Whatever your motivation for changing careers, you need to be pragmatic. For most people, a midcareer restart comes with a financial price tag, particularly if you don’t have the cushion of a partner’s income or a retirement or severance package. It might mean a sizable pay cut to pursue work in a more altruistic field, the costs of a start-up if you’re launching your own business, a hefty tuition bill for more schooling, or a temporary loss of medical and retirement benefits.

Before you plunge into a second career, it pays to make a financial plan that will allow you to stick with your goals. If you’re likely to trade a good income for better work, first review your entire financial life, from everyday expenses to retirement funding and health insurance costs. Then consider some of these money moves:

Chart a budget. If you’re going to be living on less, you probably need to trim expenses. Get a clear sense of your income, debts, and savings. If you don’t already have a monthly savings system, start one. Track your spending and ask what luxuries you can do without: Restaurants? Dry cleaning? Vacations? It’s smart to have a cushion of up to six months of living expenses set aside for transition costs, as well as unexpected emergencies. Most start-ups are funded with personal savings. (This is where a severance package comes in handy.) Try not to dip into your retirement savings: You’ll be subject to withdrawal penalties and income taxes and lose the tax-deferred compounding that could serve you well in retirement.

Downsize. Depending on the real estate market where you live, it might make sense to move to a smaller home, or even relocate to a cheaper area. You might refinance your mortgage. (With rates as low as 4.61 percent for a 30-year fixed loan and 4.09 percent for a 15-year fixed loan, there’s no reason to wait any longer. As long as you can lock in a fixed rate or cut your mortgage interest by at least 1 percent you likely will break even on the refinancing costs within two years thanks to the interest you’ll save.) Figure out how much you can save over time with an online refinancing calculator. The next step is to find the lowest-cost refinancing option. Start with your current lender, but don’t hesitate to shop around for rates.

Read published review in DUKE MAGAZINE

by Sheila Curran

Conventional wisdom says that when the economy is in recession and unemployment is high, people are more likely to hunker down than to change jobs. But an increasing number of older workers are bucking the trend, often giving up lucrative, but unfulfilling, careers to follow their passion.

The national business media, from Fortune to Bloomberg Businessweek, have become fascinated with these renegades from traditional careers and corporate America, devoting regular columns to telling their stories and referring to their new careers as “second acts.” Kerry Hannon has followed this trend for more than three years, writing a regular feature in U.S. News & World Report about those who make dramatic career moves. In What’s Next, she gathers and expands on these stories, adding tips and resources for those who want to get started on their own second act.

What’s Next is a book that encourages career voyeurism. For many, the idea of throwing in the towel as a tenured professor, for example, and starting a chocolate company is the stuff of fantasy, yet it makes for fascinating reading. Hannon follows each short profile with a probing interview, asking questions about surprises, finances, and the kind of preparation that helped the person succeed. The answers are unlikely to persuade anyone to become a chocolatier, but that’s not the point. Hannon’s intent is to inspire her readers to visualize doing what they really love, while helping them figure out what it will take to get there.

The reasons for a second act are many and complicated. Some of those profiled, like Ken Rynne, a lawyer turned political satirist, are finally giving themselves permission to turn a lifelong interest like music into a career. Others felt compelled to take action because of a major event in their lives, with 9/11 and the collapse of the World Trade Center causing several to re-evaluate what was important in their lives. For Donald Covington ‘66, mandatory retirement from the Navy was the catalyst for pursuing his lifelong interest, the circus.

Hannon chooses as her subjects interesting people who have made dramatic changes, and she writes about them in a compelling way. Yet one wonders if her stories are truly representative of those who have second acts. The majority of experienced workers will likely gravitate toward choices that are closer to their current career, often choosing to consult in an area in which they are expert. Lowering risk and ensuring a financial safety net will almost always be key considerations.

What’s Next would have benefited from additional stories of people who took their existing knowledge and skills and applied them in different ways—perhaps going from a for-profit company to a nonprofit. Organizations like the Peace Corps actively seek older employees who want to make a difference—particularly those with skills in business, health care, or teaching. The book has a tip section on the Peace Corps, but includes no story of an older volunteer.

Important notes of caution can be found in the section “Key Things to Contemplate Before Making a Major Career Change.” Hannon advises would-be entrepreneurs to consider carefully whether they enjoy selling themselves and their services, highlights the need to be willing to change, and advocates learning how to handle mistakes gracefully.

