“Retirement Age Crept Up on me, now what?” … the story of a friend.
My friend kept thinking she had plenty of time and then she woke up one rainy morning in August in a cold sweat. She’s in her 60’s but definitely doesn’t feel her age. Her mind tells her she has another 10 years to build up her business and investments before she needs to start planning for that “exit”.
But it kept raining and raining and the walls kept closing in, “Alright, alright, I was in a full-blown panic attack. Have I waited too late?” “The market is hot right now but how long can I go at this pace? And is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they not netting as much money as they used to? The taxes, the CPA, the bookkeeper, the transaction coordinator, the postage, the postcards, the marketing and on and on. Please, someone save me!
“That’s when I logged onto our office meeting and heard about the Stepping Up! Event that featured financial planners at AZ Sands Club in that same week.
“To my surprise I immediately ran into several colleagues and none of them looked as freaked out as I felt. In the first few minutes, I learned that 30% of realtors are over the age of 60 and 65% of them don’t have any kind of a plan for exiting the business and retaining income. Whew … I was not alone!
“Empower Financial Group gave a great presentation and provided us with some tips and resources to ease our fears. Guy Welsh and Stephanie Kidder assured us that we weren’t alone, and it wasn’t ‘too late.’
“Tom Ebenhack and Lori Mares presented for Stepping Up! and calmly explained that realtors are never given a plan for exiting and that my meltdown was commonplace, especially on rainy days (go figure).
“Ahhh … I felt so much better. Just talking about it in a room with other agents who had the same questions as I did eased my anxiety. I even stayed after the presentation to talk with another Stepping Up! Team Lead and set a coffee date to go over some options. The Stepping Up! Team Leads are experienced with full on panic attacks and can guide us to a calm, confidential conversation about things we can implement in our real estate business now that will help when we are ready to ‘live happily ever after’.”
by Nancy Hennessey, Stepping Up! Team Lead
Long Realty, River Campbell Office, Tucson