45 Forward #87 - Encore: A Simple, 3-Step Plan to Achieving Retirement Fulfillment

WEBVTT
1
00:00:05.669 --> 00:00:08.630
Welcome to 45 Forward, the beginning of the rest of
2
00:00:08.669 --> 00:00:11.570
your life. Each week, host Ron Roel and his guests
3
00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:14.460
discuss topics of interest to many listeners in their 40s
4
00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:19.120
and beyond, including retirement, caring for aging parents, health, lifestyle,
5
00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.440
and more. It's time to think ahead to the next
6
00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.719
half of your life, and we'll help you plan it
7
00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.500
with ease. Now, here is Ron Roel.
8
00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:31.910
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of 45 Forward, where our
9
00:00:31.929 --> 00:00:34.729
mission is to help you, our listeners, from Los Angeles
10
00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:37.990
to Long Island, age successfully, making your second half of
11
00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:42.020
life even better than the first. Planning for retirement triggers
12
00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:46.600
all sorts of thoughts, excitement, hope, expectation, and yes, a
13
00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:50.240
dose of anxiety. We worry about financial security. Did we
14
00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.740
save enough? But we're often not prepared for the emotional
15
00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:58.250
and social impacts of this major life transition. In today's episode,
16
00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:01.890
Leah Frankel, who has created the entrepreneurial role of Retirement
17
00:01:01.929 --> 00:01:05.870
Journey Advocate, offers a sharp and refreshing perspective on how
18
00:01:05.890 --> 00:01:08.939
to prepare for this next chapter of life. Whether you
19
00:01:08.969 --> 00:01:11.680
want to launch a second career, have a side job
20
00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:15.040
or hobby, volunteer, travel, or just sit back and relax,
21
00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.260
Leah will guide you and support you through this stress-free
22
00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:23.640
workplace exit, prepared for a new identity and fulfilling experiences.
23
00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:27.620
Leah herself retired three years ago from a highly successful
24
00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.689
30-year career with L'Oreal. and in the process discovered how
25
00:01:31.730 --> 00:01:34.769
to transfer her skills and talents into a meaningful second
26
00:01:34.870 --> 00:01:38.409
act and guide others how to do the same. In
27
00:01:38.430 --> 00:01:42.709
today's conversation, Leah will explain her simple three-step process for
28
00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.620
leaving a long-time career, a common sense approach that combines
29
00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:51.040
attention to administrative and procedural details, along with the strategic
30
00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:55.260
goals and priorities, and a focus on often undervalued social
31
00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:58.939
and emotional concerns. She'll also provide a list of seven
32
00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.359
key tips and insights to start your retirement journey from
33
00:02:02.469 --> 00:02:05.120
creating a list of hard and soft skills to adapting
34
00:02:05.170 --> 00:02:08.949
from corporate structure to flexible time schedules to creating new
35
00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:13.909
relationships and social networks. Finally, drawing from her own personal experiences,
36
00:02:14.469 --> 00:02:17.469
Leah will talk about the importance of finding fulfillment, not
37
00:02:17.509 --> 00:02:20.889
just happiness in retirement and what that means and finding
38
00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:25.469
ways to continue making a difference, imparting your legacy experiences
39
00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:28.610
to the next generation. and feeling that life is important
40
00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:33.030
and meaningful. So now let's meet our guest, Leah Frankel. Leah,
41
00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:33.740
welcome to the show.
42
00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:37.460
Ron, thank you so much for such a nice introduction
43
00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.800
and for inviting me here to speak with you today.
44
00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:41.620
I'm really excited to be here.
45
00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:43.919
Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you, a real pleasure.
46
00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:46.699
So you have your own unique journey on how you
47
00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.719
got to where you are now and to what I
48
00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:51.479
think is really an interesting term you've coined, a retirement
49
00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:55.689
journey advocate. But before we talk about that journey, So
50
00:02:55.969 --> 00:02:57.750
tell us, you know, just give us a sense of
51
00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:00.930
what do we mean by a retirement journey advocate? Because
52
00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:03.830
it's an interesting term. Each one of them, the retirement
53
00:03:04.169 --> 00:03:08.060
and a journey and advocacy have really a significance to them.
54
00:03:08.090 --> 00:03:10.259
So give us a little sense of what that means.
55
00:03:11.139 --> 00:03:13.620
Well, I think the way that I can really explain
56
00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.240
it is that when I was exiting my own career,
57
00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:18.979
I realized how important it was for me to be
58
00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:22.139
an advocate for myself and how important it really is
59
00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:25.789
for people to advocate for themselves as well. As a
60
00:03:25.830 --> 00:03:30.150
retirement journey advocate, I work with the 50-plus audience, with
61
00:03:30.229 --> 00:03:33.219
people who have retirement on the horizon, as well as
62
00:03:33.289 --> 00:03:36.659
people who are already retired. What I do is I
63
00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:40.900
help them create a unique and straightforward roadmap from the
64
00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:46.340
workplace to retirement that involves the three specific steps that
65
00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:50.039
you briefly mentioned and which are uniquely tailored to their
66
00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:52.979
specific needs. And I will be speaking about those a
67
00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:56.879
little bit later in our conversation this afternoon. Great, great.
68
00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:58.960
So tell us now what it was like for you
69
00:03:59.099 --> 00:04:01.620
as you plan to leave your career. What was that like?
70
00:04:02.979 --> 00:04:06.139
That was an interesting journey, I definitely have to say.
71
00:04:06.259 --> 00:04:10.530
I worked for L'Oreal USA for 30 years. It was
72
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:15.650
a very, very exciting journey for me personally and professionally.
73
00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:19.129
I started out as an administrator in one of the
74
00:04:19.250 --> 00:04:22.439
large divisions of the company, and I was very, very
75
00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:25.319
excited and happy to have been promoted along the way
76
00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:30.500
in a variety of capacities. As directors of specific departments,
77
00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:34.250
I served in several divisions of the company, from prestige
78
00:04:34.329 --> 00:04:39.209
fragrances to consumer products and professional products. And when I
79
00:04:39.269 --> 00:04:44.569
completed my career in 2018, I was the assistant vice
80
00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:50.329
president of sales operations for the multicultural beauty division. And
81
00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:55.149
I had realized about two years before I exited the
82
00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:59.949
company that a lot of people who I had started
83
00:05:00.009 --> 00:05:03.949
working with 28 years before were starting to announce their
84
00:05:04.009 --> 00:05:08.790
intention to retire from the company. And it really started
85
00:05:08.850 --> 00:05:12.709
me thinking, and I was saying to myself, when am
86
00:05:12.829 --> 00:05:16.060
I going to make that decision to make that giant
87
00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:19.699
leap and leave the company? And that was a very,
88
00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:25.319
very thought-provoking process for me. And I had decided after
89
00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.100
seeing certain things that I wanted to make sure that
90
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.790
I would make it through to 30 years in the company.
91
00:05:31.250 --> 00:05:33.290
And that was the goal that I had as far
92
00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:37.829
as the timing when I decided to retire. And I
93
00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:41.660
started to also think about what I was going to
94
00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.009
have to accomplish from an administrative perspective when I was
95
00:05:46.089 --> 00:05:48.829
leaving along the way, who I was going to have
96
00:05:48.889 --> 00:05:51.189
to speak with to make sure that whatever I was
97
00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:54.410
entitled to and whatever I earned throughout those 30 years
98
00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:57.800
was going to go with me when I left. And
99
00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:02.939
I'm a pretty operational and procedurally focused person. And I
100
00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:06.519
was able to really take all of that into consideration
101
00:06:06.550 --> 00:06:10.290
and create certain checklists so that I wouldn't miss a beat.
102
00:06:10.370 --> 00:06:12.550
And I felt very, very comfortable as I was going
103
00:06:12.589 --> 00:06:14.860
through the process that I was going to be able
104
00:06:14.889 --> 00:06:19.319
to capture everything that I was entitled to. The third
105
00:06:19.379 --> 00:06:23.220
thing that was at the top of my mind when
106
00:06:23.300 --> 00:06:26.899
I was going through this process was the identity and
107
00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:30.240
socialization piece, which you mentioned a few minutes ago. Mm-hmm.
108
00:06:31.269 --> 00:06:36.279
I had always been associated with being the assistant vice
109
00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:39.220
president of a department as I moved on in my career.
110
00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:42.620
And even when I would see my friends during the
111
00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:45.420
weekends or in a social situation, they would always ask
112
00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.040
me about my career and what was going on with
113
00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:52.860
me professionally. As I started to think about leaving, I
114
00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.860
said to myself, well, once I'm out of here, who
115
00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:58.959
am I going to be? What are people going to
116
00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:03.110
call me? am I really going to still matter to anyone?
117
00:07:03.569 --> 00:07:07.670
Am I going to provide value to anyone or anything?
118
00:07:08.129 --> 00:07:11.509
What kind of contributions am I going to make? What
119
00:07:11.550 --> 00:07:14.980
about all of the skills and talents that I acquired
120
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.620
both in life and in my career? Am I ever
121
00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:21.399
going to use any of that again? And also from
122
00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:26.170
the socialization perspective, while I wasn't best friends with people
123
00:07:26.230 --> 00:07:29.379
that I worked with in the company, I still socialize
124
00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.990
with them, obviously, in the office, during lunch. You're there
125
00:07:33.050 --> 00:07:36.089
for so many hours during the day. And I started
126
00:07:36.129 --> 00:07:38.610
to think about, well, who's going to become my social
127
00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:42.149
network once I leave? Who am I going to associate with?