The book offers a wide range of tips and resources to those interested in changing career directions, providing information on everything from fundraising to franchising. Internet resources are interspersed throughout the book; there is also an appendix of topic-based websites, where resources are listed on subjects such as social entrepreneurship and volunteering. Finding the information will not be easy, however, as What’s Next has no topical index. Without reading each story, it is difficult to determine where you could easily discover, for example, how to find a “vocation vacation.”

Hannon is recognized as one of the best and most experienced personal-finance writers in the country. Her website demonstrates that she also understands what it takes to change the direction of your career effectively. So it is curious that in What’s Next she chooses to take verbatim the advice of a transitions expert and a career coach, rather than sharing her own perspective teased from multiple experts.

Still, What’s Next is an engaging and well-written book. Through its stories, and the advice of those who have already taken the plunge, Baby Boomers will find multiple paths to their own second acts.

Curran is president of Curran Career Consulting, former Fannie Mitchell Executive Director of the Duke Career Center, and program director of Catapult Advising.

Re-POSTED FROM THE BOOMERBRIEF.COM

What’s Next?
By Bob on August 12, 2010 11:33 AM
Kerry Hannon’s, What’s Next? How to Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, is a great how-to book for any Boomer at a career crossroads.

The personal finance editor and retirement correspondent for U.S. News & The World Report (she’s the brains behind its Second Acts column) takes an in-depth look at 16 career switchers (all Boomers) who’ve turned their dreams into reality.

It’s an engaging and often insightful ride.

Hannon knows about the pitfalls of following your passion and she shares the mistakes (and celebrates the successes) of the 16 Boomers she chronicles for her book. Along the way we’re treated to the cop turned Nashville music agent, the Wall Street money man who starts an Italian restaurant, a business executive who becomes an Episcopal priest and many other life changers.

If there’s a single theme, it’s that these people are gutsy to a fault. They don’t just dangle their digits off the high dive – they take the plunge. And Hannon’s not a casual observer — each story comes with a Looking Back and Tips section that offers been-there-done-that advice for the Boomer contemplating his or her own leap.

These career changers share their “woulda-shoulda-coulda’s” with a candor and clarity that’s incredibly helpful. Ever the business journalist, Hannon is skillful at breaking down the information into bite-size pieces that are easily digested.

If you’re a Boomer standing at a career crossroads (and in this economy, that’s pretty much ALL of us) do yourself a favor and pick up What’s Next? It may not answer ALL your questions, but it will open the doors of your mind wide enough to help you find them.

Author: Kerry Hannon
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Penned: April 2010
Time Out: The 216 pages are a must read for any Boomer contemplating changing careers. The chapters are filled with plenty of helpful tips and been-there insight to help you chart your own course.

Beach Worthy: Sure, but leave your Allen Edmonds wingtips at home – this book is all about business and switching career gears.
Available: $15.61 from Amazon.com

Former Corporate Lawyer Shares How to Ditch the Grind and Find Meaningful Nonprofit work

By Kerry Hannon for SecondAct.com

CLICK HERE TO READ PUBLISHED ARTICLE

Ever dream of ditching the ruthless money-making grind of the corporate world and digging into meaningful work at a nonprofit?

Betsy Werley, who spent 26 years working first as a corporate lawyer and then leading business projects at JPMorgan Chase, felt that urge. “I was one month shy of my 50th birthday, and I thought, ‘I’m not getting any younger. Go out and let that next big thing happen.’”

And she did. Five years ago, Werley signed on as executive director of The Transition Network (TTN), a New York City-based nonprofit that helps women over 50 through career changes. When she took the reins, there was one major chapter in NYC and a few other chapters starting to gel. Today, there are nine, including chapters in central Ohio, Chicago, Connecticut, Houston, Long Island, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and new ones set to launch in Baltimore, Boston, Boulder and Atlanta. Total community: more than 6,000 women.

Werley has never looked back, and she is now a regular speaker on transitioning to the nonprofit sector and work changes in general. “Your passion for the mission should be what brings you to the organization, to that sector,” she says. “It was for me.”

In a conversation with SecondAct contributor Kerry Hannon, Werley talks about her career change and shares advice for others heading down the same path.

SA: What was your first step?

BW: I began by looking for boards to get involved with as a volunteer. I wasn’t necessarily planning a career in nonprofit work at the time, but I knew it would open up a lot of opportunities. I surfed onto BoardnetUSA.org, a website for anyone looking for a nonprofit board. Once you’ve posted your information, you get a weekly e-mail with a list of organizations looking for people who fit your profile.

