A career in PR is lived in dog years.
By age 50, there might come that moment of clarity: Hey, I can afford to retire (if I downsize my lifestyle) and so, why not?
The why-not is what Sam Dogen describes in MarketWatch: You become invisible in society.
No longer useful to those on a professional network, you are dropped.
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Given that this is capitalism, in social contexts, your identity is completely gonzo. And, in your own sense of self you are nowhereman or nowherewoman.
I bore witness to that when I resided in southwestern Arizona. Oro Valley is jam packed with professionals, whose careers were successful enough that they could afford to buy property in a posh retirement community.
When I visited a college classmate there, it was a dire warning, at least to me, not to retire. Ever.
There is, however, a way out of all the negatives associated with early retirement — or any retirement.
That requires imagination.
Surprisingly, a lot of previously buttoned-down professionals have become capable of this bit of creativity. Late in life they find their inner Don Draper from “Mad Men.”
The solution: Create a fictional professional identity.
It can be entirely smoke and mirrors. For example, I coached a retired lawyer in the Youngstown, Ohio area. He created a make-believe global online business editing material related to law for English markets.
It’s a respected line of work. People treat him as an equal — that is as a fellow participant in the capitalist struggle to earn a buck. He has both his leisure and his social engagement.
On the other hand, the new professional identity can have a basis in reality. A woman I coached in central Connecticut had retired from middle management in human resources. She could bring in about $14,000 more transforming her love of horses into a small business.
However, in positioning and packaging that pursuit, she made it seem like a big business. Not only had the market for her services grown, but she receives more respect now than when she had been part of the Fortune 100 establishment.
A make-believe or inflated professional identity may become the road more traveled by those over 50.
Increasingly I am hearing from both my communications and coaching clients that work is over-rated.
They even use clichés such as the “rat race.”
Their tone is so dark that I fear that some will throw themselves under a Metro North train in Greenwich, CT.
So, yes, I ask them if they are conjuring up suicidal ideation. Then, we take it from there. The direction is usually in the direction of early retirement.
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Jane Genova helps get attention for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission. Contact her at [email protected] for a free consultation.
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