Embarking on New Journeys: Career changes instead of retirement

No longer, it seems, are professionals content to work until it’s time to exit the work force, stepping down to enjoy days filled with relaxation and leisure time.

More Americans are making career changes in lieu of retirement; a 2005 Merrill Lynch study found that 76 percent of baby boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – intend to retire from one job but continue working in a new job.

Career realignment

Dr. Morris Kille, 44, spent 20 years in the Navy, serving as a nuclear power technician before retiring in June 2001. Kille, who had been visiting a chiropractor regularly for leg and back problems, was working toward a business degree at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and with his doctor’s encouragement, took a class in anatomy.

“I fell in love with the subject of the body and how it can repair itself, so I seriously started looking into chiropractics,” Kille said. “I really resonated with that natural style of healing.”

Kille transferred to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and after practicing in Chattanooga, Tenn., for about six months, he spent about three weeks filling in for a chiropractor in Springfield and fell in love with the area.

Kille now practices at Harris Chiropractics, 2053 S. Waverly, Ste. B.

Despite the seemingly drastic change from nuclear sub tech to chiropractor, Kille said the two are not all that dissimilar.

“In the Navy, you had a job to do and you had to get there by doing A, B and C,” Kille said. “If you wanted to start the engine, there were steps to do that. If you had to take a sample, there were steps to do that. It’s very analytical and diagnostic. A lot of those same things work for chiropractics. You learn the body, how it heals, what steps it takes.”

Kille said the difference, though, is being able to immediately see the results of his work.

“It’s about having someone come in (with) real pain and being able to fix it,” Kille said. “That’s the beauty of what I do.”

Setting up shop

While Kille embarked on a completely new career, Karl Plumpe is still working in finance, albeit with a new company, Plumpe Investments.

Plumpe, 55, retired in March from his role as associate general manager of economic development for City Utilities, where he had worked in various roles for more than 25 years.

Because he “couldn’t stand to be retired,” Plumpe now works as an investment adviser out of an office in Commerce Terrace, 2200 E. Sunshine St. He has passed two exams for the National Association of Securities Dealers to be certified as a registered financial adviser and awaits state approval.

Plumpe’s new job allows him to control his own destiny.

“CU was my fifth job out of college,” Plumpe said, noting that he also worked for Motorola and General Electric before answering CU’s 1981 ad in the Wall Street Journal. “I thought I’d be here two or three years, but now I don’t want to go anywhere else. This (business) allows me to stay here, do what I really like to do, and go as far as I want to go. I’m in charge of my own ambitions now.”

Going into self-employment after retiring from one career is a growing trend, according to a February survey by AARP. The survey says that about one in five workers age 51 or older is self-employed, and a third of those made the transition to self-employment after age 50.

The impetus for Plumpe’s decision, he said, was that he had progressed as far as he could with CU. Not having a desire to work for another utility company was enough to convince him to go back into his original field of finance.

But the change didn’t come without a little help from his friends.

“I’ve made a lot of friends, and I’ve gotten a lot of encouragement from them to do this,” he said. “No matter what you do, you need that positive reinforcement, and I’ve gotten a lot of that from friends and people I know.”

River run

The trend isn’t limited to baby boomers, though.

John Moore, 64, retired in May 2005 from his post as president of Drury University and in May began a new job that’s in line with his longtime enthusiasm for the Ozarks outdoors. Moore is executive director of the Upper White River Basin Foundation, which works to keep Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals lakes clean to protect the watershed basin.

Moore said he simply wasn’t ready to while away the hours on his farm, cutting brush and fishing.

“I still have got good energy, I enjoy good health, and I have ambition to do something where I can make some kind of difference,” Moore said, pointing to a close friend as an example. “My friend, John Q. Hammons, will be 89 on his next birthday, and he’s still making deals and going strong. That’s an inspiration.”

Moore, who spent 40 years in the education field, including 22 years at Drury, said his new job involves a lot of the same skills he learned in his college administrative role.

“There are a lot of similarities between what I’m doing now and what I did in the higher education setting,” Moore said. “You have the challenges of looking closely at your mission, how you set priorities, make budgets work, get projects going, make a difference, work with people, communicate. All of those issues transfer very quickly from one position to another if you’re in general management.”

Between the time he left Drury and joined the foundation, Moore also used his skills to help with fund-raising and development for Ozark Trails Council Boy Scouts of America.[[In-content Ad]]