Retirement Isn’t the End, it’s a Redesign
For many women, the traditional idea of retirement no longer fits. After decades of working, caring for others, and building full lives, the next chapter is less about stopping and more about choosing. Choosing how to spend your time. Choosing what matters now. Choosing how your money supports the life you actually want to live.
If you feel a shift happening and you’re not quite sure what comes next, this conversation will help you reframe retirement as a thoughtful, intentional redesign — one that grows with you.
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Retirement Isn’t the End, It’s a Redesign
There’s a moment many women reach — often quietly —
where they can feel something shifting.
Not an ending.
Not a crisis.
But a next chapter.
For a long time, retirement was described as a finish line.
You worked hard. You stopped working. You slowed down.
But for many women today — especially women who’ve built full, complex lives — retirement feels less like stopping, and more like choosing.
Choosing how you spend your time.
Choosing what matters more now.
Choosing how your money supports the life you actually want to live.
Why Retirement Looks Different Than It Used To
One of the most important things to understand right away is this:
Retirement today looks very different than it did for the generations before us. Here’s how I talked about this subject in a past post:
“I think we can all agree that retirement today in Canada is different than that of our grandparents and great grandparents right? We live longer. We can choose to work part time because the physical demands of work aren't as difficult as they were 100 years ago. So there's many reasons why it's different. And everyone's experience of retirement is unique. “
There’s No One Right Way to Retire
That idea — that everyone’s experience is unique — sits at the heart of the purpose of my work.
Because when you’ve spent decades working, raising families, caring for others, and building financial security, your next chapter deserves intention.
Not pressure.
Not comparison.
And definitely not one-size-fits-all advice.
The Many Ways Women Choose to Live in Retirement
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many women tend to lean into one — or sometimes more than one — way of living in retirement. Here’s some examples of “The Nine Types of People You’ll Meet in Retirement” from a previous post:
“The first type is the workhorse. This is the person who chooses to continue working beyond their retirement from their most recent career.“
“Our next retiree type is the globetrotter. This is your retired neighbor, you only sort of know because they're never around, you have a closer relationship with their house plants because you spend one on one time watering all the time, while their owners are traipsing about the planet.”“Our next retirement type is the super hero. Retirement is a wonderful time to give back. No one knows that better than the superhero who is the one to always step up when there's a need. There the one on three nonprofit boards are their friendly face behind the cashbox at the bake sale or learning how the voting machines work during an election.”
Giving Yourself Permission to Evolve
What I want you to notice about these different ways of living in retirement is this:
You don’t have to pick one and commit to it forever.
You might work a little.
Travel for a while.
Give back in ways that matter to you.
And over time, that mix may change.
Retirement isn’t about fitting into a category.
It’s about giving yourself permission to evolve.
Trusting Yourself When the Path Isn’t Clear
That permission to evolve — to take yourself seriously at midlife and beyond — reminds me of a story I’ve always loved, from this previous post..
“There have been many women who have inspired me over the years. One of these was Mary Kay Ash. She had been a very successful salesperson but in 1950’s Texas, she was always passed over for management jobs in favour of her male counterparts. So, she decided to go out on her own and start a company alongside her husband and son.
One week before they were to open, her husband, who was also her Chief Financial Officer, died of a massive heart attack at their breakfast table. Mary Kay faced a decision. She was 45 years old. She knew nothing about the financial aspects of running a business. Should she give up this dream of starting a company from scratch or should she go ahead and take a chance, possibly ruining not only her own financial future but her son’s as well. She and her son took the chance and the rest is history. They went on to build Mary Kay Cosmetics into the thriving multi-billion dollar company that is still owned by her family today.
She was always dispensing gems of wisdom and motivation to her sales force. One of the ones I love most is this:
"Until a girl is 14, she needs good health and good parents. From age 14 to 40, she needs good looks. From 40 to 60, she needs a good personality. After 60, I’m here to tell you, what a girl needs is cash."
Mary Kay’s story isn’t really about building a cosmetics company.
It’s about trusting yourself enough to move forward — even when the next step isn’t perfectly clear.
And for many women, that kind of courage doesn’t show up as bold risk-taking.
It shows up as the desire for clarity.
For steadiness.
For knowing where you stand.
That all requires courage.
Why Flexibility Matters More Than a Perfect Plan
One of the most practical — and compassionate — things you can do when planning this next chapter is to leave space for change. Here’s how we talked about this in a previous post.
“Now for a bit of a reality check. Even with your best intentions. You may not end up doing what you thought you were going to do in retirement anyway, so leave space in your plans for changes when you get to retirement.
[...] In my experience, most people will find their lives in retirement changing quite a bit every five years. Sometimes it's because there's been a change in their families like suddenly your son is triplets and you want to move nearer to your grandchildren. But the main reason I see change every five years is for something entirely different that we have some control over and that is our health. If you're not healthy. You're not going to enjoy your retirement as much, so get healthy as best you can.
[...] You may want to take the time to ease into retirement, test your ideas, put a plan into action to see how it works.”
So, just know that you don’t need a perfect plan.
You need a flexible one.
One that can shift as your life shifts.
One that supports you — rather than traps you.”
You Don’t Have to Figure It Out Alone
If you’re at a place where you feel a next chapter forming,
but you’re not quite sure how that will look yet,
just know this:
You don’t have to have it all figured out at once.
…And you don’t have to do it alone.
I’m glad you’re here.
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