Making the switch from one career to another can take time – and money.

Factor in a well-deserved break, some additional schooling or training and the possible need for internships or volunteer gigs to explore a new field, and the costs can really run up. How have you financed your transition to your encore career, or how do you plan to?

Did you:

• Take out a reverse mortgage?
• Borrow from your 401k or dip into other savings?
• Rely on your spouse’s income?
• Take a buyout or severance package?
• Go into debt?

“We’re used to seeing the aging work force described as a looming threat, a demographic drag with crippling repercussions for our economy,” begins an editorial in The Oregonian, Oregon’s largest newspaper.

But a groundbreaking report, “Everyone Matters,” from the Multnomah County Task Force on Vital Aging, helped the newspaper see the issue in a new way.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” the editorial continues, highlighting the report’s suggestion that businesses, governments and nonprofits “do a kind of mind-flip: Take this looming liability and convert it into a tremendous asset for our region.”