This is the final article in a four-part series addressing issues of retirement life that may not be thought about pre-exit as part of your plan. Tending to these issues prior to leaving your CPA career will set you up for a fulfilling and successful “third act.”

Part 4: Overcoming the Loss of Your Professional Network

Much has been researched and written about the importance of social connection in retirement and elderhood to decrease the rates of early death, depression, and chronic disease among seniors, especially given the pandemic. Providing a boost to your cognitive, emotional, and physical health, ensuring you have strong social relationships in your third act is another aspect of retirement to plan for strategically, since we may not often think about how work-related relationships will be replaced until it’s too late.

With the loss of work events such as a full schedule of meetings, happy hours, golf tournaments, networking mixers, holiday parties, etc., not to mention casual interactions with colleagues, what once was a robust professional network can get pretty diminished without taking action pre-retirement (or during the honeymoon phase), risking the loss of social connections along the way. Though promises may be made to keep in touch after leaving your CPA career, they often aren’t kept due to your former colleagues’ or clients’ busy schedules and other demands, which could lead to feeling forgotten or irrelevant.

A good first step to prepare to address replacing your professional network with new social connections is to assess the current state of your network. Skim your Rolodex (digital or otherwise), member lists of organizations you belong to, LinkedIn connections, and who you’ve spent social time with lately to gauge how many of these connections are tied to work, directly or indirectly. If the majority of your connections are work-related, you’ll need to take intentional action to expand your social circle to head off any potential downward spiral in retirement.

Here are a few ideas for how to begin broadening your social network:

• Pick a class, any class: It’s critical for our brain health to keep learning, no matter the subject. Programs such as those through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute affiliated with colleges and universities across the country, including at the University of Washington, are a great place to start. They provide free classes to take for fun to those age 50+ on a variety of topics. Courses, lectures, study groups, and special events are all available, though offered virtually these days.
• Travel: Though limited during the pandemic, if you’re a history buff, or would like to be, consider Road Scholar. Around since 1975, they offer educational trips, and online classes, to destinations that combine group travel with learning, whether to historical locations or focused on specific topics like birding, photography, art, or music. You can travel solo or with friends or family as a small group.
• Meetups: If you can think of it, chances are there’s a Meetup group dedicated to any topic of interest. Check out Meetup and do a search for groups to join or browse by the type of group (online or in person), upcoming events, and more. Want to meet fellow pet lovers, have an interest in homebrewing, gardening, sports, or books? Curious about cryptocurrency, home improvement, or astronomy? Meetup has you covered for these types of topics and more.
• Volunteering: Even pre-pandemic, volunteering expanded to include online options, including through the Smithsonian, opening up additional opportunities to contribute your time, though in-person options may still be your best bet for meeting and interacting with new people. Great resources to find volunteer activities include Volunteer Match and the AARP’s Create the Good site. Not up for sticking to a regularly scheduled commitment? There are plenty of organizations that need good volunteers to support annual events or fundraisers too.
• Community events: Check your local library or senior/community center for upcoming events, whether in person or online, that appeal to you and to meet those with similar interests. Perhaps start a walking group, book club, or another social group that brings people together from across the community and generations. If you like the outdoors, another option is to do that Meetup search for hiking or camping groups that are your speed and local to your area.
• Fellow CPA retirees: Who do you know who’s recently retired you can reach out to? How can you support each other and get together to socialize or learn what they’re doing to stay active and engaged post-career? Don’t let assumptions that someone wouldn’t want to talk to you, you’d be bothering them, or that they have it all figured out get in the way of connecting. Who knows? You may find a need to start your own group of fellow retired accounting professionals.

Regardless of the avenues you explore to broaden your post-career network, gaining new social connections for your third act helps ensure you tend to all aspects of your well-being, and experience a retirement phase filled with joy, meaning, and good health.

Lisa Downs is President of New Aspect Coaching and host of Reigniting You® a podcast offering career transition support for age 40+ professionals. You can contact her at lisa@yournewaspect.com.