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Leah Frankel is a consultant and leader who worked as an executive at L’Oreal for 30 years. Now she’s helping others learn how to transfer their skills into a fulfilling retirement.

“When I retired I wanted to be able to have something of my own. Because my work schedule was so demanding, I didn’t have an opportunity to do that.  I had always been a bit envious of those with their own business and who had created something from scratch.”

After spending many years with lengthy commutes to and from work, when Leah retired, she decided to focus on spending more time with friends and family, enhancing her health and wellness, and creating something to call her own.

“It was important to me that after I retired I continued to provide value and make a contribution to help others. I think it is our responsibility to pay it back or forward when  we are successful in our careers.”

When she retired at 61 she decided to do this by becoming a consultant and walking others through their retirement phase.

Leverage your skills, talents, and passions into your next chapter

Leah already had a list of skills that she knew would be helpful in her next chapter. These included analytical and tech knowledge, team building, networking, research, and presentation skills.

“My major strength is my organizational and procedural thinking. This allowed me to create a roadmap and path to move straight forward in retirement,  a roadmap that is relatable to clients and that I have experienced first-hand.”

Leah took a short break from working,  but quickly dove into networking and researching her new project. She made it a priority to connect with lots of people who had set up their own businesses and things similar in order to learn from them.

Originally, she wanted to focus solely on the procedural and administrative process of retiring, yet, she learned that often projects take on a life of their own. She realized to be successful she would have to add an additional element on the social and emotional aspects of retiring,  as these play a major role in the process.

5 significant  retiree concerns

Like any stage of life, retiring comes with its own hurdles, challenges, and fears for many. While not all retirees face any or all of these challenges,  here are 5 significant retirement  concerns that many people may have:

1. What Next? - Many retirees are concerned about what they are going to do next. Some pivot careers, start their own businesses, volunteer, or follow passion projects.‍
2. Sufficient Savings - There are many concerns around whether retirees have enough savings to retire and live well.  Outliving savings is a major retiree concern.‍
3. Health - Taking care of your health to age well becomes paramount. This includes both physical and mental well-being. Fitness, healthy cooking and meditation often become larger focuses with the added time available in retirement.‍
4. Cognitive Abilities - Cognitive abilities do diminish as we age. Many retirees are keen to keep their brains healthy and active by learning languages, new skills, and practicing brain games.‍
5. Being Alone - This is a large fear for retirees who haven’t developed a social network and don’t have family living close to them. This is only exasperated if a person also has poor health. Social media and other platforms that create virtual communities have helped to ease this fear for those using technology.

Leah helps others focus on how to navigate the path from the workplace to retirement, as well as how to define who they want to become and how they will create their new social network in their next stage of life.

“At 61 when I retired I still had lots of time, energy, and talent to use in my next chapter. Now I’m helping others think and prepare for their retirement.”

Join Leah Thursday, August 19 as she shares how to set meaningful and realistic retirement goals, skills, and talents that contribute to your retirement, and 7 tips for planning the next chapter in your life!