128
00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:44.370
If the people that I'm used to being with are
129
00:07:44.410 --> 00:07:47.800
still working, what am I going to do? So all
130
00:07:47.819 --> 00:07:50.689
of those things were running through my mind. And that's
131
00:07:50.709 --> 00:07:54.310
when I started to take other actions involving the socialization piece,
132
00:07:54.370 --> 00:07:57.490
which I can chat about a little later. But that
133
00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:02.149
is an extremely, extremely large concern and something that people
134
00:08:02.170 --> 00:08:04.970
who are leaving the workplace and going into retirement really
135
00:08:05.009 --> 00:08:05.790
need to think about.
136
00:08:06.189 --> 00:08:09.730
Yeah, absolutely. So you've actually sort of just outlined the
137
00:08:09.769 --> 00:08:13.250
three steps. So the first one is the decision to retire.
138
00:08:13.269 --> 00:08:17.569
The second is taking the procedural and administrative steps. And
139
00:08:17.589 --> 00:08:20.810
then the third is the emotional and social aspects. And
140
00:08:21.009 --> 00:08:24.310
I think it's, as you've mentioned to me in our
141
00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:27.850
previous conversations, it's particularly this third one that I think
142
00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:31.790
people really don't think about. I mean, you think about
143
00:08:31.850 --> 00:08:37.440
when retirement planning, you think about, okay, that means, will
144
00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:40.000
I have saved enough money? People really get that piece
145
00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:43.299
of it. And even they can figure out the procedural things. Okay,
146
00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:47.889
what's my pension or where's my 401k? But The large piece,
147
00:08:48.100 --> 00:08:50.379
you know, the mental piece of going to this next
148
00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:53.620
chapter is is really big. And it really it's going
149
00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:56.279
to be with you. And I think that, you know,
150
00:08:56.299 --> 00:08:59.740
you pointed out that, you know, we Americans in particular
151
00:09:00.980 --> 00:09:04.720
put a large place, a large piece of our identity
152
00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:09.039
on our work. And so, you know, you may, you know,
153
00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:12.360
retain some aspects of that identity as you leave. But
154
00:09:12.389 --> 00:09:15.179
I think it really, you've hit on a couple of
155
00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:17.940
really important points, which is, you know, who am I
156
00:09:18.139 --> 00:09:20.460
and what will people think of me? And some of
157
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.480
this I remember when I left, you know, my job
158
00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:28.679
as an editor, a newspaper editor, and you go and
159
00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.019
you leave and you become, you know, an independent writer.
160
00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:34.179
You know, it's still like you're not part of an
161
00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:37.590
organization and people go like, who are you really now,
162
00:09:37.850 --> 00:09:42.889
you know? And so this piece is a really key one.
163
00:09:43.610 --> 00:09:47.000
So we'll get back to the socialization piece. But in
164
00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:50.320
terms of looking at what you're going to do in
165
00:09:50.379 --> 00:09:54.279
retirement in this period, whatever we call retirement, you often
166
00:09:54.370 --> 00:09:58.690
talk about the difference between happiness and fulfillment. And of course,
167
00:09:58.710 --> 00:10:03.360
they're not necessarily mutually exclusive. They can overlap. But there
168
00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:07.100
is a difference. I often talk about people are on
169
00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:11.799
this search for the fountain of happiness. And you may
170
00:10:11.820 --> 00:10:14.500
never find it like the fountain of youth. So talk
171
00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:17.259
about that and talk about your view of fulfillment.
172
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:23.159
Fulfillment. And fulfillment was what I was really searching for,
173
00:10:23.870 --> 00:10:26.730
as you mentioned, when I was getting ready to leave.
174
00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:29.909
Of course, I was looking for the happiness piece. But
175
00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:32.409
what I wanted to do was I wanted to do
176
00:10:32.529 --> 00:10:35.529
several things that really started to come to light as
177
00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:39.159
I was moving through the process, you know, moving from
178
00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:42.679
the workplace to retirement. The first thing that I wanted
179
00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:46.000
to do was I wanted to leverage my skills and
180
00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.570
talents that I acquired during my life and my career.
181
00:10:50.629 --> 00:10:55.110
I spent 30 years in a very large corporate environment.
182
00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:57.870
And I also went to school at night and got
183
00:10:57.909 --> 00:11:00.669
my MBA at the same time that I was working.
184
00:11:01.429 --> 00:11:04.679
So I really spent a lot of time, you know,
185
00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:09.340
working to make myself better, let's say. And I kept
186
00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.460
thinking to myself, well, once I leave the workplace, where
187
00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.279
does all of that go? How do I still utilize that?
188
00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.159
Because that would make me fulfilled. That would give me
189
00:11:20.299 --> 00:11:23.220
a sense of purpose. That would make me feel as
190
00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:27.320
if I was making a contribution, that I was providing value.
191
00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:31.620
And the two most important things is that I was
192
00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:37.460
going to be using my success to help others. And
193
00:11:37.500 --> 00:11:39.639
I was going to make sure that whatever I was
194
00:11:39.740 --> 00:11:43.970
doing was going to enable me to see that I mattered.
195
00:11:44.590 --> 00:11:47.129
I was really thinking when I was still working, when
196
00:11:47.309 --> 00:11:50.399
I leave here, will I matter? And that to me,
197
00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:53.139
you know, is a big deal when people talk about ageism,
198
00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.059
which and that term I really don't particularly like. I
199
00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:02.450
think it really comes down to do we still matter
200
00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:05.250
once we leave our careers that we spent so much
201
00:12:05.330 --> 00:12:08.389
time in? And that is what made me feel as
202
00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:11.350
if I was going to be fulfilled. I knew that
203
00:12:11.409 --> 00:12:13.870
I was going to I was starting to think about
204
00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:16.129
how I was going to leverage those skills and talents
205
00:12:16.169 --> 00:12:18.659
that I had. that I learned all during my life
206
00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:21.379
and my career. I knew that I wanted to use
207
00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:24.279
my success to help others. I really feel that people
208
00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:28.100
who have been successful in their professional and personal lives
209
00:12:28.539 --> 00:12:30.799
are obligated to help others. And I knew that I
210
00:12:30.850 --> 00:12:33.690
was going to do that. I knew that I was
211
00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:39.070
going to be able to provide value and continue to
212
00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.169
make contributions. So what I did was I said, since
213
00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:49.350
I went through this entire journey on my own, being
214
00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:53.929
procedural and organizationally sound is something that is something I'm
215
00:12:54.190 --> 00:12:57.080
very good with. I wanted to use that. So I said,
216
00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:00.889
let me utilize everything that I've learned and become a
217
00:13:00.929 --> 00:13:03.559
retirement journey advocate so that I could use all these
218
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.840
skills that I gleaned and I would be relatable to
219
00:13:07.899 --> 00:13:10.720
my clients and I would be somebody that they would trust.
220
00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.120
That's another big piece. I would be relatable and somebody
221
00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:18.309
that they could trust. I've also... during my career, I
222
00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:21.389
did a lot of presentations and I'm used to presenting
223
00:13:21.429 --> 00:13:26.110
in front of audiences and putting together documentation and things
224
00:13:26.169 --> 00:13:29.509
that make sense. And I enjoy writing. So everything that
225
00:13:29.549 --> 00:13:31.610
I do now in terms of my business, I pretty
226
00:13:31.629 --> 00:13:35.149
much author myself and I'm using those talents. I've done
227
00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.700
some part-time teaching in math because when I was working,
228
00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:42.700
analytics was one of my fortes. So that's something else
229
00:13:42.740 --> 00:13:45.179
that I'm doing. And as far as using my success
230
00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.750
to help others is concerned, I have been a keynote
231
00:13:48.789 --> 00:13:52.830
speaker at several women's conferences and at schools of business
232
00:13:52.889 --> 00:13:57.330
administration locally. So there's an opportunity to use your success
233
00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:03.690
to help positively influence others. And that I think is really,
234
00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:07.269
really important. So all of that combined has enabled me
235
00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:10.669
to really feel fulfilled, which again, is something that is
236
00:14:10.710 --> 00:14:14.330
much more long-term and I have been enjoying every minute
237
00:14:14.389 --> 00:14:14.610
of it.
238
00:14:15.350 --> 00:14:17.820
Great to hear, great to hear. Yeah, I think that,
239
00:14:18.409 --> 00:14:22.220
you know, having that sense of purpose, that sense of
240
00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:25.340
mattering in life is really critical to, you know, I
241
00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:28.320
think that people talk about, you know, experts talk about,
242
00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:30.799
you know, when they look at longevity and they look
243
00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:33.799
at healthy aging, you know, if people lose that after
244
00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:40.210
they leave their job, then there are literal decreases in
245
00:14:40.250 --> 00:14:44.460
their lifespan. So I think it's an actual, correlation to
246
00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:48.480
that sort of phenomenon. I also think that you talk
247
00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:52.490
about ageism, and I think that's true, that when people
248
00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:56.929
feel badly about getting older, it's basically because they often
249
00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:01.269
term seniors use as they feel invisible, and so they
250
00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:03.830
don't matter in life. And of course, that's not true.
251
00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:06.870
But I think it takes some doing to figure out
252
00:15:07.029 --> 00:15:09.789
why you matter. And I think that that's not something
253
00:15:09.870 --> 00:15:12.559
people are going to lay out in front of you.
254
00:15:12.590 --> 00:15:14.309
You have to make, as you say, you have got
255
00:15:14.330 --> 00:15:18.320
to advocate and you have to advocate for yourself, but, um,
256
00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:22.759
but that's something sometimes people need tools. They need help.
