Transitions begin by ending the old. For baby boomer business owners and career professionals the “old” is your business or career. In order to get to the “new” you’ve got to go through a transition zone. Getting through that zone successfully requires a plan. Think for a few moments about your life on the Monday morning after you sell your business or leave work. Who is going to text you, email you, call you, or talk to you – and about what? You’re not at work – or are you? Have you developed a purposeful career plan for the next third of your life?
That purposeful career plan needs more than financial planning – and you do that with your financial advisor anyway, right? How will you plan for sustained physical health, intellectual stimulation, recreational and creative activity, and activities with your spouse or partner and family? Where will you decide to live, and how do you replace all those work-related social connections? Perhaps you are thinking about volunteering, working part time, or engaging more in faith based or spiritual endeavors. Whatever these may be, do you think you can do all of them without a purposeful personal transition plan?