My journey into Retirement

by Bernard Kelly
(Geelong, Australia)

HELLO TO ALL MY COLLEAGUES

After a stellar corporate career, I was retrenched around age 55 and so I bought a series of small firms (they were interesting, but they never grew into anything significant.) I now describe them as "profitable hobbies".

Then my wife sold her business, so we retired and relocated to be nearer to the grandkids - We were both in our early 70s then.

I was still quite active, so I established a local network of entrepreneurs (one of my members is still a friend today) and became an avid reader of thrillers. John Grisham - the author - comes to mind, and you can find his novels on your search engine.

Five years later, my wife died of cancer (it was a slow decline) and so then I had to recreate my life - again. So I wrote a book about my hometown "Exciting Dynamic Geelong" and then used it as the basis of another venture - Geelong History Tours. But again that failed to take off.

About this time, I joined a series of local school boards, then later participated in service clubs - such as Rotary. I mention Rotary particularly as my local club has recently closed - we were unable to attract a younger, active cohort. So I've now moved onto Lions, which is somewhat similar.

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If you're still searching for an active retirement, I would suggest the book "Changing Gears - Creating the Life You Want after a Full-On Career". Authors -Jan Hall and Jon Stokes published 2021 by Headline Publishing.

So now it's your turn to tell me how you're making out.