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I waited so long to retire, but now that I’m retired, all I want to do is go back to work! I miss all of the challenges and rewards associated with working.

Elaine Varelas guides on important considerations surrounding retirement and how to go back to work.

Q. I retired last year from a large, prominent architecture firm. It’s been a year and I miss being an architect and miss working. How would I go about doing freelance work as an independent contractor?

A. Congratulations on your retirement – or maybe not. For many people leaving professional services roles, retirement seems to be a challenge. Typically, people consider planning for retirement a financial task, and overlook the considerable other parts of retirement that need to be planned for as well.  So, before you go back to work, have you considered other ways to fill your days that can give you new forms of satisfaction?  The broad areas people look at in their lives include work and leisure, spirituality, finance, community, education, health, and family. A solid way to look at these topics is by assessing which percentage of time you currently spend in each area, and which percentage you want to spend in each area.

Volunteering is the most often cited as what people choose to do, but how they do that occurs based on a range of people’s interests and expertise. Expand your horizons. While you can find the typical opportunities, you’ll find a wide array of opportunities based on your expertise and interests. For example, a retired nurse volunteering in a medical school as a patient educator, teaching doctors in training to diagnose, and develop effective “bedside” manner.

As much as individuals think they've planned for retirement and anticipate what they'll do with their newfound time, they often find they are unhappy and looking for outlets. SO, if you do choose to go back to work which will take up the bulk of your time, figuring out how to do that comes next. Again, volunteering on a community planning board could use your architectural skills. 

Starting a business is certainly one way of going back into the world as an independent contractor. You may find that it's easier to join a preexisting firm as a freelancer. There may be parts of your role in architecture that you were more excited by, parts of your role that perhaps you were best suited for, whether it was bidding or design work or project management. But if you‘d rather work, start by asking your former employer if they have contained projects. They may not want to add to their head count, but they might need extra hands. A proven staff member who knows their culture can ease an organizational burden. Many professional services firms hire retired employees on a part-time basis, recognizing that projects can increase or decrease based on the economy or based on successful bids. And this kind of flexibility might work right for you.
 
And letting people know that that's the work that you'd like to do is a great way to try this new kind of role. Start networking and have conversations with all of your former professional contacts. Let them know the kind of work that you are interested in doing and ask them about their contacts, who they might refer you to, any projects that they might have.

Start anything that you get invited to participate in slowly. Don't overextend yourself by not factoring in how much time it may take to learn the workings of another organization. And test out whether freelance or independent work is something that you actually want to do.

In his book Next Stage: In Your Retirement, Create the Life You Want, Tom Wilson reminds readers, “This is the only time left where you may be able to make choices about where, how, who and why you want to live your life.” His book is a fantastic guide to mapping out your needs, wants and circumstances during retirement. These kinds of questions serve people well who are considering retirement and don't necessarily recognize the need to plan for how to move into it and what retirement will look like.

Employees who worked on a factory line for many years and are eager to stop that kind of work may be significantly different from those who have been in professional services and looking forward to a different kind of retirement. Don't expect to understand what your retirement will be until it actually starts. Most people are very surprised at the transition. And reading about what it looks like, reading about what other people tell you, and talking to other people who have actually taken that next step is an important planning tool in your efforts to have an enjoyable retirement. Remember that financial planning is only one part of retirement planning. Career planning, education planning, spiritual health, all those other areas are things that you'll want to take a significant look at as you move into that next phase of your life.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, many people chose to retire before they were ready and a growing trend within the last year is unretirement, when people reenter the workforce after declaring themselves retired. For those of you who are considering retirement, consider whether declaring yourself retired is really in your best interest. You might be retired from an organization you are part of, but by not declaring yourself “retired” leaves you much more open to other career possibilities that people could invite you to participate in.
  Boston.com

By Elaine Varelas