SA: Volunteering is a big time zapper, isn’t it?

BW: It can be, but it’s fundamental to starting over in a new field. It’s important that you start developing some in-depth experience in an area that interests you. Do something apart from your job where you’re building skills and a network.

Through a friend’s recommendation, I joined the Financial Women’s Association (FWA), a professional networking association. Before long, I became president, which is really a full-time job, at the same time I was still at Chase. It was one of those ‘You won’t know what day it is’ times.

SA: What other moves did you make to help your transition?

BW: I got involved with a more traditional, social service nonprofit. I took courses at New York University in areas where I felt I needed some rounding–for instance, technology for nonprofits. I subscribed to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a very informative biweekly paper, along with their website, Philanthropy.com.

I worked with a consultant to develop a nonprofit-oriented resume. Your resume must show very clearly what experience you have and how it applies to the organization you’re talking to. Your heart and soul, however, go into your cover letter, which shows what attracts you to the organization and what skills you bring. I networked like crazy. I took a pretty broad approach to learning and meeting with people and continuing to build my network…somewhat fearlessly.

SA: How did you dig deeper into that network and take the casual meetings to the next level?

BW: Once I made a connection, I was upfront about asking for guidance. I learned about The Transition Network job through a contact at the FWA, who got the job posting by e-mail. She knew what I was looking for and forwarded the posting to me. (Lesson: Be clear about what you’re looking for so friends can keep you in mind.)

SA: What role did financial rewards play in your decision?

BW: I’ve always been a saver, so I was really in a position to take a massive pay cut. I was earning in the solid six figures. Now it’s well under $100,000, but I would say I am fairly compensated, compared to other nonprofit salaries. I was able to negotiate an above-average amount of vacation as a tradeoff. In a small, growing organization, you can be creative about negotiating nonmonetary perks like flexible hours or vacation.

SA: What are some of the biggest challenges of working for a nonprofit?

BW: Typically decisions are made by consensus, so you’re not in a command-and-control environment. Many of the people looking to make job changes, like me, have been managers and leaders. We were used to essentially telling people what to do and having financial incentives that get people to do that. In the nonprofit world, there’s a shared sense of the mission, a collaborative decision-making environment. You need to know yourself–is this just going to drive you crazy? And no matter how many resources you have, it’s never enough.

SA: What’s the strength behind The Transition Network?

BW: It has to be the combination of dynamic women helping each other learn and grow through their support and inspiration. TTN is unique in offering programs that get participants talking to the other people in the room; volunteer opportunities where people work in teams; and peer groups, which meet monthly to talk about topics, including transitions, job hunts, starting a business, travel, current events, living alone, living with a partner…whatever issues or new ideas people want to explore.

SA: Besides The Transition Network, what passions do you hold dear?

BW: I’m an adopted New Yorker–31 years ago. I quickly fell in love with ballet, opera and museums. I’m also devoted to mentoring. I am a firm believer that mentoring goes two ways. We all have a lot to learn from each other.

SecondAct contributor Kerry Hannon is a Contributing Editor for U.S. News & World Report and the author of Whats Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Chronicle Books).

Getting Financially Fit for a New Career

BY MARK MILLER

Second verse: not the same as the first.

Journalist Kerry Hannon remixed that old pop hit in the column she wrote for U.S. News and World Report, “Second Acts.” A specialist in careers, retirement and personal finance, Hannon has traveled the country interviewing people who’ve made successful career transitions at midlife — often into very colorful and happy new lives.

Now, Hannon has crafted her research on career transition into an important new book, What’s Next: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job(Chronicle Books, 2010). It’s an indispensable guide to anyone hoping to pull off a midlife reinvention, and an excellent companion to another key book on this subject, Marc Freedman’s, Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (Public Affairs, 2008).

Hannon tells the stories of 16 career-switchers who’ve turned dream careers into reality. They include a cop who became a Nashville music agent, an East Coast TV producer who moved to the Pacific Northwest to launch his own winery and a former corporate executive who now runs Rhode Island’s largest non-profit serving the homeless.

Hannon also includes a useful Q&A with each career switcher, probing what motivated them to change and the lessons they learned along the way. She also asks her subjects to offer their advice to others considering a major career leap.

