Evelyn retired from the military in her early 50s as a high-ranking officer. She hoped to get a leadership position in an organization that served either young girls’ or women’s needs. She joined a major nonprofit organization that focused on young girls’ development. Her management skills transferred well, and the new position fulfilled her visibility and structure drivers.

Leo, whose family had run restaurants, retired at 65 from a Fortune 100 company and went into the restaurant business in New Jersey, paying himself as an employee. Leo had been an accountant all his life, and he liked it well enough, but found it was never social enough for him. When he announced his plans to go into the restaurant business, his family and friends were shocked. They had assumed he would either retire completely and play golf or continue working as an accountant forever, winding down into a solo accounting practice. Instead, Leo said he felt working in the restaurant business was what he should have done all along.

Being both financially savvy and practical, Leo thought about buying a franchise, but instead bought a restaurant someone was “retiring” from. He has built it up into a profitable and sociable place. Leo recently decided to create a new concept and put in a deli next door to his restaurant. Both are doing well, and he couldn’t be happier in his rewired career. In going from work for wages at a major corporation to work for wages in a completely different business, Leo has gone into a business where he is highly motivated and fulfilled.

Ellen, now 63, retired at age 50 with a two-year phased retirement plan. A happily married woman with no children, Ellen spent her entire career at one telecommunications company, working her way up to higher positions at a time when women were not necessarily in the running. Two of Ellen’s top drivers were accomplishments and recognition.

At age 50, she was offered the chance to do a special project in Europe that would allow her to phase into retirement instead of being downsized. She jumped at the chance. She discovered, much to her surprise, that she liked project consulting. Moreover, her telecommunications skills were in demand in Europe.

After the two-year phased assignment, she returned to the United States and started a consulting practice. Her husband was supportive and flexible because he owned his own business. For the next 10 years Ellen consulted, until many of her clients retired. After that, she just let her consulting practice lapse and focused on working for free.

In Harry’s version of rewiring, he went from working for wages to working for fee, back to working for wages, ending up working for a former competitor. Harry, 61, retired after 35 years with a large, successful aerospace manufacturer in California. The company offered him and several hundred other employees an early retirement package that was too good to pass up. He had been a senior technical director, and he loved what he did. His wife, Bev, had her own career as a mid-level manager in a bank and planned to work several more years.

Harry knew he wanted to continue to be involved in the technical side of aerospace on a part-time basis. He received a job offer that enabled him to work two or three days a week for a consulting fee. Additionally, he was paid to write articles for a professional journal. Harry kept up his professional image, and the part-time income was a great supplement to his retirement income.

One day, the president of a former competitor called and invited Harry to lunch. At lunch, the president told Harry that he was making some organizational changes and would like Harry to come to work for him. This time, Harry could write his own job description and build his own department. The compensation was generous. After four years in retirement, Harry went back to work.

Laura returned to a lifelong passion, fiction writing, as her rewired career. She had been in big-city law enforcement and had a high position and a high media profile. At 54, she decided to retire from the force to pursue novel writing as her full-time rewired career. Writing was a lifelong love that she had pursued in college. After college, when she realized she couldn’t support herself writing fiction, she pursued law, her second love. Several years ago, to test the waters, she returned to novel writing and successfully published her first book. Making the most of everything she had, Laura even used her work environment and the city locale as backdrops for her fiction. Many people have dreams about writing, but Laura actually did it.

Sam, 59, is a retired math teacher. He and his wife love music, and one of their first trips after retiring was to the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Although Sam loved being able to spend several days at the festival, the experience made him realize that he was being too passive about his passion for music—he felt he was on the outside looking in.

One day he was talking to a group of his wife’s friends who were asking him questions about a composer. He cavalierly said, “Come over at 10 A.M. on Saturday, and I’ll introduce you to Johann Sebastian Bach!”

This off-the-cuff comment led to Sam’s turning a hobby, music, into a retirement career. He began to give impromptu classes at home. Eventually, young mothers asked Sam if he would teach a paid class for little children, and he was asked by the local community college to teach a music appreciation class there. A budget-driven saver, Sam is thrilled about the extra money he makes from this “hobby” and the fact that he now feels he is valued.

Jane, 59, is a vivacious extrovert who attended the Yale Drama School and pursued improvisational theater early in life. After 15 years of waiting for her big break, she decided to get a “real job” and went into sales. She became extremely successful, and over a 12-year period grew into managerial positions at her company. At 52, she was tired of worrying about sales quotas and training new executives. At a high school reunion, she met a former classmate who had retired from practicing law and had gone into mediation. Jane realized that she, too, had what it takes to be a good mediator: problem-solving skills, strong verbal and listening skills, and the ability to think on her feet.

