Chicago – Dreams of a more satisfying life helped spur Dale Vnuk to choose a new career after more than 25 years in the same line of work.
So did the constant grousing of co-workers who had soured on the job. Now, Vnuk is in the process of retiring early and switching from airline mechanic to water-garden builder.
“At 47, it’s either time to do something or sit there and be miserable,” said Vnuk, who opened a water-garden store this year with his wife, Marcia, in suburban Fox Lake, Ill. “It’s just a great burst of inspiration to see that you can still do something and change your life around.”
Americans’ dreams of early retirement, interrupted by the 2000 stock market bust and the 2001 recession, live on. They have been revived in part by the economy’s rebound, soaring home values and the ambitions of baby boomers – although often accompanied nowadays by the realization they’ll still need additional income.
A Merrill Lynch survey last year found that 77 percent of more than 3,400 baby boomers polled planned to work in some capacity in their retirement, with second careers in the mix for some, including 13 percent who intended to start their own businesses.
Jane Paradowski, who retired at age 52 after 31 years in California in city planning and human resources, moved back to her native Monroe, Wis., to work as a clinical psychologist. She got a Ph.D. and went back to work full-time – in part because her stock returns weren’t keeping pace with her retirement plans.
In the span of two weekends, she went from dinner at Spago’s in Beverly Hills one weekend to a $5.50 fish fry at a VFW in rural Wisconsin featuring a one-man accordion band.
“My California friends cannot understand me,” said Paradowski, now 59, who works at a clinic in nearby Freeport, Ill. “They think I’m going nuts, but I’m loving life. A lot of that is because I’m loving my job.”
Money worries aside, starting a new career is within reach for most people, said Steve Vernon, author of the retirement book “Live Long and Prosper.”
“The barriers are more psychological than financial,” said Vernon, a consultant of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. “People get used to a certain level of (guaranteed) income.”
