2nd Half of Life Archives

Becoming an Expat Has Dramatically Changed My Mindset

December 10, 2018 by Marc Miller 4 Comments

Dramatically Changed My Mindset

We returned to Ajijic, Mexico last week after being back in Austin, Texas for 6 weeks. The trip to Austin and then returning to Mexico has gotten me to realize just how much my mindset has shifted in the last 18 months.

I recently chronicled my wife’s experience on the Repurpose Your Career podcast episode Marc’s Wife, Lotus, and Her Observations on Moving to Ajijic. [Podcast]

I also suggest you listen to the podcast episode The Millers Move to Mexico [Podcast]

In both of these episodes, you will hear my wife Lotus and me talk about how much this exploration has changed us.

You can find all of the blog posts and podcast episodes where I am chronicling our journey and the decision-making process on the How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series Page.

Our Return to Austin and What We Noticed

We returned to Austin in late October with the plan to stay for 6 weeks, clean out our condo and prepare it for rent. On arrival, my wife and I noticed a number of changes in how we viewed things.

Noise

The noise of Austin is constant. We live a quarter mile from the main stage of the Austin City Limits Festival. We are used to the noise, but what we both noticed was the constant white noise in the background. This includes road noise and air conditioning compressors that seemed to always be on.

We live right in the center of Ajijic, a small city of 15,000 or so people on the north shore of Lake Chapala. It can be very noisy but it is a different kind of noisy. It is children in the streets playing, parades and other celebrations, or even the cohetes, which are the wonderful bottle rockets that are launched at just about every celebration.

During the month of October, cohetes are launched at 6 AM to tell everyone to wake up and come to church. Cohetes are launched again at 7 AM to tell everyone that is time to come to church. These noises are different and come to be expected rather than the constant hum that occurs in most major American cities.

My thoughts and mindset around what I want in an outside environment has surely changed in the last 18 months.

Food and Health

I had been stepping on the scale at the gym every few weeks while I was in Ajijic. It was not until I got on the scale back in Austin did I realize that I was down to 170 lbs. I had lost 12-15 lbs in the previous 4 months and I was not trying. I was back at the same weight that I was when I graduated from college.

My wife experienced a more dramatic loss of weight.

Both of us are in better shape and fewer food cravings than we have had for years.

What I really noticed was the amount of salt and sugar that was in foods in the U.S. We ate very little packaged foods in Mexico and even when we ate out, which was usually once a day, it was very noticeable how the food was seasoned without salt and sugar. My blood pressure is the lowest it has been in years in part to the reduced salt intake.

Lotus, my wife, immediately noticed how sugary foods were presented to her in just about every store she went into in Austin. This would trigger all of the bad behaviors and cravings that she had eliminated in Mexico.

My mindset has shifted around how to live a healthy lifestyle.

Fresh Local Foods

I make yogurt smoothies every morning for breakfasts. I vary them during the year to keep it interesting. When pineapples are in season I add a healthy size slice of pineapple to the smoothie. I also use blueberries, blackberries or strawberries depending on what is in season.

One morning I went to make my smoothie and I forgot to purchase a pineapple the day before.

What did I do?

I walked out my front door at 8 AM in the morning, walked 150 feet to a little grocery store which is about the size of your closet, picked out a large pineapple and paid the elderly woman who runs the store 30 pesos or about $1.50. That same pineapple would have cost $4 or more in the U.S. I walked back to my casita and made my smoothie. Total time to perform this task was about 3 minutes. I have fresh locally grown fruit and vegetables at my fingertips for the fraction of the cost of the same in the U.S.

All of the berries I mentioned above are grown on the other side of Lake Chapala by major U.S. growers.

I am eating better, for less money and am far more healthy after only 4-5 months in Mexico.

I would not have believed this 18 months ago. My mindset has completely shifted as it relates to what I eat.

Money, Health Insurance and Healthcare

The last couple of years have been very stressed, mostly related to the cost of healthcare and health insurance. I wrote about this in the post The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers. My wife and I spent $25K in 2017 on health insurance and healthcare and did not reach our deductible.

