Are you ready to leave behind full-time corporate life for a variety of part-time roles — board seats, adjunct professorships, consulting, or writing? Before you make any big life changes, know what you want from your post-retirement career: Is it flexibility and less travel? The opportunity to give back? A clear view will make sure you choose the right opportunities to pursue. Also, get some relevant experience under your belt. If you want to serve on boards, join a few before you leave your full-time job. If you want to write, be sure you’ve published before you make the leap. Without a track record of success in a certain area, good opportunities will be hard to find. Lastly, be prepared for a slower pace. After years, or decades, of full-time work — the incessant intensity, immediately returned phone calls, in-the-moment demands, and urgent decisions — many executives are surprised to find the pace of portfolio life so much slower.
Adapted from "How to Launch a Successful Portfolio Career," by Michael Greenspan
