A career guide that rethinks the golden years, this handbook offers 50+ income models for creating flexible, fulfilling, and profitable work during the encore stage of one’s career.
RETHINK YOUR RETIREMENT
For many people, retirement is no longer a trifecta of golf, grandkids, and gardening—it’s an opportunity for new pursuits that involve both earning income and exploring personal passions. If you’re planning for retirement or already at “retirement age” but want to continue working—whether to supplement your income or to stay mentally and physically active—veteran career coach Nancy Collamer shows how to identify your favorite interests and expertise and repackage them into more than fifty ways to earn income. These second acts range from the traditional (part-time employment, consulting) to newer Internet-based options (teaching online, writing a blog). With a prescriptive approach to securing second-act careers that are flexible, fulfilling, and fun, this book offers a wide variety of income-generating examples as well as exercises to clarify your lifestyle goals and help you plan for your next move. Second-Act Careers shows how to create a profitable and meaningful semi-retirement on your own terms and in your own way.
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Roisin –
This book is approachable and easy to read and is a real help to that adjustment. The book is full of ideas and exercises that help you to find some answers in terms of your skills and interests. Well done sister!
Kevin Burns –
In my late 50’s, I’ve been feeling the walls closing in around me at a marketing company I’ve been with for thirty years. I’ve read multiple books on re-invention, met with a pair of life coaches and spent a long time trying to determine what’s next. Results, fair at best. Second Act Careers is a difference maker. The examples are relevant (not overdone or overly misty) and the exercises to determine your essence (from childhood to present state) are just terrific. The book is masterful at helping you understand who you are, what you’re good at, what gifts you have and where your interests lie, contrasted with the life you’ve led and where next path may be found. It’s a bit of life GPS. It requires a fair amount of work, introspection and an open mind, but the results are both powerful and enlightening… at least for me. While I still don’t have the specific answer for my life, I now have some informed and exciting options and I’m moving forward with a lot of energy, anticipation and excitement. Well done sister!
Susan Kornetsky –
Great book that provides useful information, resources, self-reflection tools and actionable steps. Only quibble is that the resources and websites provided in the book should be updated.
Lisa Calderone, Author of “How to Raise a Family & a Career Under One Roof” –
From “Jobs and Moms” to “Second-Act Careers,” Nancy’s savvy, friendly, and trust-worthy career counseling advice has helped me personally in just about every stage of my professional career. She “gets” that most of us have experience in the traditional 9-5 workforce but have needs for flexibility and career path “detours” in various stages of our lives. With lifespans (& financial needs!) stretching well into the 80’s and beyond, mid-lifers truly need to pay attention to their “second-acts,” and now we have this timely resource to map out what a path from where we’re at now to full retirement might look like.
Nancy’s book is a treasure trove of ideas, profiles, and resources delivered in a sensible, supportive, and wise voice. Chapters like “Build Income from Your Expertise” and “Look to the Past for Clues to Your Future” remind us of who we are, while others like “Research the World of Possibilities” point us to the road ahead. As an editorial type, my favorite chapter was “Create an Information Empire,” which covers both digital and traditional publishing options.
If you need your practical career advice delivered with a dose of inspiration, this book is for you!
Geraldine –
This is an excellent guide to reinventing yourself after 50, if working is part of your overall plans.
I was really impressed with the work that went into this guide, author Nancy Collamer did a better than average job with this book.
Some of the (detailed) suggestions she brought up about second act careers I was already aware of, but many were new and very helpful too. For example, choosing to work on a seasonal basis in later life is a great idea but one I honestly had never really thought about before reading this book.
I also appreciated the many true life stories/interviews in this guide, that really set it apart from other career manuals I have read for the over 50 crowd. They were interesting and encouraging. I found myself highlighting many a page and web link as I read along and that is always a good sign, knowing that i will actually come back to USE a particular passage, not just forget about it when I’ve finished the book.
Highly recommended, especially if you had given up hope of ever finding work in your later years. This guide will encourage,inspire and give you many many ideas for what can be next, career-wise.
Life can keep getting better! Thanks Nancy. 🙂
Geraldine Helen Hartman, author of: Laughing AT the Grim Reaper! Gems of Wisdom for Aging Well and The Groovy Green Kitchen series.
LVlivin’ –
While skimming several books to help me figure out what I want to do “when I grow up” I ran across this book. It is a good book to turn to for some ideas- there are websites included for the reader to peruse. I like the easy to read and follow advice and Collamer gives several suggestions under each career field or area to think about. For example, if you were a teacher as I was, she gives suggestions in the online arena as well as local colleges, non profits, consulting and corporate training. This book didn’t provide any ‘a-ha!’ moments but it did provide me with some tools to begin my research.
Christopher Kouzios –
My expectations for this book were much higher than what I found when actually reading it. Her insights were in fact great IF you have an idea of what you want to do. Great tips and direction. Solid guidance. Why difficulty to use to figure out what you would like to do if you have no idea so to be fair the book delivers if you have a basic premise for your second act.
Sherlock Holmes –
The author, a career counselor for 17 years, belongs to AAA: Age is An Advantage. The book is a how-to-do it with advice from experts on new careers after retirement. Bullet points are plenty and exercises in the later part of the book help to know thyself.
I liked the number of people interviewed, a good range, and been there, done that, still doing it type of people. The book could have been more visually attractive, some colors, more visually enhancing presentations.
LilyRose –
This book is approachable and easy to read and is a real help to that adjustment. Very informative, you can really get ideas and it is a step by step to how to start a business in todays tech world
Gilda Bonanno –
Second-Act Careers is a great resource for anyone planning the next phase of their professional and personal lives. The author, Nancy Collamer, is the career coach that I worked with when I quit my corporate job and started my own business several years ago. She is smart, supportive and committed to her clients – and I cannot envision having made my career journey without her.
The first section of the book is a “smorgasbord” of 50 different job ideas where age, experience and maturity are assets. These include virtual, work-from-home jobs and flexible jobs such as tour director, temporary innkeeper, interfaith minister and food blogger. Nancy includes pragmatic advice and interviews with people who have developed successful second-act careers, including a former Microsoft executive who now teaches marketing to magicians and a retired cop turned comedian. And I am honored that she included my advice about how to become a professional speaker. The second section includes a variety of exercises to help you understand your skills, interests and goals and plan for your second act. Second-Act Careers is a practical, helpful and inspirational book!
E. Gasaway –
I’m getting ready to make the leap into a pre-retirement career; not because I have to, but because I want to. The main problem for me has been what to do, and how to go about doing it. This book is a great place to start. There could have been more information in several sections of part one, which describes all kinds of different 2nd act career possibilities, but it certainly is a very comprehensive list, and there are plenty of links to resources. I also think the author did a good job of pointing out how flexible the various possibilities would be for those of us not planning to work full time.
Gordon O –
I am getting some ideas from it some I already figured out I read a few pages each night so I can reflect upon it so far it is good.
Mp –
Geared to US readers, this book still manages to get the soon to be “retired” person to think about possibilities for his/her next phase of employment. Lots of links and ideas to mull through. A valuable use of your time, even if you skim through the parts that aren’t so applicable to you.