After we arrived in Mexico earlier this year, we did an extensive investigation of healthcare availability and both my wife and I were astonished at the quality of healthcare and the affordability. My wife had appointments with an endocrinologist, hematologist, dermatologist, had lab work done and had her teeth cleaned and we spent around $150.

I know, I know you are probably saying that the healthcare was sub-par for that price. I can tell you that my wife is a retired registered nurse, which means she is a pain in the butt patient. She was thrilled with the care. The endocrinologist spent 2 hours with her on the initial visit and she learned so much on how to manage her condition. She received better and more compassionate care from these physicians than she ever received in the U.S.

Health Insurance

We have applied for a $5000 deductible policies for each of us, which will cover us everywhere in the world except the U.S. for about $1000 a year for each of us. This is basically catastrophic health insurance, and once my wife is eligible for Medicare in 2019, we’ll not renew for 2020.

WHAT, Medicare does not cover you outside of the United States? Healthcare in Mexico is so affordable we will pay for it out of our pocket. Should some major medical event occur, my wife will return to the U.S. for treatment.

Cost of Living

We will live in Ajijic, Mexico on about 1/3 of what we lived on in Austin. This will only get worse as the cost of living in Austin rose 33% in 2018.

I know, I know you are probably thinking we are living like paupers. I can tell you we have never lived an extravagant lifestyle but we are living well.

My mindset has completely shifted around money and the cost of healthcare.

Conclusions

As I sit in the 2 bedrooms 2 bath casita on this Sunday morning, I have realized how much I have changed in the last 18 months.

I am healthier than I have been in years
Eating healthy has become easy
Worry about money and healthcare are largely gone
Stress has largely disappeared
I am being challenged in learning a new language

These last several months where we signed a lease and made a one-year commitment to live outside of the U.S. And then returning to our home of 40 years only to realize that living in the U.S. right now is unhealthy for us.

My mindset and belief systems have been completely rocked by this realization.

What do you think about this? Comment below with your thoughts.

Marc Miller

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How to Keep Your Mind Sharp As You Get Older [Guest Post]

November 26, 2018 by Stephanie Brodt 2 Comments

How to Keep Your Mind Sharp

sharpen your mind You’re only as old as your ability to process new information. Scientists used to believe that your brain developed rapidly in the first few years of life, and then slowed down in your 20’s as your mental capabilities reached their peak. This wasn’t even close to the truth.

The brain, as we’ve learned since then, continues to change, develop, and learn over the course of your life. While certain cognitive functions may become weaker or less reliable with age, other functions may continue thriving (even improving) over time.

Great news.

So what exactly happens in your brain when a memory is made? And more importantly, how can you ensure you’re able to continue learning new things as you age? In this article, we discuss how the brain works and some of the most proven memory games to regain your brain and keep mentally fit regardless of how old you are.

How are memories formed in the brain?

The human brain is the greatest and most misunderstood machine of all time. In 2007, Richard C. Mohs penned a very in-depth resource on How Human Memory Works, in which he goes through simplifying the very complex process of encoding, storing, and retrieving memory. In the chapter on memory encoding, he explains:

“Encoding is the first step in creating a memory. It’s a biological phenomenon, rooted in the senses, that begins with perception.”

Once a memory or perception is encoded in your brain, it’s then stored in various locations (via electricity and chemical activity) for later retrieval. Though the scientific community is not 100% sure how memory recall truly works, they do know that the connection between neurons and synapses become stronger each time you recall a memory.

The more you use your brain to remember things, the stronger these connections become and the better memory you will have. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help explain why you forgot where you put your keys yesterday.

How does the brain forget things?

It’s no secret that even though our brains are amazing, they have a tendency to let us down. This usually occurs in the form of memory loss or forgetfulness. In the seven sins of memory, Daniel Schacter categorizes memory loss into the following 6 of 7 types:

Transience – This means the decreasing accessibility of memory over time. This is definitely normal and part of the aging process. It can be worse but usually related to damage to the hippocampus.
Absent-mindedness – We all know this one! Lapses of attention and forgetting to do things. This occurs at two stages: when a new memory is created (encoded) and when that memory is accessed (retrieved).
Blocking – You know when something is on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t remember it? That’s considered blocking aka the temporary inaccessibility of information that your brain has stored.
Suggestibility – Remembering something that isn’t 100% accurate. Usually due to outside influence, deception and other causes. Sounds super dramatic, right?
Bias – Psychologist Michael Ross observed that memories can be distorted and skewed by a person’s current knowledge and beliefs.
Misattribution – This happens when you swear you’ve seen or heard something that you, in fact, did not. As you can imagine, this type of memory loss or flutter can cause major hiccups in a court of law.