257
00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:24.620
And I think that's where you come in and you
258
00:15:24.659 --> 00:15:30.559
can help, help them define what they need to do. Um, so, um,
259
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.559
I think that, uh, I'm going to shift now a
260
00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:34.620
little bit. Uh, we just have a couple of minutes
261
00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.620
before the break, but, um, Let's talk a little bit
262
00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:42.399
more about socialization. And we'll probably carry that on the
263
00:15:42.419 --> 00:15:44.659
other side of the break. But this is something that
264
00:15:44.710 --> 00:15:50.509
I think that we've talked about a lot. But as
265
00:15:50.549 --> 00:15:54.769
you leave work and as you get older, there is
266
00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:59.389
a natural loss of socialization. So what I'd like to
267
00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:04.679
talk about shortly after the break is basically how do
268
00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:09.200
you rebuild these networks? It's something that's not, again, you
269
00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:11.759
need to be proactive about it. You need to really
270
00:16:12.450 --> 00:16:15.190
figure out how to make up for the losses in
271
00:16:15.210 --> 00:16:20.450
your life and move forward. So I'm going to just
272
00:16:20.970 --> 00:16:22.450
stop right at this moment. We're going to take a
273
00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:24.970
short break right now. But when we come back, we'll
274
00:16:25.009 --> 00:16:27.549
talk more about that and much more to come with
275
00:16:27.610 --> 00:16:29.590
Leah Frankel. So don't go anywhere.
276
00:16:35.389 --> 00:16:36.769
Become our friend on Facebook.
277
00:16:36.850 --> 00:16:39.500
Post your thoughts about our shows and network on our timeline.
278
00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:42.379
Visit Facebook.com forward slash Voice America.
279
00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:45.919
A brave heart is anyone with the courage to be
280
00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.740
of service to others. If you have that courage, then
281
00:16:48.860 --> 00:16:52.440
Bravehearts Radio with Brian Reinbold is for you. Even if
282
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:54.539
you aren't yet, you'll want to still tune in to
283
00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:57.820
get inspired, create your own story to share, and change
284
00:16:57.860 --> 00:17:00.080
your life for the better. Listen to the stories of
285
00:17:00.179 --> 00:17:04.000
service and courage shared by amazing guests and your input too.
286
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.720
Listen for Bravehearts Radio Mondays at 4 p.m. Eastern Time
287
00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:11.960
and 1 p.m. Pacific Time on the Voice America Variety Channel. Remember,
288
00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:14.809
doing good anywhere does good everywhere.
289
00:17:17.450 --> 00:17:21.109
Want to play the ponies and win? At Winning Ponies,
290
00:17:21.410 --> 00:17:25.049
we go inside and behind the scenes with the top jockeys, trainers,
291
00:17:25.109 --> 00:17:29.420
and handicappers. The Winning Ponies radio show with John Englehart,
292
00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:33.420
racing's regular guy, is the perfect complement to the Winning
293
00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:38.160
Ponies handicapping website. Catch us live every Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern,
294
00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:42.349
5 p.m. Pacific on the Voice America Variety Channel. Win
295
00:17:42.410 --> 00:17:44.099
prizes just for calling in.
296
00:17:51.900 --> 00:17:55.079
You're listening to 45 Forward. To reach Ron Roel or
297
00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:59.000
his guest on the program, please send an email to ron.roel
298
00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:06.849
at gmail.com. That's ron.roel at gmail.com. Now back to 45 Forward.
299
00:18:09.450 --> 00:18:11.910
Welcome back, folks, where we're talking today with Leah Frankel
300
00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:15.730
about her own retirement journey and as she's used her
301
00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:19.339
experiences as a retirement journey advocate to help others who
302
00:18:19.380 --> 00:18:22.519
transition to their own retirement years. So before the break,
303
00:18:22.619 --> 00:18:25.720
I was talking with Leah about the issue of socialization
304
00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:29.390
in retirement. Often a problem is we leave the workplace
305
00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:33.089
and the natural course of life, we end up losing
306
00:18:33.130 --> 00:18:35.369
people in lots of ways. So how do you rebuild
307
00:18:35.390 --> 00:18:37.660
your social network and when should you start?
308
00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:43.440
Well, from my personal experience, and I think that this
309
00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:46.559
is a good guideline to follow, I Don't wait until
310
00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.279
you're out of the workplace to start to think about
311
00:18:49.339 --> 00:18:53.460
this or even start to plan it. When I was
312
00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.079
still at work, I started to think about what I
313
00:18:57.140 --> 00:19:00.259
was going to do afterwards. And yes, I'm probably a
314
00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:03.200
little bit more of a planner perhaps than most. But
315
00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:05.220
I did start to think about who I was going
316
00:19:05.289 --> 00:19:10.420
to be connecting with, both socially and professionally. So what
317
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:13.259
I did was when I was zeroing in a little
318
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:16.440
bit more on what I was going to do, and
319
00:19:16.660 --> 00:19:18.720
I had decided that there was going to be some
320
00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:24.500
sort of an entrepreneurial post-career business aspect to my life,
321
00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:28.630
I started to connect with people outside of my company
322
00:19:29.009 --> 00:19:32.930
who had similar interests as I did and who were entrepreneurs.
323
00:19:33.589 --> 00:19:35.630
One of the things that I always envied when I
324
00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:38.759
was working full-time was not being able to have my
325
00:19:38.859 --> 00:19:41.039
own business. I was always a little bit envious of
326
00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:44.440
people who were able to do that. And so the
327
00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.950
logical thing for me was just try to connect with
328
00:19:47.029 --> 00:19:50.900
people who had their own business so I could get
329
00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:53.819
some input and feedback from them. So the first thing
330
00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.980
that I could recommend to people is if you try
331
00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.220
to start to think about what you want to do post-retirement,
332
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.220
if you want to make those retirement goals, and that's
333
00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:05.849
a separate conversation that I would have, you know, in
334
00:20:05.910 --> 00:20:09.079
terms of one of my, um, online classes or something
335
00:20:09.099 --> 00:20:10.799
to that effect. If you start to think about what
336
00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:14.259
you want to do post-retirement, try to seek out people
337
00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:17.259
who are in a similar situation. There are meetup groups
338
00:20:17.299 --> 00:20:20.220
that you can utilize online. And I have to say
339
00:20:20.299 --> 00:20:24.269
that the COVID environment has really made online communications and
340
00:20:24.349 --> 00:20:28.410
contacts paramount. And that is the way a lot of
341
00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:32.059
people are still connecting. I would go I would take
342
00:20:32.099 --> 00:20:34.240
advantage of something like that. I would try to get
343
00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:37.740
involved with as many online groups as possible because that's
344
00:20:37.779 --> 00:20:40.880
how you meet people. Even if you don't necessarily engage
345
00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.549
with them in a meeting, you can take note of
346
00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:45.910
who they are based on their name on the screen
347
00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:49.569
and try to contact them afterwards. That would be another
348
00:20:49.609 --> 00:20:52.529
way to engage with people. Another way to do it
349
00:20:52.650 --> 00:20:55.029
is join a book club or something like that where
350
00:20:55.049 --> 00:20:57.450
you can get to meet and converse with people personally.
351
00:20:57.990 --> 00:21:00.410
who have a similar interest as you do in terms
352
00:21:00.490 --> 00:21:03.769
of reading. But the main thing that I would suggest
353
00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:08.089
to you is try to start this early on. Another
354
00:21:08.130 --> 00:21:11.170
thing to do is, you know, from a social media perspective,
355
00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:14.940
there are a lot of online groups that have health
356
00:21:14.980 --> 00:21:18.180
and wellness people who are joining walking groups and things
357
00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.299
of that nature. You can certainly participate in many of those.
358
00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:24.900
There are many, many outlets. If you start early on,
359
00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.569
by the time you leave the workplace, you will have
360
00:21:27.609 --> 00:21:31.109
the start of a network of people who you can
361
00:21:31.190 --> 00:21:35.430
associate with either online, in person, socially, and professionally.
362
00:21:35.730 --> 00:21:39.799
Right, right. So what you're saying essentially is, you know,
363
00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:43.839
look for things that you're interested in, and then you'll
364
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:45.859
find the people who are also interested in those things,
365
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:46.920
and then you'll find them.
366
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:48.240
Exactly.
367
00:21:48.579 --> 00:21:51.109
Right, right. So how soon should you begin doing this?
368
00:21:51.210 --> 00:21:55.509
One of the things you mentioned is, you know, all right, well,
369
00:21:55.529 --> 00:21:57.789
you deal with people who are both in retirement and
370
00:21:57.809 --> 00:22:00.750
think about retirement. If you're thinking about retirement, how soon
371
00:22:00.769 --> 00:22:03.430
ahead should you be thinking about this when you're in
372
00:22:03.470 --> 00:22:03.890
your job?
373
00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:07.859
I would say certainly from a, I want to connect
374
00:22:07.900 --> 00:22:10.859
with other people perspective, I would start doing that maybe
375
00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:13.720
six months out. What you don't want to do is
376
00:22:13.779 --> 00:22:17.220
wake up the day after you turn in your ID
377
00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:19.589
badge and wake up and say, I have nobody to
378
00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.210
talk to. I have no one to have coffee with.
379
00:22:22.230 --> 00:22:25.299
I have nobody to walk with. I'm sitting here by
380
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.279
myself and I'm lonely and bored. You don't want to
381
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.339
be that once you leave work. So I would say
382
00:22:33.500 --> 00:22:36.299
if you start doing this six months out, by the
383
00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:38.539
time you're getting ready to leave, you should have a
384
00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:41.619
couple of people with whom you can carry on a conversation,
385
00:22:42.019 --> 00:22:45.569
engage with either in person or online, and you could
386
00:22:45.609 --> 00:22:50.009
hopefully have developed a new social and professional network so
387
00:22:50.049 --> 00:22:53.869
that you don't feel isolated. and like you have nobody
388
00:22:53.930 --> 00:22:56.029
to talk to. So I would say six months for
389
00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:57.710
that would be a good timing.
