2nd Career

As I get closer to retirement age, I have been thinking about what my working life will look like over the next couple of decades. Having owned a restaurant during the financial crash, I lost all my savings just trying to keep my house from being foreclosed, so being able to retire is probably not going to be an option. My current career requires significant mental acuity to keep my skills up to date, and the plasticity of my brain isn't what it once was, so it is getting harder and harder to keep up. 

As a consulting professional, my skills are what I need to market myself. I have actually quit several jobs because the work was degrading my skills. If I work on a project for six months to a year that involves maintaining out of date technologies or working in a framework like SharePoint, my knowledge of current technologies will diminish while the world moves forward and the tech evolves. When I finally get back to working on something new, I have forgotten so much and there are so many new things to learn that it is really hard to get back up to speed. I have had managers think I am extremely arrogant for not being willing to work on a certain project. They assume that since they are paying me, I should be willing to do whatever they want. It is never about the money, it is about future marketability. If I work on out of date tech and get let go, I am S.O.L. in the job market.

I am not ready to be put out to pasture yet, but I am starting to see that I will have to make some changes at some point in the next decade. Several recruiters I have talked to have suggested going into a leadership position. I do enjoy managing projects, but I don't think I would enjoy managing people. In all the projects I have ever run, the people who worked on the projects were resources and they didn't report to me. At my restaurant, I had a number of employees who worked for me, and there were times it was great, but there were also times where it sucked my soul dry. I also just love building things, I don't know how I could transition away from that and still keep my job satisfaction. 

One of the things I have always wanted to do is build and market my own software and apps. I have started a number of projects over the years, but I never seem to finish them. I have written a couple of apps that have generated a few pennies in advertising dollars, but all the bigger projects I start just fade away over time. As an individual developer, it is really hard to keep at a project over the long term. I have always thought if I could find some partners, that would keep me motivated and make me accountable to someone besides myself. If I could find a good front end developer with solid design skills and someone with marketing skills, we could build a good company. The time I spend on my personal projects is never wasted though. One of my main goals with my projects is to improve my skills and keep up with current development practices. With that in mind, all my projects have been a success because I have used that knowledge constantly in my consulting career and kept myself marketable. 

Last year my son and I combined our business operations into a single company. It is an interesting mix with my IT consulting and his home services like lawn care, hauling, and odd jobs. Combining our businesses allowed us to share expenses for both of our operations, and for me, it really helped with dealing with larger customers. Corporations do not like individually owned businesses. They fear the tax liability of treating someone like an employee. Merging with my son gave me the advantage of additional employees in the company plus hundreds of customers. This eliminates any concerns that an HR department has and allows me to negotiate contracts strictly with purchasing departments. My sons business benefits from additional access to capital as well as electronic billing and payroll. It is also nice to have a partner to discuss business opportunities with. 

A few weeks ago my son told me he wanted to start buying rental properties. He has actually mentioned it several times in the past, but lately, he has been reading up on the subject and wants to go from the talking stage to the doing stage. At first, I was a little hesitant, but I started reading some of the books he suggested, and some other books I found. Given that he already does home services, owning rental properties could really be a good next step. I could handle the bookkeeping and paperwork, and he could handle the sales, management, and maintenance. This seems like something we could do together that will benefit both of us. 

At my age, it is too late to save conservatively for retirement. Investing in traditional 401k's are not going to make me financially independent in a little over a decade. Investing in a business with my son, however, could have the desired effect. I may not be able to gain financial independence, but if we do things right, I should be able to ensure that I have a job that I can earn a living from. Working with my son during my golden years wouldn't be a bad way to round out my life. Who knows, if we learn how to do it right, maybe I will be able to actually retire at some point.