What next in my career?

by Noel Guilford, Guilford Consulting

 What next in my career?  Successful executives in their 50s and 60s now look on retirement from their first career as the opportunity to start their second rather than putting their feet up and mowing the lawn. With companies looking for earlier retirees, declining pensions and increased life expectancy, 50-60 year olds increasingly cannot afford to retire nor do they want to. So what is fuelling this desire for a second career and how is it being fulfilled?

Jim is a typical example. At 55 he was given the opportunity to retire early and after 20 years of international sales and travelling all over the world he was ready for some more family time but not ready to retire. It was time to do something he was passionate about and use the skills he had learnt over a 35 year career to make a difference. In Jim’s case his passion was sailing so he bought an ailing chandlery near the marina where he kept his small sail boat and set about renovating both the business and his boat. 

Jim is typical of the executives we meet: they have a wealth of experience, a contact network, low overheads (mortgages and school fees paid), a desire to ‘give something back’ and a passion to work in a business they enjoy (rather than in a job they need). We call the process business renovation because often it involves buying an existing business that needs fresh blood rather than starting one from scratch. Both are possible but the former generally takes less time – and possibly less money - to get up and running. 

So if you are in your 50’s and considering ‘what next?’ how do you go about it? It is a lot easier than you might think, particularly with a little help along the way. There are five key steps you need to take. 

1.       How much money do you need to live on in retirement and how will you split your time between business and family. Often the money is less than you think but you need a plan assuming that you will live to 80-90. We find most semi-retirees need help with this stage as it involves annuities, pensions, inflation etc., but it doesn’t take long.

2.       What are you good at and how can you leverage these skills. Also what are your weaknesses and where do you need help. In Jim’s case he had never had a finance responsibility and so recognised early he’d need a finance mentor.

3.       What can you and do you want to give back? We call this value to others. Who can you help? This may be community work outside the business but we encourage you to use your business skills to employ people who may otherwise lack education or training and develop them inside the business.

4.       What are you passionate about? You’ve spend 35 years in a job. Now get a life and find a business you’ll love waking up to. Once you know what it is finding it will be easy.

5.       Raising finance is the final step and for most of our executives is seen as the hardest. Far from it. Private investors and equity funds are looking for businesses to invest in – what better than a business owned by a passionate 55 year old with senior management experience. You’ll probably need help at this stage as well but there are plenty of investors and banks looking for good propositions. So what more do you need to start your second career and renovate a business?

In the next article in this series we’ll describe some of the tools we use to help you get started, but in the meantime you’d like to start your journey please contact noel@guilfordconsulting.co.uk. Noel Guilford is National Chairman of FPB and a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years experience of advising the owners of companies on strategy. He specialises in advising the owners of businesses who want to plan their exit.