390
00:22:57.990 --> 00:22:58.190
Right.
391
00:22:58.410 --> 00:23:02.390
Great, great. So we have the three general steps to
392
00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:06.839
think about making the transition. You have a very good
393
00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:10.299
list of about seven questions to think about more specifically
394
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.440
as people start to plan. So why don't you run
395
00:23:13.460 --> 00:23:16.619
through those? They're an interesting list. And when we're done,
396
00:23:18.349 --> 00:23:21.130
We'll put this list up on my Rewild Resources website
397
00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:24.430
so people can find it again, as well as your
398
00:23:24.789 --> 00:23:25.609
resources as well.
399
00:23:26.089 --> 00:23:29.990
Okay. So let me start with the first one. And
400
00:23:30.210 --> 00:23:33.130
just as a note, what I'm going to talk about
401
00:23:33.230 --> 00:23:38.190
here can be applied to people who are thinking about
402
00:23:38.230 --> 00:23:41.640
retiring or in retirement, as well as people who are
403
00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:42.210
working for.
404
00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:48.019
Organizations or companies or have their own businesses because it
405
00:23:48.059 --> 00:23:51.789
can be applied to all of these situations depending upon
406
00:23:51.829 --> 00:23:55.450
what I'm mentioning. So the first one, are you satisfied
407
00:23:55.490 --> 00:24:00.490
with your professional accomplishments? That's a big one. If you
408
00:24:00.869 --> 00:24:03.410
are in a position now and you're working for a
409
00:24:03.630 --> 00:24:06.309
mid to large size company where you feel as if
410
00:24:06.970 --> 00:24:10.930
you've received the promotions you felt that you were entitled to,
411
00:24:11.069 --> 00:24:13.650
received the raises that you thought you were entitled to,
412
00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:18.359
we're challenged enough in your job, we're given increased levels
413
00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:23.089
of responsibility, we're given teams to lead, that would lead
414
00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:26.529
you to believe that you have gone pretty far in
415
00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:29.430
your career and perhaps you may want to leave on
416
00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:33.039
a high note. Then there could be a situation where
417
00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:36.319
you feel as if There's really nothing else for me
418
00:24:36.460 --> 00:24:39.859
to do here. I'm not being as challenged as much.
419
00:24:40.059 --> 00:24:44.220
I don't necessarily feel as if I received the promotions
420
00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:46.500
that I thought I was entitled to. Maybe it's time
421
00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:50.509
for me to leave in that respect also. So that
422
00:24:50.589 --> 00:24:55.670
is what I would consider a decision to retire. And
423
00:24:55.730 --> 00:24:59.690
even if you have your own business, maybe you have
424
00:24:59.769 --> 00:25:02.049
scaled it to a point where you don't feel that
425
00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:04.349
you could really grow it anymore, or maybe you don't
426
00:25:04.390 --> 00:25:06.470
want to grow it anymore, or maybe it's time for
427
00:25:06.490 --> 00:25:08.519
you to turn it over to somebody else and you
428
00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:12.140
were thinking about that. That could be your decision to
429
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:15.339
leave or your decision to retire. That would be a
430
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.769
signal for me. My signals really were the fact that
431
00:25:19.809 --> 00:25:21.710
I was seeing a lot of people who I had
432
00:25:21.789 --> 00:25:25.829
started working with 28, 29 years before were announcing their
433
00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:30.529
intent to leave. The retail landscape was changing. I had
434
00:25:30.589 --> 00:25:32.869
wanted to leave on a high note. I felt that
435
00:25:32.930 --> 00:25:35.269
I had accomplished everything that I had wanted to do.
436
00:25:35.390 --> 00:25:39.849
I had actually received the Star Award for team leadership.
437
00:25:40.470 --> 00:25:43.299
And I had managed several teams. And I said, this
438
00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:46.099
is great. The timing is great. It's time for me
439
00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:48.859
to take everything I've learned and move on. So that
440
00:25:48.940 --> 00:25:53.349
really prompted my decision to leave. Okay. The second one is,
441
00:25:53.430 --> 00:25:57.710
have you fact-checked information that could impact your benefits and entitlements?
442
00:25:58.250 --> 00:26:02.430
In a mid- to large-size organization, this is really key.
443
00:26:03.109 --> 00:26:08.210
What I usually tell people to do is, if they
444
00:26:08.309 --> 00:26:12.740
are working for that size organization, a lot of times
445
00:26:12.819 --> 00:26:16.279
what you are entitled to is based upon your years
446
00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:21.769
of service. And it's important that you constantly validate that
447
00:26:21.829 --> 00:26:26.410
information in as many systems as you can find or
448
00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:29.059
that you know about within an organization to make sure
449
00:26:29.099 --> 00:26:32.279
that all of the information aligns. What you don't want
450
00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:34.480
to have is you're walking out the door when you
451
00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:37.099
think that you've been someplace for 30 years and it
452
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:39.579
turns out that the records only say you've been there
453
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:43.410
for 27. Then it's too late. And as far as
454
00:26:43.490 --> 00:26:47.470
if you have your own business, are there certain aspects
455
00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:50.470
of the business that require follow-up or checking that you
456
00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:54.519
have to make sure of are correct as well? That's something, again,
457
00:26:54.579 --> 00:26:57.079
before you sell a business or you decide to get
458
00:26:57.160 --> 00:26:59.160
out of a business, what is it that you have
459
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:01.140
to check to make sure is correct?
460
00:27:01.539 --> 00:27:04.579
Right. Before we go on, I just want to underline
461
00:27:04.619 --> 00:27:07.240
that those are really important points because a lot of
462
00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:09.500
times you think you know and you don't know. There
463
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.250
are a lot of technical things. In one of my cases,
464
00:27:13.329 --> 00:27:18.170
I was aware of when I was leaving, what my
465
00:27:18.210 --> 00:27:21.890
entitlements were leaving. In the other case, I decided to
466
00:27:21.950 --> 00:27:25.309
leave fairly quickly and not realizing it would take some
467
00:27:25.410 --> 00:27:28.390
time to unravel what I was entitled to. So you
468
00:27:28.410 --> 00:27:30.869
have to sort of leave enough time to work with
469
00:27:30.970 --> 00:27:34.730
the administrative structure, whatever the organization is, to really find
470
00:27:34.789 --> 00:27:37.119
out this stuff. So good thing to really be aware of.
471
00:27:38.130 --> 00:27:41.990
I think that most people... believe that there are other
472
00:27:42.049 --> 00:27:44.970
people in other departments that handle this kind of stuff.
473
00:27:45.869 --> 00:27:48.670
And when it comes right down to it, you're the
474
00:27:48.730 --> 00:27:51.509
person who's responsible for you. So you're the one that
475
00:27:51.549 --> 00:27:53.849
really has to make sure that it gets handled because
476
00:27:53.990 --> 00:27:57.569
once you've left, there's nothing much else that you can
477
00:27:57.609 --> 00:27:59.019
do if it's not correct.
478
00:27:59.339 --> 00:27:59.559
Right.
479
00:27:59.950 --> 00:28:02.480
The third point is, do you have a point person
480
00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:05.720
to speak with after you leave either, you know, your
481
00:28:05.779 --> 00:28:09.509
employment at a company or even your own business? Suppose
482
00:28:09.549 --> 00:28:12.329
something comes up after you leave a mid to large
483
00:28:12.369 --> 00:28:15.369
size company, you need to speak with someone. You know,
484
00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:18.950
it's very difficult sometimes to get back into an organization
485
00:28:18.990 --> 00:28:21.579
and find someone to speak with if you haven't made
486
00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:25.559
arrangements for or have, you know, made the connections beforehand.
487
00:28:26.019 --> 00:28:30.019
So whatever situation you're leaving, whether it's your own business
488
00:28:30.140 --> 00:28:33.190
or another organization, make sure that there is someone that
489
00:28:33.230 --> 00:28:36.410
you can speak with, you know, two or three months out,
490
00:28:36.650 --> 00:28:40.069
just in case there were any loose ends. very important.
491
00:28:41.490 --> 00:28:44.549
What career and life skills and talents can you leverage
492
00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:47.730
in retirement? This is the fourth point. And this is
493
00:28:47.869 --> 00:28:50.549
one that I come back to because this is what
494
00:28:50.589 --> 00:28:53.670
will really start to bring you that happiness and fulfillment
495
00:28:53.690 --> 00:28:56.759
that we were talking about earlier. You know, for me,
496
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:01.859
My forte or areas of expertise were in operations process
497
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:06.890
and analytics. So I redirected those now. I can do presentations.
498
00:29:07.049 --> 00:29:11.430
I've organized a roadmap because I'm very procedurally oriented. I've
499
00:29:11.470 --> 00:29:17.509
done part-time teaching in math because I enjoyed analytics. If you, again,
500
00:29:17.569 --> 00:29:19.910
if you own your own business, maybe you own a
501
00:29:19.950 --> 00:29:22.690
restaurant and you're a chef, maybe you're a great cook.