The seventh sin of memory is persistence. I didn’t include it because it has to do with the ability to not forget something – like a traumatic event that plays over and over in your head.

At this point, we know a lot more about how your brain manages to process, store, and forget memories. But what can you do to ensure as you age you maintain the ability to learn new things (strengthen those synapse connections), as well as the ability to forget less?

This is where brain games or brain exercises come into play.

8 unusual brain exercises to sharpen your memory

In the above video, memory expert and two-time USA Memory Champion, Ron White, goes over 8 weird (but effective) memory training games to keep your brain firing on all cylinders; also referred to as neurobics. This goes beyond matching cards or using some smartphone brain games app. Neurobics involves using your brain in new and unexpected ways to stimulate growth.

Ron explains that while doing the same exercise over and over may seem like it helps your brain, the opposite is actually true. Here are the 8 exercises he recommends to stimulate your brain:

Get some coins and put them in your pocket. Then reach in your pocket, not being able to see the coins, and feel the texture, size etc to figure out what coins they are (quarter, nickel, dime). This exercise utilizes your sense of touch.
Close your eyes when you walk in your house. Carefully try to navigate through your home with your eyes closed and identify where your furniture is. This really tests your memory in a way it’s not used to working.]
Watch the television with your friends on mute. You and your friends invent conversations with the characters talking. Not only does this challenge your brain to improvise based on what you see, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Read something outside of your normal routine. If you typically read about crafting or wellness, switch it up and read about French history or hunting. Taking your brain out of your normal routine can be very stimulating.
Watching a different news channel than usual. News channels have a tendency to be politically biased. By watching the “other” channels you will be taking yourself outside of your comfort zone, and force your brain to process different information than what you’re used to.
Take a new route while driving. We have a tendency to build up habits, especially around how we commute. Taking a different route home from work once a week will wake up your brain.
Write with your nondominant hand. Spend a week writing with your nondominant hand and see how well you can write. This is an incredible way to trigger parts of your brain that are usually dormant.
Close your eyes, and try to identify spices by smell. Get a friend to gather a bunch of your spice jars, and then close your eyes and take a whiff. Smell is a fantastic way to trigger memory retrieval and inspire new meal ideas.

When it comes to neurobics and retaining your brain power, the moral of the story is to try new things. Reignite a forgotten talent. Take yourself out of your comfort zone. Listen to new music. Smell new flowers. Close your eyes and use your sense of touch, hearing, taste, etc. When you stop using your brain in new ways and stop challenging your ability to process different types of information, your brain starts to degrade; much like muscle atrophy from a lack of physical activity.

Changing careers, especially later in life, can do wonders for stimulating your brain power – especially if you’ve been on the same career path for a number of years. Utilizing your past experience to make practical pivots is the premise of Repurpose Your Career, by Marc Miller.

Are there any brain games you like to play to keep your mind sharp? If so, please share them in the comments below.

This was written by Elijah-Blue Vieau. Elijah is a musician turned digital marketer from Toronto, Canada who has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and enterprises grow their business online. When he’s not running the SEO department at Logojoy, the world’s favorite logo maker, you can find him teaching SEO workshops at local tech hubs, recording and performing music, or off the grid in a remote cabin up north with his wife, 2 daughters, and an acoustic guitar.

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Do I Ever Want To Retire? I Do Not Think So.

October 8, 2018 by Marc Miller 2 Comments

Do I Ever Want To Retire?

retire On my walk back from my workout this morning, the question about whether I ever wanted to retire popped into my brain.

