The Challenge: Making A Job Change On The Road To Retirement

The Challenge: Making A Job Change On The Road To Retirement

- Kerri Anne Renzulli

MARY FOSTER IS A MORNING PERSON, which helps make the 5 a.m. start time at her job as a manager at a young food-flavoring company a little easier. Still, the 60-hour workweeks she regularly puts in have started to wear on her. So much so that the 57-year-old Kentucky resident is contemplating a big change around age 60: She would like to shift to a lower-stress job working 35 to 40 hours a week, even if that requires taking a pay cut. She would also like the job to be in the area where she hopes to retire. That’s Central Florida, with its mild winters and proximity to Disney World, her favorite vacation destination.

Foster wants to build a house on a few acres of land where she and her cat, Bananas Foster, can enjoy the privacy and serenity of nature she recalls from growing up on a Maryland farm. But she is concerned about whether her $800,000-plus nest egg is big enough and how to proceed to make this transition toward retirement a reality.

MAKING THE NUMBERS WORK