I have found myself already immersed in grad school moving towards a whole new, presumed meaningful, hopefully deeply rewarding, career.  

I am 52. I recently went through a traumatic  life change… and out of that I found myself facing the opportunity of going to grad school for my Masters in Counseling Psychology (depth psychology.)  This brought together so many previous attempts at directing my energies toward a "meaningful", "fulfilling" life’s work.. that I could not turn my back on it now.

So how am I financing it?  Last fall I could see clearly that I could pay for all of my education with the equity in my house.  Before refinancing I would first avail myself of financial aid to just progress through.   (So far I am doing student loans.  Haven’t yet refinanced.)  So here I am, with still (thank god) substantial equity in my home…due to my duration here. But I am also still working full time as a Systems Analyst for an insur co.  This means I work in IT — good paying jobs, but occasionally(?) insane expectations.  I am trying to figure out my transition strategy; I would really like to work my current job, but part time, keep benefits as long as possible, stay amongst my beloved colleagues...

 BUT ... conditions in the corporate world may require an ‘either/or’ choice at some time soon. They may not be willing to let me work part time.  If that is the case, then I am thinking that I will USE MY RETIREMENT SAVINGS to pay my way for up to three years.  My anticipation is that by entering this new field I will be in a position to be working at a job I can love for a lot longer… as long as I want to serve and connect with other human beings… so I suspect it is worth consuming some/most of my retirement savings NOW in exchanged for a happier, lower-hours/lower-stress livelihood.

My financal situation is such that I must continue to work at my non-profit job to collect a paycheck. Thankfully, I am a person with a great deal of energy which has allowed me to work 40 hours and at the same time begin f.a.c.e.s., a new non-profit that teaches personal and community safety and violence prevention across the lifespan.

I used what I could spare from my salary along with donations from friends and supporters to start up our agency. We utilize what board and member resources we have – time, energy, and money (along with wisdom, creativity, passion, and motivational talents), to build our strategic plans, and we engage other stakeholders to share resources. Thus far, we’ve accomplished an amazing amount of good with under $5,000 during the past three years of our existence.

We’ve just this year identified the need for formal funding for a special medical education collaborative project and with our history of success, a local funder will consider our grant request.

We’ve definitely not bolted out of the starting gate, but the opportunities to make an impact continue to present themselves to us, and we’re taking them on with the resources we have. That aproach is working for f.a.c.e.s. – we may grow because there’s a definite need for our services but, in the meantime, we’ve creating change one person at a time.

Sherry Clark

f.a.c.e.s.- Families and Communities Empowered for Safety
Tulsa, OK

faces.sherry@gmail.com ++ www.facestulsa.org

HOW ARE YOU FINANCING YOUR ENCORE TRANSITION?

                                               Richard J. Derwald

As shown in my profile posted on the Encore website I am the originator and coordinator of the Erie County Senior Fitness Program. There are more than 3000 registered participants in the program. This program is recognized as a “National Best Practice”.

Most of my working life was spent employed in the field of computer technology with two Fortune 500 Companies Dresser Industries and American Standard. My lifelong passion has always been health and fitness.

I am 73 years old and believe in the truth of the old saying “you are every age you have ever been”. I was fortunate to be able to enter my Encore Transition without need for financing.  I believe that life and career experiences coalesce to provide the accumulated data shaping the knowledge and wisdom now stored in our memory (and abilities) bank.

My Encore Transition was in fact a synergistic conversion of my 60 year passion for health and fitness utilizing my corporate training and experience to create a completely new career, separate and apart from anything I had ever done before.          

