At 7:40 on a Wednesday morning, my son and I walked into Chompie’s, a Scottsdale bagel shop and deli I’ve been visiting off and on for nearly forty years. Something seemed different. The restaurant was almost empty. I remembered mornings when finding a table wasn’t nearly so easy.
Our server, a delightful woman from Brooklyn about my age, seated us immediately, poured our coffee, and handed us two enormous, plastic-covered menus packed with more choices than anyone could need. I knew what I wanted. Two eggs over medium, hash browns well done, bacon, and an everything bagel with vegetable cream cheese. My son ordered the same, and we settled into a wonderful conversation.
My son is 35, self-employed, and financially independent. I’m 65, and I’ve been gradually winding down my business consulting work. Neither of us was worried about the cost of breakfast, but when the check arrived, I looked twice. With a 20 percent tip, the bill came to just over $52.
Fifty-two dollars for breakfast for two people. We enjoyed everything about our morning, but I wondered what that breakfast would have cost just a few years ago. So I did some research because recent inflation is making all of us think harder about how we spend our money.
An archived Chompie’s breakfast menu from January 2022 listed a comparable breakfast for $12.99. By 2024, a published menu showed $14.99. The Scottsdale pickup menu lists $16.99. That’s nearly a 31 percent increase in four years, before coffee, taxes, and gratuity. Although the menus aren’t all from the same location, the comparison is revealing.
We’re paying considerably more for essentially the same breakfast. For millions of Americans approaching or living in retirement, those increases are becoming impossible to ignore.
Inflation is eating most of us alive.
The harsh financial reality of retirement
I’ve spent much of my adult life helping people prepare for their futures. Early in my career, I spent more than a decade in financial services, helping people save, invest, and plan for retirement. Later, I became a business strategist, consultant, and mentor.
Now, at 65, I’m discovering something I didn’t fully appreciate when helping others prepare for retirement. Retirement is as much a psychological challenge as it is a financial one.
Age doesn’t determine whether we’re retired. Neither does collecting Social Security. Some people retire at 55, while others happily work into their 80s. Some never have the financial freedom to stop working. Retirement is a personal transition, shaped by our health, finances, circumstances, and choices.
We’ve been sold a romantic picture of retirement. Work hard, save, invest wisely, and eventually enjoy your golden years traveling, golfing, and spending time with grandchildren. Unfortunately, that picture doesn’t reflect the financial circumstances millions of Americans face.
According to a Congressional Research Service analysis, just 9.2 percent of households headed by someone aged 55 to 64 had more than $1 million in retirement accounts. The Social Security Administration reported that the average retired worker received approximately $2,089 monthly in September 2026, roughly $25,000 annually.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s 2025 household survey found that only 35 percent of Americans who hadn’t retired believed their retirement savings were on track. Inflation compounds the problem. Even when inflation slows, prices generally don’t return to previous levels. Our purchasing power declines, and the risk of outliving our savings grows.
For millions, retirement isn’t the reward they imagined. It’s a financial challenge requiring difficult choices.
Many Americans don’t get the choice to retire
I’ve known plenty of people in their late 50s and 60s who weren’t ready to retire. Their employers made that decision for them. Companies reorganize, positions disappear, technology changes job requirements, and health problems interrupt careers. The 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey found that 40 percent of surveyed retirees retired earlier than expected.
Imagine being 61, expecting another six years of income, and suddenly finding yourself unemployed. For many, the answer is whatever work they can find, whether driving for Uber, delivering groceries, working retail, or accepting seasonal employment.
There’s nothing dishonorable about honest work. But after spending forty years building a career, struggling to make ends meet can be humbling.
My semi-reluctant retirement transition
Unlike many people, I haven’t experienced an abrupt retirement. Over the past several years, I’ve intentionally reduced my strategic consulting work, gradually moving toward what I now consider nearly full retirement.
My wife and I worked hard, raised our sons, avoided consumer debt, and made financial decisions intended to give us greater freedom later in life. I’m fortunate not to face the immediate financial pressures many retirees face. And I worked for myself for over 30 years. I got my freedom early.
Still, I’ve discovered that having enough money doesn’t automatically answer another important question: What am I going to do with the rest of my life?
For decades, work provided structure, identity, relationships, and purpose. As professional responsibilities fade, the calendar opens up. Nobody needs you at the office Monday morning. Initially, that freedom feels wonderful. Eventually, you begin wondering how to use it meaningfully.
I’ve decided to continue mentoring younger professionals, entrepreneurs, and people navigating important life transitions. I’m also devoting more time to writing, photography, painting, and exploring subjects that have fascinated me throughout my life.
Recently, I wrote, edited, designed, and self-published Shift Yourself, Change Your Career, a concise guide to navigating career transitions. I handled everything from the first draft to publishing it on Amazon. I didn’t need to reinvent myself. I applied decades of accumulated knowledge while learning new tools.
These activities may generate additional income, but that’s not my primary motivation. They keep me engaged, learning, creating, and contributing without the demands of running a consulting business.
I’m not retiring from being productive. I’m retiring from the belief that productivity must dominate my life. I’m finally okay with who I am, and it’s taken a lifetime.
The baggage we carry into retirement
Over the years, I’ve mentored professionals ranging from their late 20s to well into retirement. Some younger professionals I’ve worked with have saved money, avoided debt, and kept expenses low. They can afford to leave an unfulfilling job and explore new possibilities. They’ve bought themselves something enormously valuable: time.
Yet some older professionals face the opposite situation. They’ve accumulated financial obligations, expectations, and assumptions about the work they’re willing to do. Pride can become an expensive obstacle.
My father struggled with that late in life. His circumstances demanded difficult choices, but pride made adapting difficult. He endured serious financial hardship, and I vowed to break that cycle.
I’ve also met people whose once-valuable skills became outdated. They resist technology, avoid learning new tools, or dismiss opportunities they consider beneath their professional standing. Age discrimination, health problems, and caregiving responsibilities create genuine obstacles, but refusing to learn or adapt only makes finding meaningful work harder.
It’s never too late to shift and improve
I see two broad approaches to earning income later in life. The first is finding someone willing to employ you. Part-time employment, seasonal work, and service jobs can provide reliable income without the financial risks of entrepreneurship.
The second is creating opportunities from what you already know and enjoy doing. Perhaps you’ve spent decades managing people, repairing things, teaching, cooking, gardening, or caring for animals. You may possess more marketable knowledge than you realize.
Several years ago, I developed the Clarity S.H.I.F.T. Method™, drawing on personal struggles, professional setbacks, and decades of studying human behavior. Its five steps- Self-Awareness, Higher Understanding, Introspection, Focused Intention, and Transformation- help people understand their circumstances, recognize possibilities, and take meaningful action.
The method became the foundation of my book, Shift Yourself, Change Your Career, available on Amazon. Although I originally wrote it for midcareer professionals, its lessons apply just as well to people navigating retirement.
I’m discovering that retirement isn’t a finish line. It’s another transition, with challenges, opportunities, and lessons worth learning. Some of us need to keep working. Others want to remain engaged, contribute something useful, and perhaps earn additional income.
Maybe it’s time we stop measuring our future by who we used to be and start discovering what we’re still capable of becoming.
It’s never too late to shift.
Feeling stuck at work or in the business of life? Check out my five-step process for shifting into a higher gear.