Retirement is a life transition, not just a financial event. 

 

In this episode, Tony Steuer talks with Andrea Maizes, author of Your Next Edit, about planning for life after work with intention.

 

Andrea shares why retirement often involves identity, purpose, connection, time, family expectations, and experimentation. Her message is clear: do not wait until you retire to figure out what comes next.

 

Key Takeaways

 

• Retirement is a life transition that unfolds over time.
• Life planning deserves as much attention as financial planning.
• Work can provide identity, purpose, structure, and connection.
• A strong next chapter starts with something meaningful to move toward.
• Testing new interests before retirement builds confidence.
• Clear conversations with family create better expectations.
• Your next edit can grow through small steps, patience, and curiosity.

 

Tony’s Take: Retirement is about more than having enough money. Money gives you options, but it does not automatically create purpose, connection, or joy. Your next chapter is not something you have to solve all at once. You can test, learn, adjust, and build your next edit before life happens.

 

 🎥 Watch this episode below: 

 

🎧 Listen to the podcast below or on your favorite podcast app. 

 

Connect with Andrea Maizes, ACC, CPRC: 

 

• Website: https://www.andreamaizes.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamaizes/
• Substack: The Next Edit: https://thenextedit.substack.com

 

Book: 

 

• "Your Next Edit": 30 Thought-Provoking Exercises to Build the Retirement of Your Dreams (Amazon) 

 

Bio: 

 

Andrea Maizes is an executive transition coach and former Chief Human Resources Officer with more than 30 years of experience leading global organizations. Today she helps high-achieving professionals navigate one of life’s most underestimated transitions — life after the title.

 

She is the author of Your Next Edit and creator of The Next Edit newsletter, where she writes about identity, reinvention, and designing the next chapter after high achievement. Andrea works with founders, CEOs, and senior leaders navigating retirement, reinvention, and major life transitions.

 

👉 Start Your Financial Readiness Plan: A free, practical plan that helps you create your in-case-of-emergency Financial First Aid Kit, organize what matters, and prepare before life happens. Start Your Free Financial Readiness Plan  https://www.tonysteuer.com

 

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Transcript

 

Tony Steuer:
How do you know if you’re ready to retire or just ready for something else?

Welcome to Get Ready: Before Life Happens. I’m your host, Tony Steuer.

Today, I’m joined by Andrea Maizes, author of Your Next Edit.

Andrea, welcome to Get Ready: Before Life Happens.

Andrea Maizes:
Thank you, Tony, and thank you so much for having me.

Tony:
I’m excited to have you.

For listeners, I’ve had Andrea’s sister-in-law on the show a few times, so Andrea is part of the family.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your origin story, and how did it inspire you to write Your Next Edit?

Andrea:
My origin story is probably like a lot of people’s.

For more than 35 years, I was a senior HR executive. Like many high achievers, I spent my whole life working and raising a family. I checked all the boxes for what I thought was a successful life and career.

Then, during COVID, I reached a point where I was exhausted for a lot of reasons.

I thought, “I’m 62. I think it’s time for me to retire.”

So I did.

I thought I was ready.

What I discovered was that I had spent years planning my financial situation for retirement and absolutely zero time planning my life.

I figured, “I’ll work it out when I get there. How hard could not working be?”

Boy, was I wrong.

I wasn’t prepared for the crisis that hit me, and I felt adrift for years.

I remember thinking almost every day, “Why didn’t anyone tell me? Why didn’t anyone warn me about this? Why didn’t anybody talk to me about the fact that retiring is only half about the finances?”

The rest is about what you’re going to do with the rest of your life.

So I decided to become a retirement coach and made it my mission to help others plan for life after work.

Eventually, I wrote the book based on my own experiences, the things I went through, the research I did, and the exercises that helped me move forward.

I wanted to provide the book I wish I had had.

What I really learned through the whole experience is that the concept of retirement has changed. It needs a rebranding.

It’s really not about stopping work.

It’s about figuring out what you want to do and having a plan for your life when you stop your primary work, before you get there.

My goal was to make sure other people didn’t suffer the way I did.