502
00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:26.380
A lot of people are now launching online classes to
503
00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:28.559
teach what they know. Maybe you could teach a class
504
00:29:28.619 --> 00:29:31.589
about cooking online. There are so many things that you
505
00:29:31.609 --> 00:29:34.730
can think about. Sometimes you just have to sit down
506
00:29:34.789 --> 00:29:37.329
at a PC or sit down with a pen and
507
00:29:37.349 --> 00:29:39.529
a piece of paper and just start to write all
508
00:29:39.549 --> 00:29:43.529
of this down. I would suggest that it isn't a
509
00:29:43.569 --> 00:29:45.990
bad idea to keep a running list of the skills
510
00:29:46.109 --> 00:29:48.789
and talents that you acquire along the way because they're
511
00:29:48.829 --> 00:29:51.529
always changing and you could always add to the list
512
00:29:51.589 --> 00:29:54.250
and you would be amazed at what you can come
513
00:29:54.309 --> 00:29:56.690
up with to do after you leave based on everything
514
00:29:56.710 --> 00:30:00.819
you've learned beforehand. Exactly. Number five is what could your
515
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.099
social network look like in retirement, which is something that
516
00:30:04.140 --> 00:30:08.599
we've been talking about again, very important. Um, who are
517
00:30:08.619 --> 00:30:11.579
the people that you're going to associate with after you leave?
518
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:13.940
Are you still going to maintain some of the contacts
519
00:30:13.980 --> 00:30:17.380
you had at the workplace? Um, when you're out of it,
520
00:30:17.869 --> 00:30:20.430
are you going to try to go online with these
521
00:30:20.490 --> 00:30:23.710
different online social groups and meet new people based on
522
00:30:23.750 --> 00:30:27.559
your interests? Um, If you want to be concerned about
523
00:30:27.579 --> 00:30:29.240
health and wellness, are you going to join one of
524
00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:32.849
those groups and maybe do walking challenges? Those are things
525
00:30:32.890 --> 00:30:36.130
that will affect your social network. And again, bring you
526
00:30:36.170 --> 00:30:38.890
happiness and fulfillment in retirement because you will have other
527
00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:42.390
people to associate with who have interests that are as
528
00:30:42.490 --> 00:30:47.039
similar as yours. And number six and number seven, does
529
00:30:47.140 --> 00:30:49.599
all of this seem a bit overwhelming and could you
530
00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:52.740
use some assistance in accomplishing all of it? That's the
531
00:30:52.779 --> 00:30:56.559
reason I decided to become a retirement journey advocate to
532
00:30:56.700 --> 00:31:00.569
advocate for those people and to help those people create
533
00:31:00.630 --> 00:31:04.329
their unique roadmap, because there's a lot to consider. And
534
00:31:04.390 --> 00:31:07.789
at the end of all of this, if the intent,
535
00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.690
you know, the decision to leave the administrative and procedural
536
00:31:11.750 --> 00:31:14.849
process and the emotional and social, if there is a
537
00:31:14.950 --> 00:31:17.339
process involved with all of this and all of the
538
00:31:17.410 --> 00:31:20.480
steps are completed, you can really have peace of mind
539
00:31:20.519 --> 00:31:23.769
and feel pretty secure that you will be entering in
540
00:31:23.809 --> 00:31:26.809
retirement in a very, very positive way. And on a very,
541
00:31:26.950 --> 00:31:28.289
on a very positive note.
542
00:31:28.529 --> 00:31:28.730
Right.
543
00:31:28.990 --> 00:31:33.250
Great. Now, as you leave, uh, some of the conversations
544
00:31:33.269 --> 00:31:37.990
you have are naturally with your family and friends. Uh, so, uh,
545
00:31:38.210 --> 00:31:40.970
how do you engage your, your, especially your family? Cause
546
00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:44.779
I often, it's your spouse. These are interesting conversations about
547
00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:47.460
when one retires and the other does not necessarily, or
548
00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:51.990
how to combine terms. What sort of, uh, constructive conversations
549
00:31:52.029 --> 00:31:53.950
should you have with family and friends as you make
550
00:31:53.990 --> 00:31:54.630
the transition?
551
00:31:55.890 --> 00:32:01.349
Well, I think that first of all, the situation involving
552
00:32:01.390 --> 00:32:05.150
you and your spouse, as an example, I was the
553
00:32:05.349 --> 00:32:09.119
one with always the much more hectic schedule than my husband.
554
00:32:09.170 --> 00:32:10.940
So he was the one that was much more in
555
00:32:11.900 --> 00:32:14.059
the house at home, taking care of things at home.
556
00:32:14.099 --> 00:32:16.700
And I was the one who was always coming home
557
00:32:16.779 --> 00:32:20.789
late and I was usually traveling and not around very much,
558
00:32:21.529 --> 00:32:26.130
but he understood that when I was planning to leave
559
00:32:26.369 --> 00:32:28.930
my job, I wasn't just going to be sitting around
560
00:32:28.990 --> 00:32:34.470
doing nothing because that's not my personality. So I think
561
00:32:34.509 --> 00:32:38.029
when you have those initial conversations, you need to have
562
00:32:38.089 --> 00:32:43.319
conversations with family and friends who number one, truly understand
563
00:32:43.410 --> 00:32:49.480
your personality and understand, um, what your strengths and opportunities
564
00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:54.019
are so that they can give you constructive feedback. I
565
00:32:54.549 --> 00:32:56.730
spoke to my husband about this and he knew right
566
00:32:56.750 --> 00:32:58.410
off the bat, as I said, that I was going
567
00:32:58.450 --> 00:33:01.369
to do something. Ultimately, I had to figure out what
568
00:33:01.410 --> 00:33:03.150
that was, but he knew I wasn't just going to
569
00:33:03.190 --> 00:33:07.259
be sitting at home. I also received constructive feedback from
570
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:09.740
people that I worked with and people who were friends
571
00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:12.500
of mine. And I would also give the same advice
572
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:15.910
to everyone else. You would be amazed at what people
573
00:33:15.950 --> 00:33:19.609
you work with see in you that you don't necessarily see.
574
00:33:20.450 --> 00:33:23.450
And they can give you a lot of positive feedback.
575
00:33:23.509 --> 00:33:26.529
And I actually work with some people, you know, in
576
00:33:26.589 --> 00:33:29.029
order to formulate what I'm doing now based on the
577
00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:31.569
fact that they really were able to see my strengths
578
00:33:31.970 --> 00:33:36.049
and opportunities even more clearly than I was. The same
579
00:33:36.069 --> 00:33:39.069
with family. One of my family members said to me,
580
00:33:39.150 --> 00:33:41.450
we knew that you weren't just going to be sitting around.
581
00:33:41.490 --> 00:33:44.990
We knew that you were going to do something. I
582
00:33:45.049 --> 00:33:47.130
think for the most part, most of the people who
583
00:33:47.170 --> 00:33:50.690
are in your close circle know you pretty well, but
584
00:33:50.829 --> 00:33:55.250
I would just say that when you ask people for feedback,
585
00:33:55.789 --> 00:33:58.619
make sure that the feedback they give you is constructive
586
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:00.559
and try to stay away from people who are going
587
00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:04.220
to be more critiquing and complaining because that's not going
588
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:06.819
to really provide you with the incentive that you're going
589
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:10.460
to need. If you get that constructive feedback from people,
590
00:34:10.860 --> 00:34:12.739
it will really go a long way in helping you
591
00:34:12.820 --> 00:34:15.000
formulate what it is that you're going to be doing.
592
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:16.519
Cause it definitely helped me.
593
00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:17.139
Right.
594
00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:17.559
Right.
595
00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:20.139
Yeah. I think that, that, you know, a lot of
596
00:34:21.059 --> 00:34:25.559
conversations are happening today that maybe didn't happen 15 or
597
00:34:25.559 --> 00:34:30.389
20 years ago when you didn't have as many working couples.
598
00:34:30.750 --> 00:34:34.289
But I think this does become a, something of, of,
599
00:34:35.110 --> 00:34:38.690
you know, interest and imperative that you actually talk it through.
600
00:34:38.829 --> 00:34:40.539
Cause it, you know, a lot of couples, I know
601
00:34:40.579 --> 00:34:43.050
that one is retiring, the other doesn't. And how do you,
602
00:34:43.260 --> 00:34:45.929
you know, mesh your lifestyles and what your expectations are.
603
00:34:46.489 --> 00:34:49.610
So I think these are important conversations to have. Um,
604
00:34:50.369 --> 00:34:53.630
now one of the other things that has come up and, uh,
605
00:34:53.670 --> 00:34:55.050
we may talk about this more on the other side
606
00:34:55.070 --> 00:34:59.579
of the break, but, um, is along those lines of, okay,
607
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:02.119
if you're retiring, you know, the initial thought is, boy,
608
00:35:02.980 --> 00:35:05.099
I've got all this time to do, you know, to
609
00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:08.789
think about and do things. And, um, So the first
610
00:35:08.809 --> 00:35:12.690
thing that comes up is some people talk about, you know,
611
00:35:12.710 --> 00:35:16.849
I need a break. And so often that's not a
612
00:35:16.869 --> 00:35:18.869
bad idea, but what sort of break do you think
613
00:35:18.929 --> 00:35:19.710
is helpful?
614
00:35:22.469 --> 00:35:29.909
I think that a two-month break is reasonable, especially if
615
00:35:29.929 --> 00:35:33.099
you're working for a long period of time. to kind
616
00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:37.179
of gather your wits about you, so to speak, kind
617
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:41.440
of refresh yourself. You're going to be entering in something
618
00:35:41.460 --> 00:35:44.219
that's very new and very, very different. It's a time
619
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:47.780
for you also, I think, to also rethink some of
620
00:35:47.820 --> 00:35:50.289
the goals and continue thinking about what it is that
621
00:35:50.329 --> 00:35:52.829
you want to do if you haven't really completed that.
