their later working years, a buyout from an employer is \u201cthe seed money to fuel the venture they\u2019ve been hankering to launch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

They see it as \u201ca treat to get that kick-start rather than have to hunt for a job, with all of the loneliness and fear of rejection that comes with it, especially when they haven\u2019t looked for a job in ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vanessa Tennyson; photo courtesy of Vanessa Tennyson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago, Vanessa Tennyson, 62, retired from her job as a human resources officer at a large consulting engineering firm in Minneapolis where she had worked for 32 years.<\/p>\n

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To find her footing, Ms. <\/span>Tennyson<\/a>\u00a0enrolled as a fellow at the University of Minnesota\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Advanced Careers Initiative<\/a>. It was the push she needed to begin an executive coaching\u00a0<\/span>business.<\/a><\/div>\n
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Before she hung out her shingle, though, she went back to school to obtain certification in executive and organizational coaching from Columbia University\u2019s Teachers College and a graduate certificate from Columbia Business School\u2019s Executive Education <\/span>platform<\/a>\u00a0in business excellence. She also made sure her credentials met the standards required by the nonprofit\u00a0<\/span>International Coaching Federation<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be retired,\u201d she said \u201cRetired implies done. When I moved on from my job, it wasn\u2019t completely on my own terms. The firm changed management, and I was out faster than I had planned.\u201d But at 59, she said, she wanted something new. \u201cI longed for something more purposeful, more meaningful, more challenging.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Money, too, played a role.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI had saved quite a bit of money, but I had also spent quite a bit of money,\u201d said Ms. Tennyson, who realized she needed to keep earning.<\/p>\n

Start-up costs for Ms. Tennyson were around $50,000 for tuition and to set up a home office so she could coach virtually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive result of the pandemic,\u201d she said, \u201cis I can work with people anywhere.\u201d But the coronavirus has also taken a toll on her business, and in June she took a job as director of human resources at an addiction treatment center. \u201cI continue to run my business on the side and coach clients. I expect that to bounce back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n