- I started working as soon as I graduated from college 40 years ago.
- I made bad decisions, thinking I could make up for them later in life.
- At 62, I feel like I’ll be self-employed forever.
Fresh out of college over 40 years ago, I threw myself in a career in marketing, public relations and communications. I have worked in higher education, healthcare and run my own agency not once, but twice. My professional life has taken me across the country and to Europe.
Professionally, I’ve been there, done that. And apparently I will do it for the rest of my life.
I made bad decisions thinking I could make up for it later
I was lucky to have the necessary education good salaries. Many people spend their entire adult lives in minimum wage jobs that offer little hope of being able to retire comfortably, if at all. Despite differences in lifetime income, we’ve all heard experts’ recommendations for decades about what you should do to retire.
I admit to making decisions that went against them, always believing I could catch up later.
I allowed my current ex-husband to convince me cash out an increasing amount of 401k more than 15 years ago in case of emergency. He promised that his retirement plan would be “more than enough” to sustain us in our old age. In my 50s, I used most of my divorce settlement and cashed in a small state pension fund to buy a house in Slovenia and experience life in another country.
I wasn’t so focused on rebuilding my life that I forgot how close I was to the traditional world. retirement age. But I was tired of building a career and wanted to see the world. In making this choice, I was faced with the fact that I could never retire unless I remarried well or won the lottery. The first would never have happened. The second would require me to actually play the lottery, which I don’t.
Although I could never retire, I could change the type of work I had done for 30 years. So I took a job for which I had no training. I worked as a paralegal for a personal injury lawyer friend. I thought I would stay there for three years, but I ended up doubling that number. At least this move produced a new 401k, albeit small, that I’m saving for later.
My current job isn’t necessarily well paid
Shortly before the pandemic hit, it was time to set out again alone, again without a safety net, like a big savings account or income from a spouse. This time I chose to write, because it is something I enjoy doing, which is a good thing if one has to work for the duration of one’s earthly existence.
Nearly five years later, I still freelance, write content for an agency client, contribute regularly to a magazine, and submit articles to other publications. I also make time to pursue my creative writing. None of them pay particularly well.
I complete with my share of that of my ex retirement, but only as long as he is alive. And at age 62 and one month, I made another move that financial advisors tell you not to do: I started collecting Social Security. It’s mine. I won it. Why not take advantage of it now to free myself from the rest of my debts and make my life a little easier?
Ernest Hemingway once said that retirement was the ugliest word in the English language. Maybe it’s because he never wanted to put his typewriter away to collect dust. I understand that. My cobbled together income is not enough for me to retire and never will be. But I will always find enough money to continue traveling and writing about it. For this baby boomer, that’s enough.
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