I talked with Hannon about the book recently; here’s an edited Q&A.

Q: What motivates people to change careers at midlife?

A: Almost everyone I spoke to was spurred to make a change by a crisis that reminded them how fleeting life can be. For many, it was 9/11. For others, it was the death of someone close to them that made them stop and pause. But the real success stories were folks who had planned — they didn’t act impulsively.

Q: What are some of the common elements you found among all these folks?

A: The most important thing that struck me is that these people were all supremely confident in what they were doing. They never second-guessed themselves, even when things got difficult. They always had a clear sense that they were doing the right thing. They are all working longer hours than before but it doesn’t seem to matter to them.

Q: What kind of preparation are people doing before they make a major career change?

A: Most did a lot of research on whatever field they wanted to move into. Many did volunteer work to get a foot in the door. Tim Sheerer, who left a six-figure Wall Street career to open his own Italian restaurant, started out by volunteering in the kitchen of a restaurant to see if it really was for him. I think volunteering is a really important way to test the waters. Steve Brooks wanted to get out of the TV news business and start his own winery. So he moved to the Pacific Northwest and volunteered at harvest time for winemakers.

Q: Is money a motivator for midlife career changers?

A: Almost never. Even for people who needed the income, career change is about doing something they love and that can have an impact on their lives and others. These are people who want to give back — the reward isn’t financial. But the people who make successful career switches did take the time to get their finances in order. Income never comes in as quickly or at the level that you expect, so you need to plan in some time for some failure.

Cliff Stevenson went from being a mortgage banker to teaching social studies — and that kind of move isn’t unusual. He took a huge pay cut, but first he sat down with his wife and got his family on board. They downsized their home and took the time to see where they could cut back.

Q: So, are these transitions only for people of means, and who are in control of their finances?

A: When I started this book, I was looking at disenchanted baby boomers who were ready to do something different. As time went on, it turned to include people whose jobs no longer existed and needed to reinvent themselves. The lessons here apply to anyone. But people who have a severance package or a partner to provide financial ballast certainly have an easier time doing this.

Read an excerpt from What’s Next: Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job.

http://huff.to/97fXtP

My new book,What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job, shares stories and advice from those who have successfully reinvented their careers and lives. I offer takeaway tips and advice to guide you along your journey. Here are nine additional reading selections to consider as you set-off on your journey.

• What Color Is Your Parachute? 2010: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers, by Richard Nelson Bolles. This handbook for job seekers of all ages and skill levels has been a classic for more than three decades. It’s the gold standard, but aimed more at starter careers and others seeking traditional jobs, rather than at mid-life or boomer career changers. The information and exercises are squarely directed to job-hunting in general, rather than to creating a new career structure.
• Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, by Marc Freedman. Freedman wrote the foreword to What’s Next?, is the founder and CEO of the think tank Civic Ventures, and cofounder of Experience Corps, the nation’s largest nonprofit national service program for Americans over fifty-five. His book is a guide for people who want to build a better world through their work. Freedman provides concrete steps to finding a meaningful new job and profiles encore careerists.
• Test-Drive Your Dream Job by Brian Kurth. This book is a delight with plenty to get you excited and inspired to get your new career started now. The founder of VocationVacations offers a guide to finding mentors and your own dream job.
• Get a Life, Not a Job: Do What You Love and Let Your Talents Work For You by Paula Caligiuri. Written by a psychologist, career coach, and Rutgers University professor of Human Resource Management, Caliguiri uses her practical wisdom to turn the pie-in-the-sky notion of “doing what you love” into an achievable lifestyle. Caligiuri’s pitch: employers no long show any loyalty to their employees, it’s up to you to take control of your own destiny. She provides chapters that range from “Discover What Really Motivates You” to “Integrate Your Career with Your Life Priorities”-with questionnaires, exercises, and case studies of people whose multiple career “acts” have given them happiness as well as financial freedom.
• Smart Women Don’t Retire—They Break Free, by The Transition Network and Gail Rentsch. Here’s a practical guide for boomer women searching for what’s next.
• Don’t Retire, Rewire, by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners. Sedlar and Miners focus on people who are already retired and are looking for work situations that are mentally and emotionally rewarding—whether it’s a part-time job, volunteer work, or a second career. The authors have come up with some fresh approaches to self-exploration.
• Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron. This is a book that focuses on personality tests. Readers use workbook exercises and real-life examples to highlight the strengths and pitfalls of each personality type. The book shows you step-by-step how to use your unique strengths to find a job.
• Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams, by Pamela Skillings. Skilling writes about toxic workplace issues such as bullying bosses, hapless coworkers, incurable boredom, and widespread racism and sexism. She provides a multitude of questionnaires, exercises, and worksheets to help determine a dream job, assess expenses and assets, and plot an escape plan to break free of corporate life without going bust. In addition to advice on where and how to find career coaches, health insurance, and jobs, Skillings shares some people stories.
• The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore. This top-notch book is a keeper. There are lots of lists. You review your talents/strengths. It gives you a battery of “inquiries”, questions to ask yourself while designing a career. A strong focus of this book is turning the information you get from the inquiries into reality. Worth a buy.