Tony:
It’s so important to have these conversations because we think so much about the money.

There’s also the FIRE movement, Financial Independence, Retire Early.

Some people reach their number and then find themselves asking, “Now what?”

Some even go back into the workforce.

Andrea:
I think people assume, “I’ll figure it out when I get there because I’ll have plenty of time.”

What ends up happening is that when you leave your job, you’re leaving way more than a paycheck.

Your job is your identity. It’s how you describe yourself.

It provides the structure of your day and your life.

Work decides when you get up, when you go to sleep, when you eat lunch, when you see your kid’s soccer game.

Your whole world is built around work.

It also provides purpose. It’s a reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

And more than anything, it provides human connection. You see people every day.

We think:

Stop work, lose paycheck.

We often don’t think:

Stop work, lose identity, structure, purpose, and connection.

Those things have to be rebuilt.

The good news is that you can begin building them before you leave.

You don’t have to wait until retirement.

Tony:
That identity piece is huge.

When you meet somebody, one of the first questions is usually, “What do you do?”

Our society is conditioned around that.

Andrea:
Exactly.

The first time I went to a cocktail party after I retired, somebody asked me, “So what do you do?”

I couldn’t answer.

I didn’t know what to say.

I’m usually pretty good on my feet, and I was shocked that I couldn’t come up with something.

I finally said, “I’m retired.”

Their eyes kind of glazed over, and they walked away because it wasn’t very interesting.

I needed a better elevator pitch.

That’s actually one of the exercises in my book.

What are you going to say to people about what you’re doing?

Because work is such an ingrained part of who we are.

Tony:
So if I asked you right now, “What do you do?” what would you say?

Andrea:
Now I would say I’m an executive coach and a retirement coach, and I help people retire with something, not to something.

You often hear people say you have to retire to something.

I believe you have to retire with something.

Think about the things you want to bring with you into that next phase.

Even if you don’t ultimately stick with all of them, have a plan going in.

I always say, if I had planned a project at work the way I planned my retirement, I would have fired myself.

So have a plan.

It doesn’t have to be your lifetime plan. Plans change.

At least have something going in so that you feel a little more settled when you get there.

Tony:
That’s an important message for financial planners too.

Many advisors have clients approaching retirement, and their clients are going to experience these things.

It’s an important conversation to have.

We’re also going to talk about your newsletter, which I absolutely love.

For financial planners listening, I’d recommend subscribing to Andrea’s The Next Edit newsletter because it can help you think about some of these conversations with clients.

Andrea, with your book Your Next Edit and the newsletter, how do you help people think differently about retirement and see it more as reinvention?

Andrea:
The book is really a workbook.

It’s meant to be written in and taken to the coffee shop. You work through the exercises, sometimes more than once.

The idea is to start asking questions.

I use something called the EDIT method.

The E is Evaluate.

What are you going to keep from your life?

What are you going to take with you into the next phase?

What are you absolutely finished with?

What do you really like about the work you’ve done?

What don’t you like?

How could you use your skills in a different way?

Then you move into the Design phase.

What’s important to you?

What do you want to do with your time?

There’s an exercise in the book called the Perfect Day exercise.

What does your perfect day look like?

How much time do you want to spend working for money?

What about work that isn’t paid?

Do you want to volunteer?

Travel?

Take care of grandchildren?

If you could build your perfect day, what would it look like?

That helps clarify what people are striving toward.

It also helps people see gaps.

You may look at Tuesday at 10 o’clock and realize, “I have nothing to do.”

For me, that freaked me out.

I thought, “I need to fill that time. I can’t be not busy.”

Unfortunately, I made a mistake I would yell at somebody for now.

I tried to recreate my old life by taking more HR consulting work.

Pretty quickly I realized, “I didn’t like this before. Why am I doing it now?”

Then you move into the Iterate phase.

Testing is so important.

Try little experiments.

You think you want to play pickleball? Go play pickleball and see if you like it.

I thought I was going to become a potter.

I took a pottery class and discovered pottery and I were not destined for each other.

It simply wasn’t what I wanted to do with my free time.

So test, edit, test, edit.