My wife and I are living in Ajijic, Mexico, one of the oldest expat and retirement locations in Mexico. We are finalizing our move in the coming months, as we will make a final pilgrimage back to Austin in October 2018, to clean out our condo for rental. We will return in early December to be semi-permanent residents.

I have worked since I was 14 years of age and for most of my career, I enjoyed what I did. My father was an economist for the New York Stock Exchange for 25+ years before he was forced into retirement at 58 years of age. He had a generous pension, but being forced into retirement before he wanted to retire killed him. It took 15 years, but he died because he could no longer do what he loved.

I do not want to be like my father.

Do I Have to Retire?

We have been planning to move out of the U.S. since the early 1980’s when I had an assignment in what was then West Germany working for IBM. This came to head with our current health care and health insurance crisis for baby boomers in late 2016, right before the presidential election. You can read more about this in the post The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers.

I have since carefully planned the move which you can follow in the Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series of blog posts and podcasts.

Now that we have relocated to Ajijic, Mexico, I have met all kinds of people from the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world who are retired. We met a couple of women the other day playing cards at a local taco restaurant. They enjoyed all of the activities that were available to them. Their husbands regularly play golf at several of the golf courses in the area. My visceral response was “yuck”.

If this is what it means to retire, I want no part of it.

Meaning and Purpose

Ever since my bicycle accident in 2002, I have been seeking meaning and purpose in what I do with my life. The thought of spending my days playing games or doing other activities that do not fill a mission is not what I want to do.

We have met many here who are actively involved with a variety of charities that help the local school children, spay and neuter cats and dogs, rescue street dogs, support the arts, and many other worthwhile endeavors. Over time I will likely become involved with one or more of these efforts.

Maybe I am a little selfish, but I want to work on what I want to work on. I created Career Pivot in 2012 to help my peers and friends who were adversely affected by the Dot Com bust and then the great recession. It is something that I feel I can have an impact and yes, make a few dollars doing.

I am mission driven.

Work Less, On My Terms

I have decided I do not want to retire.

What I do want is:

To work as hard as I want to work
Work on something I am passionate about
Stretch me to learn new things
To work when I want to work

I want to work less, on my terms, on what I want to work on.

It is rather interesting, this coincides with what the Career Pivot Community membership has told me.

They want:

To work on what they want to work on when they want to work on it, and on their terms
Have accountability

Lastly, they need to have their horizons broadened. There are so many new ways to work and make money.

Am I being unreasonable? I do not want to retire like my father and many of the people I meet.

I want to continue to contribute to society in a way that I control.

What about you?

Marc Miller

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How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You – Part V

September 10, 2018 by Marc Miller 4 Comments

How to Move Abroad Part V

We are finally ready to make our move to Ajijic, Mexico. We just moved into a new casita in the center of Ajijic.

I have been chronicling our experiences in this blog and on the Repurpose Your Career podcast. I have been discussing our experiences on the podcast and writing about the business side of the move here on the blog.

You can find all of the blog posts and podcast episodes where I am chronicling our journey and the decision-making process on the How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series Page.

I want to discuss today the technological, financial, and legal challenges. You can make a lot of assumptions about all 3 areas, and you would probably be wrong most of the time.

Look for the next Repurpose Your Career podcast episode to cover:

Shipping food supplements and medications from the U.S. to Mexico
Healthcare
Health insurance
Automobile insurance
Leasing property in Mexico

Why Are We Doing This?

The number one factor in making this move is the absurd behavior of our federal government, healthcare, and health insurance industries.

I wrote about this a few weeks back in my post The Looming Healthcare and Insurance Catastrophe for Baby Boomers.

What I predicted is coming true. My health insurance provider has asked the Texas Insurance Board for a 34% rate increase for 2019. I am already paying $1358 per month for a $10,000 deductible bronze level policy for my wife and myself. It is time to move on.

Exploration

We are on our third exploratory trip to the North Shore of Lake Chapala, to the city of Ajijic, Mexico. We previously explored San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Cuenca Ecuador.

The plan was to come for 3 months and find a long-term rental that would start in January. The rental market is so tight that we immediately changed our plans and found a fully furnished 2 bedroom 2 bath casita in the center of Ajijic. Our total cost (rent, electricity, and gas) should be under $1000. This is about 30% more expensive than we had planned for because of the tight rental market.