Huffington Post’s Jeff Rivera: What can someone do who is no longer an industry “spring chicken” who has extensive experience, wants to stay in the industry, but is told they are “over-qualified”?

Kerry Hannon: To my ears, that’s another way of saying you’re too old and want too much money. Don’t let age get in your way. When it comes to starting a new job, whether it is in the same field or a new one, be forewarned: age discrimination is real. There’s a perception that people over fifty will be just passing through as a transition into retirement. “Employers are loath to hire someone who they think will be out the door in a few years,” says Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Civic Ventures, a nonprofit organization whose programs and research focus on social careers for baby boomers.

You need to be willing to prove that you still have what it takes. “The issue is not age, but personal health, energy level, and an entrepreneurial spirit,” The Transition Network executive director Betsy Werley says.

• Play up your experience. Think Marketing 101. You’re the product. Your pitch: You can hit the ground running, have the polish of a pro, and bring a deep well of knowledge to your new employer.

• Be humble. Let an employer know you’re happy to handle jobs at any level because you love this business. Period.

• Feel positive about what you have to offer. Workers over fifty tend to be self-starters, know how to get the job done, and don’t need as much handholding as those with less experience.

• You have a network. You have a lot more resources to draw on than people in their twenties and thirties and your future employer will reap those benefits big time!

Check out these great job sites for older boomers

• WorkForce50.com

• Seniors4Hire.org

• RetiredBrains.com

• AARP.com

• Encore.org

I was thrilled to be interviewed by super entertainment reporter and author  Jeff Rivera in Huffington Post.

With unemployment at an all time high and people being laid-off left and right, many are at a loss at what to do. This is especially true with those in the book publishing industry, an industry that is so difficult to break into in the first place.

What can you do if you’ve just lost your job? For this, we asked Kerry Hannon, author of the book What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job . She is a nationally acclaimed personal finance contributing editor and retirement correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. This book helps people who have grown tired of their old careers or been displaced by today’s economy follow her lead and develop a career that really fulfills them.

Kerry Hannon, so many people in the book industry are at a career cross roads. What advice would you have for those who are having a mid-life career crisis?

You’re in good company. Perhaps you’ve worked in the same field for twenty-some-odd years and run out of fresh challenges. Maybe you feel you have talents that are going to waste. Or there’s something you’ve always wanted to do that’s calling louder and louder. Or, like millions of others, you’re simply worn down by the corporate routine. There must be something out there that’s more meaningful and more rewarding, right?

Each person I interviewed for What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job faced a different set of challenges. But these success stories reveal common threads. Many of these men and women were spurred to discover what really matters to them and transform their work (and, in turn, personal) lives by a crisis or loss that starkly revealed the fleeting nature of life. In some cases, it was the loss of a job. For others, it was the loss of someone they loved, or a personal health crisis.

In reality, if you’ve lost a job in the recent economic tumult, this is the perfect time to move into a job that means something to you. With the cushion provided by a severance or early-retirement package, grab hold of your chance to try something new.

Here are my top tips:

• Go slow. Don’t do anything rash. Yes, this is the time to get excited about work once again, to feel revived and passionate about making a difference not just in your world but a difference in the world around you. But take your time. To succeed at a second act, pause and plan. Do your research.

• Don’t ruin your hobby. You might love to garden, for example. But as a career, it’s less than idyllic.

• Set a flexible time horizon for your venture to make it.

• Prepare for setbacks. It’s not all-smooth sailing, but if you’ve laid the proper groundwork, you’ll get through the rough patches.

• Add the essential skills and degrees before you make your move.

• Apprentice, moonlight or volunteer beforehand. Opening a restaurant might not be as romantic as it sounds!

