These professionals who are still working into their seventies and eighties show that a career can evolve instead of ending.
This month, we’re taking a fresh look at what it means to build a lifelong professional career and why retirement doesn’t have to mean stepping away from work. In this issue, Stephen Furnari shares lessons from older professionals who have continued working well into their 70s and 80s, finding purpose, connection, and new ways to enjoy the work they love.
After 20 Years Working Alongside Independent Professionals, I’m Rethinking What Retirement—And A Fulfilling Career—Can Look Like.
Twenty years ago, I got my start in the shared workspace industry by renting extra offices to other professionals. Some of my earliest clients were attorneys already well into their seventies and eighties. A few are still working today.
At the time, I found them fascinating. They weren’t necessarily chasing bigger cases, growing their firms, or maximizing income. They simply enjoyed being lawyers, and had found ways to keep practicing on their own terms.
One of those early clients, Steve, is now in his mid-to-late eighties. He still commutes an hour each way to the office by public transportation a few times a week.
Work That Evolves With You
Steve spent much of his career as a criminal defense attorney, handling demanding trial work that meant long days in court followed by evenings preparing cases. As he got older, he transitioned into immigration law, an area he’d developed alongside his criminal practice. The work was more manageable, allowing him to continue serving clients without the grueling schedule of a busy trial practice.
Steve didn’t retire. He reinvented his practice to fit the life he wanted.
Sometimes It’s About More Than Work
Another longtime client, Ira, maintained a small real estate and estate planning practice. More than his commitment to long-standing clients, the main reason he kept his office was the pinochle game he played with friends on his commuter rail trip.
He’d come into the office, handle a little legal work, enjoy his routine, and head home. He continued until his health made the commute too difficult.
Then there was Peter, a patent attorney who practiced with his wife and son, loved mentoring younger lawyers, and was still skiing with me in his late seventies.
These men weren’t simply working because they had to. Their careers provided purpose, relationships, intellectual engagement, and considerable enjoyment.
The View Changes With Age
Back then, their stage of life seemed impossibly far away. Now I’m turning 55, and many of my peers are already talking about retirement.
I understand the appeal. But watching these professionals has made me wonder whether the goal should be to stop working or to create work we enjoy enough to continue.
“The work that serves you at 45 doesn’t have to be the career you want at 75.”
Rethinking Retirement
For some professionals, retirement isn’t a single event. It’s a gradual transition toward working less, choosing assignments more selectively, and spending more time on other interests.
A consultant might take on fewer projects. A financial advisor might maintain a small group of longtime clients. A business owner might step away from daily operations.
The common thread isn’t necessarily a desire to stop working. It’s finding a balance between meaningful work and the freedom to enjoy other parts of life.
A Working Life Can Have Many Chapters
1. REINVENT YOUR WORK
Evolve toward work that better suits your interests, energy, and lifestyle.
2. CHOOSE YOUR OWN PACE
A smaller client roster and shorter workweek don’t necessarily mean giving up the work you enjoy.
3. STAY CONNECTED
Colleagues, clients, mentoring, and even a regular commute can provide relationships and purpose.
4. KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN
A professional career doesn’t have to end simply because your priorities change.
