A WHOLE NEW LIFE MAY BE BECKONING--IF YOU PLAN IT
Robert Sarnoff, 60, of Belle Harbor, N.Y., says his friends have dubbed him "the poster child for retirement." A former high school art teacher and assistant principal, Sarnoff left the New York City school system five years ago, and since then has worked part time directing a program that teaches art and computer skills to the homeless. But that's just the start. Sarnoff has showcased his paintings at two art exhibits, written five plays that were produced off-off-Broadway and acted in five independent films. "Even though I loved teaching, I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to explore my creative side," says Sarnoff. As varied and fascinating as his recent achievements are, however, none can be described as lucrative.
So how has he afforded it? Sarnoff's pension is worth $36,000, he has made a number of successful stock-market investments, and his wife's salary as a school administrator adds $80,000 annually. "We're not millionaires, but since we always saved our money and invested wisely," says Sarnoff, "I knew we would be able to swing my retiring when I did."
Alan Ouimet, 61, of Madison, Conn., feels the same way. He embarked on a charitable second career 10 years ago, after retiring as a special agent with the FBI. With a pension worth $41,000, or 70% of his previous annual salary of $59,000, the security of a $250,000 life-insurance policy and his $280,000 home as assets, Ouimet began running the Franciscan Family Apostolate Inc., a Guilford, Conn., charity that is helping 1,100 impoverished families in India rebuild their lives. His current salary: around $30,000 a year. "I enjoyed my 31 years with the FBI," says Ouimet, the father of four grown children. "But the work I do now is fulfilling in a totally different way."
MORE AND MORE BOOMERS ARE TALKING TO FINANCIAL PLANNERS
For Ouimet, Sarnoff and a growing number of professionals who are retiring in their 40s and 50s to embark on second careers, a whole new life is just beginning. Their motivations are as individual as the people involved, but from a macro-economic point of view, they represent the baby-booming future. As the giant demographic bulge of the boomers moves deeper into middle age, many of them are severing connections with the institutions where they have worked for decades and are striking out afresh, while they are still hale enough to do something rigorous and challenging with the rest of their lives. "People in their 50s are starting to examine today's professional climate and are asking themselves what else they can be doing," says Deborah Arron, a Seattle career consultant.
The common thread is that the members of this new boomer bulge have the financial stability to retire comfortably and interests and passion that are leading them in new directions. About one-quarter to one-half of all clients seeking the help of financial planners these days are early retirees between the ages of 50 and 55, notes Michael Chasnoff, a Cincinnati, Ohio, financial planner and chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), which represents fee-only planners. And of the 20 million or so self-employed people in the U.S., 41% are in the 45-to-64-year-old age group, says Bennie Thayer, president of the National Association for the Self-Employed.