At the time of publication, we would have been in the casita for one week and very much enjoying it.

Look for more details on the rental market, the move, and healthcare in next week’s podcast.

Technology

I have written about this multiple times, but it bears repeating, we are not living in a big city in the U.S. A lot of creature features that we have grown accustomed to, are not here.

Internet

The big story here is to have a backup plan if your business depends on Internet connectivity. The podcast episode that releases the same week as this blog post is a good example. I was forced to leave the AirBnB house we were renting to record the podcast episode. Power first went out due to a power transformer blowing up during a big thunderstorm, and this happened just after they replaced power lines in the neighborhood. Power was out for almost 3 days with no indication when power would be restored. Once power had been restored, the Internet connection was very unreliable for many more days.

This is not an unusual occurrence. When utilities fail, you should expect them to be off for an indefinite period of time. This includes telephone, Internet, and power.

TelMex, the incumbent telephone monopoly, provides Internet service for most people in the area. It is at best a mediocre service providing 5 – 10 Mb download and .1 – 1 Mb upload. Service is very inconsistent and unpredictable.

In comparison, my Google fiber service in Austin provides 300 Mb up and down.

Backup Plan

My backup plan was to tether my MacBook to my iPhone and run the Internet over the AT&T LTE network. When that works, and it often does not, I get 20 Mb up and down. More than sufficient bandwidth to run video calls.

Why is the AT&T network a problem? There has been an explosion of Smartphone usage in the last year or two. Both AT&T and TelCel have struggled to keep up.

I will be signing up for TelCel’s home Internet service, which runs over their LTE network, when we return in November. I cannot order the service while living in Mexico on a tourist visa. Both AT&T and TelCel offer this kind of service and require a 2-year contract. You are probably saying, “A 2-year contract!?!” Well, the cost is only around $18 per month.

Between my Telmex service, TelCel home Internet service and my U.S. AT&T service from my iPhone, I should be able to get reliable Internet service.

Voice Communications

I have a U.S. AT&T account that allows calling to and from Mexico and the U.S., and I have been having two different problems. Where we stayed for the last 2 months, is in a hole between 2 cell towers. If I sat in the middle of the living room and did not move, calls worked fine. If I moved into another room, or even outside, all bets were off. The second issue was it was common for calls to drop for no reason.

We have moved to the center of Ajijic which should solve this problem. I will be ordering an LG flip phone from Telcel and sign up for one of their packet plans. I can buy a simple flip phone for about $50 from a TelCel agent and I can recharge my account by going into any OXXO store in Mexico. This could be done online, but not with a U.S. based credit card. See banking section below. Besides, OXXO stores are everywhere.

I want a Mexican phone with a Mexican cell phone number for traveling between the U.S. and Mexico by car. When we return to the U.S., we will upgrade my wife’s iPhone and trade it in. I will upgrade my iPhone but keep my current iPhone 6s. I will unlock it and when we return to Ajijic in November, I will get a TelCel account for it.

This means I will have a current iPhone on the AT&T network with a U.S. telephone number, and an older iPhone with a Mexican phone number on the TelCel network. My wife will take the TelCel flip phone for calling in Mexico, and use the AT&T for calls to the U.S.

There are a gazillion ways to do this, but we want to keep our U.S. based phone numbers and have Mexican telephone numbers, to make it easy for local service providers to reach us.

Finances

On the north shore of Lake Chapala, very few merchants take credit cards. If they do, they charge you a fee to use the credit card.

I have been withdrawing money from ATM’s at the maximum the ATM will allow, usually between $250-$380. Fees and exchange rates vary a lot. With a lot of experimentation, I found 2 different banks that gave me similar exchange rates and fees. It is not unusual for ATM’s to run out of money on the weekend. You have to have a backup plan.

Banking

It is possible to open a Mexican bank account with a U.S. passport and a tourist visa, but I have not found anyone who has successfully accomplished that. This is Mexico, and what you are told is possible and what you can actually accomplish can be quite different. When we return in November, we will stop at the Laredo, Texas Mexican consulate, and I will apply for Permanent Resident Visa. This will allow me to open a Mexican bank account.

