- I started working as soon as I graduated from college 40 years ago.
- I've made some bad decisions, thinking I could make up for them later in life.
- At 62, it feels like I'm going to be working forever as a freelancer.
Fresh out of college more than 40 years ago, I threw myself into a career in marketing, public relations, and communications. I worked in higher education, healthcare, and operated my own agency not once, but twice. My professional life has taken me around the country and to Europe.
Professionally, I've been there, done that. And apparently, I'll be doing it for the rest of my life.
I made bad decisions thinking I could make up later
I've been fortunate to have the education to warrant good salaries. A lot of people spend their entire adult lives in minimum-wage jobs that offer little hope of being able to retire comfortably if at all. Despite differences in lifetime earnings, we all heard the recommendations of experts for decades about what you need to do to retire.
I admit to making decisions that flew in their face, always believing I could make up ground later.
I allowed my now ex-husband to talk me into cashing in a growing 401k more than 15 years ago in an emergency. He promised that his retirement plan would be "more than enough" to support us in our old age. In my 50s, I used most of my divorce payout and cashed in a minor state retirement fund to buy a house in Slovenian to experience life in another country.
I wasn't so focused on rebuilding my life that I forgot about how close I was to the traditional retirement age. But I was tired of career-building and wanted to see the world. By making that choice, I faced the fact that I'd never be able to retire unless I remarried well or won the lottery. The first was never going to happen. The second would require that I actually play the lottery, which I don't.
Although I could never retire, I could change the type of work I'd done for 30 years. So, I took a job doing something I had no training for. I worked as a paralegal for a personal injury attorney friend. I thought I would be there three years but ended up doubling that. At least that stint produced a new, albeit small 401k I'm saving for later.
My current job doesn't necessarily pay well
Shortly before the pandemic hit, it was time to venture back out on my own, once again with no safety net, like a hefty savings account or a spouse's income. This time, I chose to write, because it's something I love to do, which is a good thing if you have to work for the duration of your earthly existence.
Nearly five years later, I'm still freelancing, writing content for a client agency, regularly contributing to a magazine, and pitching stories to other publications. I also carve out time to pursue my creative writing. None of them pay particularly well.
I supplement with my share of my ex's retirement, but only for as long as he's alive. And at the age of 62 and one month, I made another move financial advisors tell you not to do: I started drawing my Social Security. It's mine. I earned it. Why not use it now to free myself from the remainder of my debts and make my life a little easier?
Ernest Hemingway once said that retirement is the ugliest word in the English language. Maybe that's because he never wanted to put his typewriter away to gather dust. I get that. My cobbled income isn't enough for me to retire and never will be. But I'll always eke out enough to keep traveling and writing about it. For this boomer, that's enough.