622
00:35:53.349 --> 00:35:56.710
That isn't a bad thing to do. One of the
623
00:35:56.869 --> 00:35:59.570
areas that you can be thinking about at this break
624
00:35:59.630 --> 00:36:02.409
time is you're now going to have a lot more
625
00:36:02.570 --> 00:36:07.219
flexible time than you had before. And one thing that
626
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.800
is key to think about is what is your most
627
00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:17.179
productive time of the day? I'm a morning person. I
628
00:36:17.219 --> 00:36:20.539
get up very early, but at about 1030, that's it.
629
00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:23.699
I'm out because I'm used to that schedule. And it's
630
00:36:23.780 --> 00:36:26.639
interesting because that was pretty much the schedule I kept
631
00:36:26.679 --> 00:36:28.840
when I was working and I haven't changed it much.
632
00:36:29.449 --> 00:36:32.159
So if you take this two month break, you know,
633
00:36:32.179 --> 00:36:34.480
start to think about now that I'm going to have
634
00:36:34.539 --> 00:36:36.500
more of this time, how do I want to fill
635
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:40.059
my day? What are my goals going to be? You know,
636
00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:42.239
do I want to do something that has to do
637
00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:45.250
again with health and wellness? Do I want to volunteer?
638
00:36:45.269 --> 00:36:47.889
Do I want, you know, things of that nature? Do
639
00:36:47.909 --> 00:36:49.170
I want to learn something?
640
00:36:49.250 --> 00:36:49.469
Yeah.
641
00:36:49.590 --> 00:36:51.409
So let's hold that thought. We're going to take another
642
00:36:51.489 --> 00:36:54.800
quick break, but there's much more to come with Leah Frankel.
643
00:36:54.820 --> 00:36:56.440
So folks don't go anywhere.
644
00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:08.599
Get the news on our shows and other happenings by
645
00:37:08.699 --> 00:37:14.289
following us on Twitter. Find us at VoiceAmericaTRN or Twitter.com
646
00:37:14.510 --> 00:37:16.389
forward slash VoiceAmericaTRN.
647
00:37:18.550 --> 00:37:20.769
Do you want to hear a show about football? How
648
00:37:20.789 --> 00:37:24.070
about Football Moms? What if we told you that was
649
00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:27.289
just a start? Tune in for Double Down with Garrett
650
00:37:27.329 --> 00:37:30.789
and Mac, Audrey Garrett and Geraci Mac, our moms to
651
00:37:30.809 --> 00:37:35.199
some well-known NFL players. Sure, they'll talk football and raising
652
00:37:35.239 --> 00:37:38.079
their kids to achieve greatness, but they'll also talk about
653
00:37:38.139 --> 00:37:42.940
community and world issues, motherhood, news, and lifestyle topics. Listen
654
00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:45.380
in every Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 2 p.m.
655
00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:51.840
Pacific Time on the Voice America Variety Channel. Have you
656
00:37:51.900 --> 00:37:55.219
checked out Teen Wealth Radio? It's a show for teens,
657
00:37:55.420 --> 00:37:59.780
their parents and educators. Hosted by Brandi England. Along with
658
00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:03.369
regular weekly contributors, Teen Wealth Radio will cover the topics
659
00:38:03.409 --> 00:38:06.590
that teens need to talk about. Plus, we discuss a
660
00:38:06.670 --> 00:38:08.690
book of the week and a movie of the week.
661
00:38:08.909 --> 00:38:11.429
And each show will offer a challenge to our teen
662
00:38:11.489 --> 00:38:14.969
listeners that they can share on our private Facebook group page.
663
00:38:15.289 --> 00:38:18.360
Be sure to tune in to Teen Wealth Radio, live
664
00:38:18.489 --> 00:38:21.599
every Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, 5 p.m. Pacific
665
00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:32.980
on Voice America Variety. You're listening to 45 Forward.
666
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:35.699
To reach Ron Roel or his guest on the program,
667
00:38:36.139 --> 00:38:42.389
please send an email to ron.roel at gmail.com. That's ron.roel
668
00:38:42.630 --> 00:38:46.309
at gmail.com. Now back to 45 Forward.
669
00:38:49.989 --> 00:38:52.539
Welcome back, folks. We're talking today with Leah Frankel, a
670
00:38:52.599 --> 00:38:56.519
retirement journey advocate. Before the break, we were just talking
671
00:38:56.579 --> 00:38:58.800
about one of the adjustments we need to make as
672
00:38:58.860 --> 00:39:01.519
we go into this period of life, which is really
673
00:39:02.219 --> 00:39:05.880
taking control of your own schedule. And usually it's a
674
00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:08.260
much more flexible schedule that you need to take charge of.
675
00:39:08.280 --> 00:39:12.960
So I found that myself, that was an important adjustment
676
00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:15.539
for me, going from a newspaper environment, which you were
677
00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:18.010
very structured every day to put out a daily paper,
678
00:39:18.679 --> 00:39:23.610
to creating your own schedule and your own time. How
679
00:39:23.650 --> 00:39:25.909
do you do that? What are the important things about
680
00:39:26.289 --> 00:39:28.429
keeping organized and figuring out how to work it?
681
00:39:29.619 --> 00:39:33.639
Well, first of all, as I mentioned before, think about
682
00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.400
when your most productive time of the day is. You know,
683
00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:39.119
is it earlier in the day? Is it a little
684
00:39:39.139 --> 00:39:42.550
bit later in the day? And start from there. Because
685
00:39:42.650 --> 00:39:45.050
if you want to do something that's a little bit
686
00:39:45.090 --> 00:39:47.550
more cerebral, let's just say that you want to.
687
00:39:49.780 --> 00:39:51.599
Have a little bit of a side business. So do
688
00:39:51.659 --> 00:39:54.989
something that will require a little bit more thought and attention.
689
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:57.829
You're going to want to do that when you're most focused.
690
00:39:58.389 --> 00:40:00.230
That's a good way to start to think about this
691
00:40:00.309 --> 00:40:02.590
flexible time. If there's something that I want to do
692
00:40:02.630 --> 00:40:06.010
that's going to require more thought involved, do it when
693
00:40:06.050 --> 00:40:08.690
I'm the most productive. If that's the morning, that's fine.
694
00:40:08.750 --> 00:40:11.190
If you're more productive at 10 o'clock at night, well,
695
00:40:12.349 --> 00:40:15.809
God bless you, as they say, but that's something that
696
00:40:15.889 --> 00:40:18.820
you have to decide. That's one way. that you can
697
00:40:18.860 --> 00:40:20.980
think about how you're going to be filling your time.
698
00:40:22.139 --> 00:40:24.139
The other things you may want to think about are
699
00:40:24.179 --> 00:40:29.070
the following. You know, instead of, you know, starting a
700
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:31.289
full-fledged business, maybe you just want to earn a little
701
00:40:31.309 --> 00:40:34.329
bit of extra money on the side. What talents and
702
00:40:34.389 --> 00:40:37.590
skills that you had before you retired could you leverage
703
00:40:37.630 --> 00:40:40.530
in order to do that? That's another thing to think about.
704
00:40:41.550 --> 00:40:43.510
Do you want to do some traveling? I know now
705
00:40:43.570 --> 00:40:48.769
in the era of COVID, People aren't necessarily traveling that extensively,
706
00:40:49.050 --> 00:40:51.550
but maybe you want to do some more date-type trips,
707
00:40:52.250 --> 00:40:54.269
which are a lot easier to manage, may have a
708
00:40:54.329 --> 00:40:57.659
lot less crowds. And there are many, many places locally
709
00:40:57.699 --> 00:40:59.699
that you can look up online where you could certainly
710
00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:04.320
go for the day and enjoy a nice day outward
711
00:41:04.340 --> 00:41:07.360
with friends and family. The other thing people want to do,
712
00:41:07.400 --> 00:41:10.030
a lot of people talk about volunteering for a cause
713
00:41:10.090 --> 00:41:14.050
when they're retiring. That becomes important because a lot of times,
714
00:41:14.989 --> 00:41:17.610
people didn't necessarily have the time to do that when
715
00:41:17.630 --> 00:41:20.210
they were working. And that's another thing that you can
716
00:41:20.289 --> 00:41:23.730
think about in terms of trying to decide how to
717
00:41:23.809 --> 00:41:26.610
spend your time. What did I want to do when
718
00:41:26.699 --> 00:41:29.159
I was working, but I never had the time to do?
719
00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:33.860
That again, sit down, you know, write this information down.
720
00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:36.539
It will go a long way to helping you how
721
00:41:36.579 --> 00:41:38.780
to spend that time. So do you want to volunteer
722
00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:41.789
for a cause that you're passionate about? whether it involves
723
00:41:42.289 --> 00:41:44.369
people that are close to you or something that's much
724
00:41:44.469 --> 00:41:50.489
bigger like global warming or the environment. The other thing
725
00:41:50.510 --> 00:41:54.159
that seems to be very, very popular these days that
726
00:41:54.179 --> 00:41:56.300
I see online, if we want to go back for
727
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:58.980
a second to traveling, if you may not necessarily want
728
00:41:59.019 --> 00:42:02.400
to travel in person, there are a lot of virtual
729
00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:06.179
travel tours that are online that are very, very interesting
730
00:42:06.500 --> 00:42:09.090
and can take you to some of the most exotic places.
731
00:42:09.809 --> 00:42:12.150
So The other part that you want to focus on,
732
00:42:12.170 --> 00:42:14.230
of course, is health and wellness. You always want to
733
00:42:14.269 --> 00:42:16.829
make time for that during the part of a week.