• Reach out to your networks of social and professional contacts to ask for help and guidance.

• Downsize. Plan your financial life in order to be able to afford a cut in pay or the cost of a start-up. That means trimming back debt! Getting financially fit is not an option.

• Be confident.

FOR MORE OF MY INTERVIEW: Check it out, http://huff.to/d6qcVA

AS PUBLISHED IN SECONDACT.COM

You’re ready to head back to work after a few years of chilling in early retirement. Maybe you need to for financial reasons or simply want to for personal reasons. The bottom line: It will be nice to have fresh cash flowing in and an employer to pick up the tab for health insurance if you’re not eligible for Medicare yet. And no one can argue that being productive simply feels good.

Whether it’s a full-time or part-time gig, before you sign yourself back in for another tour, take some time to consider these five real costs of returning to the work force.

1. The Psychological Cost
Your decision ripples through your financial and personal life and packs a psychological punch, too. “There’s the psychic cost of giving up your freedom, plus dealing with the stress of the workplace,” says Betsy Werley, executive director of The Transition Network, a nonprofit organization for women over 50 who are at or near retirement. “You’ll be taking on a new environment and unfamiliar with the expectations.”

When you’re the new kid on the block, it demands some psychological adjustment and fine-tuning. All of a sudden, you are making less, probably making a few mistakes, and perhaps not being treated like the experienced professional you have come to be. It can be tough on your ego–that’s for sure. You might choose to tap a professional, such as a career coach, trusted mentor or therapist, to help smooth out this personal adjustment.

2. The Cost of Doing Business
You’ll be making money again, but also spending more, too. Consider these basic expenses:

• Commuting. Unless you’re getting a ride to the office with a spouse or neighbor, it will cost you to get there.
• Retraining. Brushing up technical skills and renewing licenses are typically out-of-pocket expenses. If you’re lucky, your employer might let you train on the job or pay for you to go back to school. Under federal law, employers can offer up to $5,250 a year in education assistance benefits for undergraduate or graduate courses tax-free each year. If you’re paying, check out community colleges for lower-cost options.
• Meals on the town. You’ll take your own lunch—-maybe–but that can quickly go by the wayside. Then, too, with a tighter rein on expenses by many employers, you may find you’re picking up the chit for working lunches and breakfasts with your staff, or outside vendors and consultants.
• Annual membership fees to professional organizations. Relationships are important. “You should continue to gather knowledge though connecting with others in your field, particularly if you have been out of the work force for any period of time,” Werley says. You might negotiate in advance with an employer about paying for these out-of-pocket expenses.
• New work attire. You’ll need a snappy new suit, but the real outlay will be for the casual work clothes now in favor–and you’ll probably be back on a first-name basis with your dry cleaner.
• New gadgets. You may need a smartphone, iPhone or BlackBerry, for instance.
• Fee for a professional photographer to snap current headshots for business use and. of course, your LinkedIn page.
• Housekeeping services. House cleaning can run $75 to $125 every two weeks in a major city, depending on the size of your home.

3. The Tax Tab
Your family might move up to a higher tax bracket. For example, if your joint taxable income climbs from, say, $50,000 to $80,000 because of your new job, you would jump from the 15 percent tax bracket up to the 25 percent bracket. Every dollar of taxable income above $68,000 would be taxed at 25 percent.

4. The Social Security Tax
If you’ve already started drawing benefits, going back to work can affect your Social Security. Carefully review the IRS details on taxation of Social Security benefits and confer with your tax advisor, says Certified Financial Planner Deena Katz, an associate professor in the Department of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech University.

5. The Family Toll
Consider the impact on your spouse or others close to you now that your time is otherwise occupied. For example, your children may have to shell out for your once-gratis babysitting and chauffer services.

Tally it all up, and you’ll find working can cost you. There are so many pros and cons to weigh.

“I usually figure things are a trade-off,” Katz says.

When you retire, you’re taking more trips to visit the grandchildren or heading off on lengthy vacations. “You’re spending money in ways you won’t be able to when you go back to work,” she says. “Now those funds can go to your wardrobe and transportation back and forth to work, and so on.”

In the plus column, there’s that newly earned income and, of course, the “intangible benefits of going back to the work force that you can’t quantify…like how re-energized you feel,” she says.

SecondAct contributor Kerry Hannon is a Contributing Editor for U.S. News & World Report and the author of Whats Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job (Chronicle Books).