Someone on the board posted that there is no one magical formula, and how true this is! As I work my way into my transition I am lucky, able to use a mix of funding from pension and investments. But I did see a report (on CNN?) yesterday about www.prosper.com, a site where "real people" get to post their rationale for proposed loan (and business plan to ensure payback). It also shows the "real people/investors" who can view which loans to select and then determine at what rate. The organization has been alive at least a couple of years, it looks well-managed and, although of course there are risks, this appears to be an important new option being made available on both sides of the table. I would like to see Civic Ventures do a report on this site, the risks, benefits and the outcomes (for both sides.)
Just FYI to the group,
regards,
Monica
www.surfaro.blogspot.com  

Stacy Lynskey

Retooling for an Encore Career.

I had my dream job for the past few years and fully expected to stay there until ready to retire. But I was unexpectedly downsized at 59, this year. As I was already in school at the time, I decided to increase to fulltime while between jobs. What I have found is that I really want to finish school this time, after 30 years of starts and stops (this is still my Bachelor’s I’m working on).

I really bought into the common belief that anyone who wants to go to school can. That there are plenty of ways to finance this. Well, I was very surprised to find out that I could only get less than 1/2 of my living expenses in education loans. This was not a credit issue – Sallie Mae approved me for the full amount I need instantly – it is a limit that the school has as to what they believe to be your maximum need for living expenses. What they approved would work for a young student living in a dorm, but I have a mortgage and no other income. This argument got me nowhere, as the school’s response is that this is a government controlled limitation. So I am living off a combination of Education and Personal loans, and the Equity Line on my home. I am thankful that I have the equity option or I literally would not be able to attend school full time. My original plan was to continue for my Master’s, but am not sure at all that I can hold out financially for the 3 years that it will take to do that.

So my point is to confirm that policies and structures are definitely not in place to assist in retooling for an Encore Career.

Did you get a teaching job? How hard was it to get one? Does California have any age restrictions on teachers? I hope you get well paid! Teaching’s a tough job.

mnh

I ended up going into debt to finish my degree. I received some assistance, but I have thousands of dollars in loans to repay, especially since tuition at UCB went up every semester I was there…thanks to our governor!!

I am now paying that off monthly while paying for my credentialing program month to month out of my teaching salary. It’s all quite a strain on the budget.

Here’s hoping that teaching will start to pay better in the future. After all, other professionals who go to school for this many years receive much higher salaries and benefits. Our jobs are every bit as important to the community and many younger people are shunning this career because they cannot afford it.

it’s interesting to get a sense of how younger people view us "old" people. I asked my son (age 36) and his wife if they would hire a person my age; they were startled by the question and then sort of mumbled; clearly, many people dont think a lot about their ageism. I tell them ‘save for retirement’ (they like to live high) and they say – yeah, mom, we have 401K accounts…more discussion across generations might help alleviate some of this unreality; and help future funding of ‘oldsters’...

mnh

I left the workforce at age 59, frustrated with the changes that occured over the past decades. The workplace became dominated by self-centered greed, and the ones rising to top positions, were usually the most aggressive and least talented. But that’s another story. Since I had been very busy working, my house was in need of repairs, so that became my "break". I started the never ending process of remodeling. I enjoy the mix of physical and mental activity, it keeps me in touch with my human reality. I should also mention, unlike most people my age, I have a wife and young child to support. So my decision to leave the workforce was a difficult one, but the person I would have had to become, was not the person I like being. I even shifted to humor as a coping mechanism, and became witty, trying to avoid asking inconvenient questions like "...isn’t that a conflict of interest?". (BTW, my last employer was a non-profit agency, so for those of you thinking a non-profit is somehow magically better than other organizations, do some more thinking.) So, given I had some savings, a small retirment from a city, and the housing bubble was in full expansion, I thought I had time to rethink my next workforce engagement. After a couple of years of remodeling, I decided to go back to school and major in Gerontology, I wanted to know more about the aging process. Well, life as always is eventful, my wife was diagnosed with Hodgkins during the first weeks of my return to academia. In short, while I had maintained private health insurance, the cost of oncology treatments depleted both savings and my retirment. So I refinanced my house twice, and am now very much in debt. I did complete my graduate program, and my wife’s health continues to be good following the chemo treatments.