Jane began to investigate what it would take to become a mediator while still in her sales job. She found mediation seminars and classes within driving distance and attended them on weekends and during vacation. Mediation will be a good rewired career for Jane because it’s portable and flexible. She and her husband are thinking about retiring to their summer community, and she can be a mediator there. And the flexibility allows her to cut back on her schedule later if she wants to. When the day comes, she imagines doing some traveling with her husband first and then returning to begin her new retirement career as a mediator.

Terry, 60, who had been in regional banking all of her work life, got caught in her company’s latest round of downsizings. She was offered “education money,” which allowed her to take a class of her choice that could lead to future employment or enjoyment.

Originally from Belgium, Terry’s family had been involved in the chocolate business and bestowed the treasured recipes on her. For fun, she took a chocolate-making class and fell in love with the art and adventure of making delectable chocolates. She started selectively making chocolates for family members and friends and for special occasions only. People were thrilled with the chocolates and by the genuine pleasure Terry got from being a chocolatier.

A local restaurateur asked if she would supply him a limited amount of chocolates weekly. When he wanted to increase his order with her, she balked at first, not wanting to turn her passion into a full-blown business. But then she proposed producing moderate quantities, once a week, excluding the months of April through September, and he accepted. Terry loves what she’s doing, and she’s never felt more in control.

Pete, 68, had been in the hotel business for more than 40 years. He had worked for many companies during his career, but no matter where he had to move his family, he always planted a garden. To Pete, flowers made wherever they were living a real home. When Pete retired, his goal was to raise glorious flowers as his own personal joy.

Receiving Pete’s full attention, the garden became a show-place. It was selected for the garden tour by a local organization and was profiled in a specialty magazine. Pete was pleased but realized that he had already developed his garden beyond his wildest dreams. He was looking for something else. When his neighbor, the local florist, asked if he would ever consider helping out at the store during the holidays, Pete said, “Why not?”

Pete’s “helping out” at the florist’s shop started at Christmas and then led to Valentine’s Day and then Easter. Pete decided to study flower arranging and is now considering doing freelance flower arranging. The florist had tried to convince Pete to become a partner in the business, but Pete wanted to work on his schedule and not be beholden to a time clock again.

Martha, 68, a Ph.D. in New York City, left academia and went into the corporate world, where she specialized in training and development. With her strength in career development coaching, she eventually opened a highly successful practice.

On her sixty-eighth birthday, she closed her practice to focus on her health and fun. After September 11, Martha wanted to help the number of people who had lost their jobs. She got in touch with an organization helping the unemployed job seekers by giving them advice on resumé development and networking strategies. Martha began volunteering there, working with groups of people in weekly sessions.

Many of the people she counseled wanted to see her privately, but Martha chose not to reopen her practice. Some friends were surprised to see Martha giving away her time and thought she was selling herself short by giving away her expertise. Martha says she is doing what she loves, on her terms, and she has the freedom to take on private clients later if she changes her mind.

Although the phrase “working retirement” used to be an oxymoron, it no longer is. The new employment trend is that people receive retirement benefits and continue to stay in the paid labor force in some form, blending two formerly exclusive categories. We’ve given you lots of examples in this book of people who have rewired and are “working in a third way,” our term for this new employment trend. People are starting to see retirement as the technical age at which you can qualify to collect retirement benefits, and nothing more than that.

Another new reality is that people are moving easily from one category of work to another. The mobility offered by the four categories of work is one of its most powerful benefits. You can control your movement among categories as your interests, needs, and circumstances change. As some of the stories in this chapter illustrate, you can also stop work and still restart it later.

A final reality of the new world of work is that the term diversified portfolio relates as much to your work life as to your financial life! Your financial planner talks about diversification in terms of stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles. Just as you don’t want your portfolio all in one investment, you might not want to have just one kind of work in your work portfolio.

You have the opportunity to get the most out of your work portfolio by choosing from among the four categories of work. The combinations are endless! You just have to be open to new thinking.

Donna, one of our Real People, is an example of the diversified work portfolio in action. Her work portfolio encompasses a fulfilling combination of three work categories: work for me, work for wages, and work for free.

Donna had had a very successful corporate career. At 53, she lost her position as CEO of a communications company when it was sold. She left with a good financial package and lots of free time. Donna told us when we interviewed her for this book that she had always been self-directed and knew her hot buttons.

She had no intention of winding down. She had a list of ideas she couldn’t wait to put into play. The first was to get herself fit and healthy (work for me). Donna was teaching a college-level public relations course, a position she had tried out a few years earlier (work for wages) and loved. Always known as a giver of both time and money, she also sat on several nonprofit boards (work for free).

A search firm contacted her six months after she retired, regarding a full-time position as executive director of a high-profile women’s disease foundation (work for wages). She was excited by the opportunity and, after accepting, put her teaching on hold and resigned from one board. Most recently, she agreed to serve as president of a prestigious women’s organization (work for free).