734
00:42:17.230 --> 00:42:20.389
So if you take into consideration everything I just mentioned,
735
00:42:20.730 --> 00:42:23.469
and you really sit down and figure out how all
736
00:42:23.489 --> 00:42:25.489
of that would affect you, that would probably take you
737
00:42:25.530 --> 00:42:29.489
through at least a year's worth of time, without a doubt,
738
00:42:29.949 --> 00:42:31.949
when you really start to sit down and think about this.
739
00:42:31.989 --> 00:42:34.119
But it takes a little bit of time and guidance
740
00:42:34.139 --> 00:42:36.139
to think about it, but it will fill up a
741
00:42:36.179 --> 00:42:39.210
good portion of your days and weeks, and you'll definitely
742
00:42:39.250 --> 00:42:42.119
get a lot of enjoyment, happiness, and fulfillment from it.
743
00:42:42.500 --> 00:42:42.679
Right.
744
00:42:43.380 --> 00:42:43.559
Yeah.
745
00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:47.039
I think, especially now that, that we're, whether we were
746
00:42:47.059 --> 00:42:50.559
working or retiring or thinking about it, we spend a
747
00:42:50.579 --> 00:42:53.079
lot more time at home. I mean, that's been something
748
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:56.969
that's been enforced on us by COVID and certainly things
749
00:42:57.010 --> 00:42:59.449
are opening up, but I think, you know, that is
750
00:42:59.469 --> 00:43:02.210
a concern about, you know, your health and wellness at home.
751
00:43:03.329 --> 00:43:06.400
I myself experienced this issue of, you know, well, what
752
00:43:06.420 --> 00:43:08.340
do you do for a living while you're sitting in
753
00:43:08.440 --> 00:43:11.679
front of a computer, which is, you know, it's fine,
754
00:43:11.719 --> 00:43:13.739
but it's not fine for long periods of time. And
755
00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:17.610
I think I was listening to someone, a study a
756
00:43:17.650 --> 00:43:20.329
little while ago that said something like, if you're, if
757
00:43:20.369 --> 00:43:22.329
that is, if you really are working in front of
758
00:43:22.349 --> 00:43:24.550
the computer, most of the time, the most productive thing
759
00:43:24.630 --> 00:43:28.610
is to work in 52 minute integral and intervals, and
760
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:30.940
then take a 10 or 15 minute break and then
761
00:43:30.980 --> 00:43:33.440
go back. And so I think that's a really critical
762
00:43:33.480 --> 00:43:37.039
thing that is taking those breaks and And as well
763
00:43:37.099 --> 00:43:39.800
as having more vigorous exercise, I think makes you productive.
764
00:43:39.820 --> 00:43:42.260
So I know that you yourself, you got more involved
765
00:43:42.340 --> 00:43:44.260
in doing 5K runs. Is that right?
766
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:45.639
Yes.
767
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:51.130
Exercise and health and wellness has really become a paramount
768
00:43:51.250 --> 00:43:53.489
initiative and concern for me. And not only is it
769
00:43:53.530 --> 00:43:57.820
a concern, it's something that I really enjoy. About five
770
00:43:57.980 --> 00:44:01.420
years ago, I met a very, very wonderful woman. I'm
771
00:44:01.440 --> 00:44:04.099
going to name her on the show because she's terrific.
772
00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:07.289
Her name is Constance Carl, and she is my running
773
00:44:07.369 --> 00:44:12.110
trainer in Long Island. And she trained me to run 5Ks.
774
00:44:12.349 --> 00:44:14.329
And because of her and with her help, I have
775
00:44:14.389 --> 00:44:18.860
run at least two 5K races for the past several years.
776
00:44:18.969 --> 00:44:22.460
And I've enjoyed every moment of them. And in this
777
00:44:22.539 --> 00:44:27.489
COVID environment, One of the benefits that I have seen
778
00:44:27.630 --> 00:44:30.230
or that I've experienced is if you are not comfortable
779
00:44:30.289 --> 00:44:32.829
running in a group of people, which I am not
780
00:44:32.889 --> 00:44:36.150
yet comfortable with, you can now run virtual races all
781
00:44:36.230 --> 00:44:38.809
over the country. And as a matter of fact, a
782
00:44:38.869 --> 00:44:41.449
few weeks ago in the summer, I ran a virtual
783
00:44:41.530 --> 00:44:45.239
race for America's vet dogs, for dogs that help first
784
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:50.179
responders and people in the military with PTSD. So I ran...
785
00:44:50.630 --> 00:44:53.389
I ran for a cause, which most races are usually
786
00:44:53.449 --> 00:44:56.550
to benefit some kind of philanthropic cause or charity. So
787
00:44:56.590 --> 00:45:00.389
you can run virtually. I also have a gym that
788
00:45:00.590 --> 00:45:04.969
I participate in virtual yoga classes on. Instead of going
789
00:45:05.010 --> 00:45:08.590
into the gym, I have a virtual yoga class. I
790
00:45:08.630 --> 00:45:10.610
just turn it on and work out in the comfort
791
00:45:10.650 --> 00:45:15.070
of my own home. I've done local walking challenges. I
792
00:45:15.110 --> 00:45:19.929
have a treadmill downstairs. So health and wellness has really
793
00:45:19.989 --> 00:45:22.570
become a top of mind for me. And not only
794
00:45:22.590 --> 00:45:25.989
is it necessary, it's something that I really enjoy and
795
00:45:26.070 --> 00:45:28.980
I highly recommend. Right.
796
00:45:29.139 --> 00:45:31.659
So when you do these virtual races, are you actually,
797
00:45:31.699 --> 00:45:34.619
you're running, but not with other contestants and then you
798
00:45:34.639 --> 00:45:36.400
sort of report your time or how does that work?
799
00:45:37.230 --> 00:45:40.199
I'm actually running with my trainer. I'm running with Constance.
800
00:45:40.260 --> 00:45:42.280
We have run in a local park. And what we
801
00:45:42.300 --> 00:45:47.780
do is there are online applications where you submit your
802
00:45:47.820 --> 00:45:51.480
results through that and you get credit, so to speak,
803
00:45:51.559 --> 00:45:54.389
for it that you've run the race. And I have
804
00:45:54.449 --> 00:45:59.110
done several of them during COVID. And they're terrific because
805
00:45:59.150 --> 00:46:02.469
you're really running uh, pretty much, you know, with yourself
806
00:46:02.550 --> 00:46:04.429
or maybe one or two other people, you're not running
807
00:46:04.469 --> 00:46:09.309
necessarily in a crowd of 2000 people or something like that. And, um,
808
00:46:09.610 --> 00:46:12.809
it's very, very satisfying. You feel like you've accomplished something,
809
00:46:13.190 --> 00:46:15.550
but you've done it in a much safer environment. Um,
810
00:46:15.610 --> 00:46:18.690
something that I would highly recommend if people do want
811
00:46:18.710 --> 00:46:20.769
to run or something like that, but they're still not
812
00:46:20.949 --> 00:46:23.269
quite comfortable running, you know, in a crowd of people.
813
00:46:23.650 --> 00:46:23.849
Right.
814
00:46:24.150 --> 00:46:24.329
Right.
815
00:46:24.849 --> 00:46:26.469
So we have, we have a little bit more time
816
00:46:26.530 --> 00:46:29.269
left here, but I just want to make sure before we, uh,
817
00:46:29.949 --> 00:46:32.389
finish the show, though. We talked a little bit about
818
00:46:32.449 --> 00:46:34.630
specifically how people can work with you. What sort of
819
00:46:35.469 --> 00:46:38.250
services do you have, programs, webinars, et cetera?
820
00:46:38.969 --> 00:46:41.849
Oh, okay. What I'm going to be doing in the
821
00:46:41.889 --> 00:46:43.869
fourth quarter of this year is I am going to
822
00:46:43.909 --> 00:46:47.889
be launching an online course, which is going to target
823
00:46:47.929 --> 00:46:50.710
specifically the three steps that we spoke about today in
824
00:46:51.369 --> 00:46:54.750
the roadmap from the workplace to retirement, which would be
825
00:46:54.789 --> 00:46:59.460
the decision to retire, your administrative and procedural aspect, and
826
00:46:59.539 --> 00:47:03.969
the social, emotional, and identity aspect. So if people are
827
00:47:04.010 --> 00:47:08.489
interested in taking those classes, they can contact me. I
828
00:47:08.550 --> 00:47:10.949
think you'll probably give them the email in a few minutes.
829
00:47:10.969 --> 00:47:13.530
They can contact me through email and I will have
830
00:47:13.590 --> 00:47:17.659
more definitive information on that in the next few weeks.
831
00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:20.360
And they can take one, two, or three of the classes.
832
00:47:21.019 --> 00:47:23.739
And I will also be launching a podcast in the
833
00:47:23.800 --> 00:47:27.369
fourth quarter of this year. and I will be looking
834
00:47:27.449 --> 00:47:35.099
for guests who have leveraged their life skills and professional skills, talents,
835
00:47:35.159 --> 00:47:39.119
and passions from their workplace into retirement, because I think
836
00:47:39.619 --> 00:47:42.679
that information would be very, very interesting for people who
837
00:47:42.719 --> 00:47:45.719
have retirement on the horizon, as well as for people
838
00:47:45.760 --> 00:47:48.420
who are already in retirement and who are not quite
839
00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:50.820
yet sure of what to do. And I think they
840
00:47:50.860 --> 00:47:53.860
will find that information very, very helpful as well. So
841
00:47:53.880 --> 00:47:56.559
those are the two initiatives that I am hoping to
842
00:47:56.949 --> 00:47:59.809
complete and have up and running in the fourth quarter
843
00:47:59.889 --> 00:48:02.909
of this year with more to come in 2022.