I should add that I am very much aware of workforce issues, having spent more than 25 years working in Department of Labor (DOL) funded programs, and the economics of the middle class. Our society has become dysfunctional in my opinion, and does not support the ingredients necessary for a healthy sustainable lifestyle. Just to mention one of the problems, if fixed, would contribute to easing most workforce transitions is the way unemployment insurance is provided. In other countries, Japan, and Germany for example, unemployment benfits allow for comfortable workforce transitions. Whether due to market fluctations ( and the US has many bubbles, the best boom and bust economy in the world IMO), or a career change. Both Japan and Germany provide for benefits up to 85% of your previous wage for up to 18 months. The wisedom of this approach is that both the individual making the transition, and the consumer economy are little affected by the change. It’s what use to be called "win-win", unlike what we have now "YOYO" You’re On Your Own. As to the broader picture of middle class economics, here’s a very good lecture titled "The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class" http://youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A. It’s an hour long UTube video, but well worth the time. It’s original research by Elizabeth Warren, who teaches at the Harvard Law School.

So now I’m trying to re-enter the workforce with my new master’s degree, and years of experience. After 9 months of effort, (becoming more intense in the last three months), I’ve had 2 interviews! The majority of my applications have been to government agencies requirirng more disclosure of age in the application process. I suspect ageism has some affect. Also, many of the applications are submitted online, and I know the DOL online submission is faulty. A few weeks ago, I received confirmation of receipt of 2 applications I had submitted in September of 2007! It was over a week-end, and likely an IT person clearing the cache from a server.Meaning, it is highly likely those applications were never reviewed by anyone.

Well, as usaul for me, this has become longer than intended. However, I think context is very important in understanding events. One of the difficulties in a youth oriented society ( or is it simply the popularity of sound bytes) is the lack of context, simply because they haven’t been around long enough to have accumulated a lot. lol

Yes, some fianancial help is very difinitely needed to make workforce transitions at any age. The risk, especially when one is older, is more challenging because of the limited time left to recoup from a failed attempt.

Joe Wasylyk Seniorpreneur

Rather than jumping head first into self-financing of your transition to your encore career; I suggest that the most important thing is getting to know what you want to do eg. digital artist, then performing it in the most cost-effective way.  And, instead of relying on many of the current high interest financial products and possibly going into significant debt; if required only, I suggest getting to know some trusted financial partners who would be willing to invest in your personal project.    

I am 62, in my encore career doing something that I believe in passionately. I’m financing the start-up by withdrawing from my modest IRA. It’s scary, reminds me of the feeling I had many years ago at graduation—"I sure hope this works out!" It did. The parallel gives me courage to forge ahead, facing the future with determination and a hopeful boldness. Life has its risks. Some things are worth taking a risk on, and I’m willing to do it again at this time. Much better than living out "if only I’d tried…" I encourage myself by remembering past successes, making the best plans I can and working energetically with a positive attitude, rather than focusing on fear and what if’s.

I am 59; a couple of years ago I had planned to work about 5 more years to add to my retirement $$$ and then go back to school for my 3rd career that would enable me to work anywhere. But then Katrina came along and my parents needed my help so I’m now in a completely different job market having to translate my expertise into another field. Not necessarily a bad thing but I’m making much less money so I’m not really sure where that leaves my plan. I will reasses when my parents are gone, sad to think of it that way…so much for plans!

we are trying to figure this out now. We have a bunch of money saved but quite a lot is in retirement accounts which are invested in stocks and bonds. anybody following the market knows this is a scary time, esp if you are counting on these investments to take you through to the end.

We have some pensions and social security (so far); but have been debating endlessly about when to take the leap..my husband esp wants to do it — he’s tired of what he’s doing; is a really talented digital artist and wants to make it his full time gig…

I dont think there’s any magic way to do this.

mnh