I will open a bank account in the U.S. at BBVA Compass, and then open a Mexican account at BBVA Bancomer. These accounts can be linked, and I will be able to transfer money when the exchange rate is in my favor.

There are other advantages to having a Mexican based bank account including being able to pay individuals and businesses via the Mexican banking electronic payment system. Rather than paying the plumber with cash, I will be able to pay him/her electronically. Similarly, I can acquire a Mexican credit card which I will able to use on Amazon.com.mx or other online non-U.S. retailers.

This is a big deal. To rent the casita in Ajijic, I had to get almost US $3,500 in cash to make the down payment. This was a lot of trips to the ATM over a month period to accomplish this. I will talk a lot more about this in the podcast episode.

Legal

Career Pivot will continue to be an Austin, Texas-based business. I will need to acquire an Austin address for the business which will likely come from a service equivalent of PostScanMail.com. All business for Career Pivot will pass through U.S. based financial institutions.

Visa Types

You can live in Mexico with 3 different types of visas. These are:

Tourist visa or FMM – You are limited to staying 6 months but can import a U.S. plated automobile for 6 months.
Temporary Resident – This is good for 1 year and can be renewed annually for a total of 4 years. You can import a U.S. plated automobile for the length of the visa.
Permanent Resident – This has no time limits but you cannot import a U.S. plated automobile.

There are different financial requirements for the temporary and permanent resident visas. The vast majority of retirees come in on a temporary resident visa, and after 4 years, convert to a permanent resident. They simply do not have enough savings or income to qualify for a permanent resident visa initially. You have to demonstrate you have approximately $100,000 in investments continually over the past year or have had an income of $2,400 per month, to qualify. The average baby boomer has far less than $100,000 saved for retirement.

Our Visa Plans

I will apply for a Mexican Permanent Resident visa in Laredo on my return from Austin. This must be applied for from a Mexican consulate in the U.S. Most people first apply for a temporary resident visa, and later move to a permanent resident visa after 4 years. The problem with having a permanent resident visa is you cannot bring a U.S. plated car into Mexico on a permanent resident visa. Only on a tourist or a temporary resident visa can you apply for a temporary import permit (TIP) to bring an automobile into Mexico. This gets complicated because the Mexican government does not want your U.S. plated car in Mexico. They want you to buy a car in Mexico.

My wife will return on a tourist visa and we will later be able to acquire a temporary resident visa for her in Mexico. She will obtain the TIP for the car on this trip.

Needing to Prove Legal Marriage Status

In order to acquire a temporary resident visa for my wife while in Mexico, I will not just need a marriage certificate, but a certified marriage certificate. There is a special term for this that I cannot remember, but I need to get my wife’s and my marriage certified by the state of Texas. There are stories of foreigners who have not been able to take their spouse’s body after death because they cannot prove to the Mexican government that they were married.

I engaged with an American lawyer who supports the expat community. He reviewed the lease, my business plan, and immigration status. Basically, as far as the Mexican government is concerned, I am retired. I can receive no income from a Mexican business or individual, which should not be an issue.

You need legal counsel to accomplish this. This is not a DIY process, but the cost of engaging a lawyer is quite affordable.

What Else?

I will be covering in the podcast episode:

Shipping food supplements and medications from the U.S. to Mexico
Healthcare
Health insurance
Automobile insurance
Leasing property in Mexico

These are much more personal in nature, and I want you to hear some of my frustrations, angst, and joy.

This move will likely produce a $50K shift in our annual budget. The financial difference is staggering and much of this is due to health insurance, healthcare, housing costs and cost of living.

Have I scared you, or made it believable that you can make this happen?

Marc Miller

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Do You Really Want a Full-Time Job After 60?

August 20, 2018 by Marc Miller Leave a Comment

Do You Really Want a Full-Time Job?

I am over 60 years of age and I do not ever want a full-time job, ever again.

Let me be clear, I have no intention to retire, but I want to work on my terms which means I want to work:

When I want to work
On things, I want to work
Only work as hard as I want to work

I do not want a full-time job, and surely do not want to work for someone else full-time.