844
00:48:02.909 --> 00:48:06.110
Great, great. Now you already, so you'll be doing, you've
845
00:48:06.150 --> 00:48:12.489
done a lot of presentations and you're teaching as well. What, sorry,
846
00:48:12.510 --> 00:48:15.300
the courses that you're teaching, are they for younger students
847
00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:15.659
as well?
848
00:48:16.940 --> 00:48:22.480
I taught math last year. I taught common core math.
849
00:48:22.559 --> 00:48:26.239
Now the interesting part about this Is common core math
850
00:48:26.360 --> 00:48:28.530
is not a math that I learned when I was
851
00:48:28.590 --> 00:48:31.750
growing up. So what did I do? I took the
852
00:48:31.849 --> 00:48:34.590
skills and talents that I learned when I was working,
853
00:48:34.610 --> 00:48:38.190
which was intense concentration and my love for math. And
854
00:48:38.230 --> 00:48:41.650
I taught myself common core math. I taught a fifth
855
00:48:41.690 --> 00:48:48.250
grade math class for four months. I gave them exams, worksheets.
856
00:48:48.389 --> 00:48:52.300
I had parent conferences and I did report cards. It
857
00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:57.760
was a very interesting experience and a gratifying one because, again,
858
00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:00.230
I was using my success to help others. And it
859
00:49:00.269 --> 00:49:03.889
was like a whole new adventure for me. It was
860
00:49:04.030 --> 00:49:08.349
really exercising my mind, which is something people are concerned
861
00:49:08.389 --> 00:49:11.730
about cognitive decline as they get older. I'm in a
862
00:49:11.769 --> 00:49:14.530
position now where I want to be exercising my mind
863
00:49:14.750 --> 00:49:17.989
every day. And teaching math to fifth grade students is
864
00:49:18.030 --> 00:49:19.650
probably one of the best ways I can think of
865
00:49:19.670 --> 00:49:23.349
to exercise. anyone's mind. That was really a bonus.
866
00:49:23.949 --> 00:49:27.909
I hear that. Yeah, certainly they, that's one of the
867
00:49:28.809 --> 00:49:31.369
things that they say, you want to keep yourself sharp
868
00:49:31.630 --> 00:49:36.980
into old age, do cognitive exercises that are really challenging.
869
00:49:37.139 --> 00:49:40.909
You know, I mean, nothing wrong with Sudoku and crossword puzzles,
870
00:49:40.949 --> 00:49:43.840
but take on something that's, you know, so totally different.
871
00:49:43.860 --> 00:49:47.659
You haven't done for years or ever. So, you know,
872
00:49:47.860 --> 00:49:53.570
math languages, these sort of cumulative skills are really terrific.
873
00:49:54.949 --> 00:49:59.329
So what, so one last thing I wanted to ask
874
00:49:59.369 --> 00:50:03.050
you is really about, you know, what are some of
875
00:50:03.090 --> 00:50:05.469
the takeaways that you might not have expected? Are there
876
00:50:05.510 --> 00:50:07.840
things that, that you've learned that you would have done
877
00:50:08.059 --> 00:50:12.679
over or differently from your experience in this transition?
878
00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:18.659
I think that one thing I would have probably done
879
00:50:18.900 --> 00:50:26.300
over was perhaps even started earlier on trying to formulate
880
00:50:26.360 --> 00:50:29.500
my network and I don't know if this would have
881
00:50:29.519 --> 00:50:32.420
been possible, but I think if I would have been
882
00:50:32.460 --> 00:50:36.300
able to research earlier on what was involved in starting
883
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:39.500
up my business, that would have been very beneficial. I
884
00:50:39.559 --> 00:50:41.820
have learned a lot along the way and I've done
885
00:50:41.860 --> 00:50:45.440
most of the teaching myself, but I didn't realize how
886
00:50:45.539 --> 00:50:50.239
complex it is to start your own business. And, um,
887
00:50:50.320 --> 00:50:53.539
if I would have probably solidified that decision earlier, I
888
00:50:53.619 --> 00:50:56.119
probably would have done the research a little bit earlier
889
00:50:56.239 --> 00:51:00.369
to see exactly, um, what I needed to do, but
890
00:51:00.469 --> 00:51:03.349
on the positive side, it's been such an interesting ride
891
00:51:03.389 --> 00:51:06.250
for me. And I've learned so much at the end
892
00:51:06.289 --> 00:51:08.469
of it all. I'm okay with it. You know, I'm
893
00:51:08.550 --> 00:51:11.619
okay with it. So those would have been the two
894
00:51:11.699 --> 00:51:13.960
things that I probably would have done a little bit differently.
895
00:51:14.500 --> 00:51:17.099
Yeah. I think part of it is just also having
896
00:51:17.139 --> 00:51:19.780
some resilience to realize, as you said, it's complicated and
897
00:51:19.800 --> 00:51:23.280
you're going to inevitably make some missteps, whether they're mistakes
898
00:51:23.340 --> 00:51:25.199
or not, they're just like, Oh, you're going to do
899
00:51:25.239 --> 00:51:28.909
a little zigging and zagging and that's okay. I mean,
900
00:51:29.030 --> 00:51:31.889
one of the things I learned when I left the
901
00:51:31.929 --> 00:51:35.789
first time around is at my new stage job is
902
00:51:35.829 --> 00:51:38.530
sometimes you just need, you may not be quite prepared,
903
00:51:38.590 --> 00:51:41.300
but the decision needs to be made. And sometimes you
904
00:51:41.659 --> 00:51:45.579
need to make a leap as you've decided and then
905
00:51:45.619 --> 00:51:48.219
sort of, you know, okay, plan as much as you can,
906
00:51:48.280 --> 00:51:51.260
but then go with it. Because I think the time,
907
00:51:51.400 --> 00:51:55.440
sometimes you realize that timing is what you, the time
908
00:51:55.519 --> 00:51:57.510
of your life is what you have. That's really what
909
00:51:57.530 --> 00:52:00.309
you have to spend most wisely. So you may not
910
00:52:00.349 --> 00:52:04.119
have all of the financials in place, but if you're
911
00:52:04.139 --> 00:52:08.199
working on it, then sometimes this is the time to
912
00:52:08.260 --> 00:52:13.179
make the leap. So I think that's critical. So I
913
00:52:13.219 --> 00:52:17.619
just want to ask people, let people know if they
914
00:52:17.639 --> 00:52:19.300
want to get in touch with you, what's the best
915
00:52:19.340 --> 00:52:19.909
way to do that?
916
00:52:21.050 --> 00:52:22.829
The best way to get in touch with me is
917
00:52:22.909 --> 00:52:33.360
by email, which is ruthleafrankel, R-U-T-H-L-E-A-H-F-R-A-N-K-E-L at gmail.com. That's the
918
00:52:33.420 --> 00:52:35.619
fastest and the easiest way. And that will get to
919
00:52:35.659 --> 00:52:36.519
me the fastest.
920
00:52:37.420 --> 00:52:37.820
Oh, great.
921
00:52:38.039 --> 00:52:38.460
Okay.
922
00:52:38.980 --> 00:52:41.550
Well, as we mentioned before, there's a lot more to
923
00:52:41.610 --> 00:52:45.650
talk about. There are one of the things that you've
924
00:52:45.670 --> 00:52:48.030
mentioned to me is some of your mantras, which I
925
00:52:48.070 --> 00:52:51.510
just want to leave people with, which is be respectful
926
00:52:51.530 --> 00:52:54.829
of everyone, show appreciation to people who help you, and
927
00:52:54.929 --> 00:52:57.190
use your success to help others. Those are three things
928
00:52:57.230 --> 00:52:58.949
that you've mentioned to me I think are worth repeating
929
00:52:58.989 --> 00:53:03.260
for people. So once again, folks, I want to thank
930
00:53:03.300 --> 00:53:09.079
Leah for a very interesting and invigorating conversation. Tell your
931
00:53:09.119 --> 00:53:11.239
friends if they missed my conversation with her today, they
932
00:53:11.260 --> 00:53:14.760
can still listen to it. It's a podcast on voiceamerica.com.
933
00:53:15.219 --> 00:53:17.800
Just search for my show, 45 Forward. You can find
934
00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:21.329
it on Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify, Heart Radio, or
935
00:53:21.369 --> 00:53:25.010
go to my website, worldwellresources.com. and click on the 45
936
00:53:25.010 --> 00:53:31.440
Forward tab. So folks, be sure to join me next
937
00:53:31.500 --> 00:53:35.119
Monday as well, 12 noon Pacific time, 3 p.m. Eastern time,
938
00:53:35.960 --> 00:53:38.260
when I'll be talking with Scott Fulton, who is a
939
00:53:38.320 --> 00:53:42.090
nationally known longevity authority and health and age advocate, who
940
00:53:42.130 --> 00:53:45.489
is also chair of the National Aging Place Council, and
941
00:53:45.550 --> 00:53:48.869
brings an uncommon mindset to public health and aging issues.
942
00:53:49.869 --> 00:53:54.989
So until then, folks, keep moving forward, 45 Forward.
943
00:53:59.980 --> 00:54:02.539
Thank you for tuning in to 45 Forward. Please join
944
00:54:02.559 --> 00:54:05.340
your host, Ron Rowell, for another great show next Monday
945
00:54:05.389 --> 00:54:08.030
at 12 noon Pacific Time and 3 p.m. Eastern Time
946
00:54:08.230 --> 00:54:11.050
on the Voice America Variety Channel. We wish you a
947
00:54:11.130 --> 00:54:11.610
great week.