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Editor's note: This article appears in Kiplinger's special issue Success With Your Money. Order your copy today for more advice on how to make the most of your money at every stage of life.
You might say that Alice Liberson’s career is going to the dogs—again.
Liberson began her worklife as a veterinarian in Boston—a romantic career choice based mainly on her love for the two dogs her family owned when she was a child. But after five years of dealing with the harsh reality of ailing animals and emergency hours, Liberson felt burned out. She switched gears to become a veterinary pathologist, working with corporate clients on animal-related projects.
That led farther afield to other consulting jobs in strategic planning. She eventually went to work for a pharmaceutical firm, which she left after being part of a group that won a settlement in a sexual-harassment case. After that unhappy experience, she took refuge in her brother-in-law’s candy and bulk-foods distribution company while she pondered her next move.
The death of Liberson’s mother in 2000 was the catalyst that sent her back home to Michigan, and back to her roots in another way as well. After moving to Ann Arbor, she opened a pet boutique that sells supplies, premium foods and natural treats—an enterprise that lets her combine her business experience and her affinity for animals. “I love being my own boss,” says Liberson, 52. “There is totally less stress.”
Liberson is one of millions of baby-boomers who are shifting to new careers as they begin a new stage of their lives. More than three-fourths of boomers say they expect to work in retirement, according to a study by AARP. About one-third of them will need the extra money to bolster their retirement savings, but most say they want to stay busy.
In a survey by RetirementJobs.com, 69% of those responding said flexibility is important in their ideal retirement job. “We found that job-seekers over 50 place a big premium on flexible work conditions, to the point where they will often accept reduced compensation in return for a suitable schedule,” says Tim Driver, chief executive of RetirementJobs.com.
About 30% of those surveyed also rated entrepreneurship as important. That’s where Liberson has found her niche. While her business got off the ground, she supported herself with income from her investments and the proceeds from her Newton, Mass., home, which she sold for $740,000—more than twice what she paid for it a decade earlier. She’s been content to grow her business, called Dogma Catmantoo, slowly. “I don’t have the energy or drive of a 25-year-old, and I wasn’t going to work all night,” she says.
Liberson employs four college students part-time at her shop, which she recently moved to larger quarters. She has started paying herself a small salary, and to bring in additional income she has updated her veterinary license and plans to start practicing homeopathic veterinary medicine. “Clearly I’m not going to be able to retire for a long time,” Liberson says cheerfully. But Dogma has become part of her social life, as well as her business, and she’s happy to make a “nice little living” doing something she loves.