The reason I am writing this post is that I have talked to multiple people in the last couple of weeks, who are over 60 years of age and are pursuing what I consider a pipe dream, which dictionary.com defines as any fantastic notion, hope, or story.

That pipe dream is a full-time job in a new industry or profession. I am not saying it cannot be done, but I was predicting that the path there would be very difficult and if they attained that full-time job, it would not be as they expected. They were suffering from MSU (Make Stuff Up) disorder.

Getting an Associate Degree is Programming After 60

I met a gentleman who was sick and tired of what he was doing. He had worked in manufacturing for 30+ years, single, over 60 years of age, and worried about having enough money to retire. He had taught himself to program 15-20 years ago and really loved it.

He planned to go back to school full-time for 2 years, take a student loan, and then get a full-time job working as a programmer. This would mean he would have acquired some significant debt, not contributed to his retirement accounts for 2 years and dipped into savings for living expenses.

My questions for him were:

What kind of programming would he be specializing in? No one just hires a Java programmer without specialization.

Does the area of specialization have legs? Will the area of specialization still be relevant in 2 years? Things are changing so fast that skills that are hot today can be obsolete in 2 years.

What companies or organizations in his area have jobs in the area of specialization?

What are the demographics of the employees doing the programming at those companies, and are these people you want to work with? If they mostly hire 25-year-old guys, would you want to work with them as peers? (For most of 60+ year-olds the answer is no).

He could not answer any of the questions.

He was going to be 63 or 64 years old when he graduated. I then asked him, at that age, do you really want a full-time job, working as a peer with a bunch of kids (20-35 year-olds), and be working 50-60 hour weeks?

He was going to have to think about that, but the answer will probably be, NO!

An Alternative Scenario

In the Career Pivot Membership community, there is Jim. Jim runs a small to medium size professional association that is highly political. His board of directors drives him crazy with their petty politics and games. I should also add that Jim is closer to 70 than 65 years of age.

Jim wants control of his work life and he does not want to stop working. Jim is very mission-driven, he needs a purpose.

Jim is taking an alternative path by starting a portfolio career. He will not have a single full-time job but multiple part-time jobs that he can control. He will be doing the following:

Part-time advisor for his local Small Business Development Center, working 3-4 days a week
Teaching one class at the local university as an adjunct professor
Starting a consulting business working with local municipalities on a variety of issues
Turn on his Social Security benefits

Does this change scare him? HECK YES!

Will he be working harder than before, for less money? HECK YES!

Will he feel more fulfilled at the end of the day? HECK YES!

Will this stretch him and energize him? HECK YES!

It took a good bit of soul searching and a lot of encouragement from the community to make this change. Jim will probably not have another full-time job, and that is fine with him. He will have more control of his own professional destiny.

One of the common themes in the community is everyone wants freedom. The full-time job often does not give us the freedom that we crave in the 2nd half of life.

The Full-Time Job Fallacy

I was born in the 1950’s, raised by parents who told me to get an education and then go to work for a father-like company that would take care of me. I should work there for 30 or 40 years and then retire.

Those days are gone. Many of us still crave the security of a full-time job or the security of the regular paycheck. When we reach our 60’s, that progressively makes less and less sense. That full-time job restricts us, prevents us from pursuing the goals that we have delayed because of the obligations of raising our families, taking care of our parents or other societal obligations.

I am 62 years old, and I no longer want a full-time job. I want the freedom to control how, when and what I work on.

Conclusion

I am sitting writing this post in Ajijic, Mexico, on the 16th of August, 2018. It is 11:00 AM and the outside temperature is 71 degrees Fahrenheit. It will get up to 79 degrees today, which is much cooler than the 100 degrees it will reach back in my hometown of Austin, Texas. This temperature is normal for the summer rainy season.

I left my last full-time job in January of 2011, and I have not looked back. My wife and I are in the process of moving to Ajijic, Mexico, not because we have to, but because we want to. If I had a full-time job, I would not have the freedom to make this move. You can read more about our journey here.

Do you still want that full-time job?

Marc Miller

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