Then you can go into retirement with some actual data about what you want to do and how you want to spend your time.

Finally, you develop the action plan, the Transformation.

The book walks people through that process.

It’s almost like retirement coaching in a book for someone who isn’t ready for a coach or is just beginning to think about how they want to approach retirement.

The goal is to build a plan.

Tony:
I love that.

I know people who retire and think, “This is great. I’m going to golf every day,” or, “We’re going to travel.”

Then six months or a year later, they’re asking, “Now what?”

Andrea:
Retirement isn’t an event.

It’s a transition.

It’s one of the major transitions in life, like getting married, getting divorced, or having a baby.

Those aren’t simply events. They’re transitions.

And transitions can be very challenging.

Every new beginning starts with the ending of something else.

Work ends.

Then you move into a period of uncertainty.

Eventually, you move toward a new beginning.

The key is understanding those phases.

The first phase of retirement is often euphoria.

“I did it. I made it. I got the reward. I retired.”

For many people, that can last anywhere from a few months to a year.

Then suddenly it’s Thursday at four o’clock and you’re thinking, “I don’t know what to do with myself.”

People fall into activities rather than intentionally planning their time.

Tony:
That’s so important because purpose and engagement can affect health and longevity too.

This is about more than simply filling your calendar.

It can be about staying healthy, active, engaged, and finding ways to benefit other people.

You mentioned volunteering.

That can be a great use of retirement years.

Andrea:
One thing I hear executives say all the time is, “I’m going to serve on boards.”

And I’ll say, “Really? Okay.”

If you think you want to be on boards, start those conversations before you leave work.

While you still have that title in your hand, it can make a big difference.

The same can be true of volunteering.

A lot of organizations want your money and your hands.

Many leaders I work with want to be in leadership positions within those organizations.

They want to have input.

Get involved before you leave.

That way, you’re retiring with it, not to it.

Tony:
That’s interesting because I’ve served on a lot of nonprofit boards.

I’ve actually taken a break from them, and I’m not sure I’ll ever go back.

Serving on a nonprofit board can be a lot of work, especially with a small nonprofit.

People sometimes think, “Oh, it’s volunteering. I’ll serve on a board.”

It’s worth understanding what you’re actually signing up for.

Andrea:
Exactly.

You may think you want to do something, but how do you really know until you try it?

If you think you want to serve on a board, try it before retirement.

Get involved.

It can be harder to get into those positions afterward.

And what if you discover you don’t like it?

Try it.

Iterate.

Test.

Collect data.

Tony:
That’s a good point.

When we built board matrices for nonprofits, we might say, “We need an attorney. We need someone with real estate experience. We need someone with investment experience.”

Boards are often trying to fill particular roles.

I’ve had the experience of joining a board and ending up giving HR advice.

That wasn’t necessarily why I wanted to serve.

Andrea:
Exactly.

Sometimes boards are looking for you because you do a certain thing.

Being on a board sounds great.

The question is: do you actually enjoy it?

Test it and find out.

Tony:
I want to switch gears for a minute.

We were talking before the show about the level of comfort or discomfort people can feel when they retire.

Sometimes people feel guilt.

They’ve been working for so long, and suddenly they’re not.

How do you recommend that people begin dealing with those feelings and emotions?

We don’t talk about those things very much.

Andrea:
We don’t.

I’ve talked with financial advisors who say they see clients save for their entire lives, have enough money to retire, and then retire and become afraid to spend it.

They’re worried because they can’t simply earn more if something happens.

There’s also a mental shift.

Some people retire and aren’t happy, but they don’t talk about it.

It can feel like a first-world problem.

“I’m complaining because I don’t have to work? Who complains about not working? I’m the luckiest person on earth.”

They feel like they’re failing at retirement.

I was a failed retiree. I stunk at it.

A lot of people struggle, but they feel badly about admitting it.

The first thing is to know you’re not alone.

There are surveys showing that many retirees find the adjustment more difficult than they expected.

Going in knowing that it may not turn out exactly the way you imagine can help.

Then talk about it.

Find other people who are going through the same experience.

There are books, groups, masterminds, newsletters, communities, and people writing about retirement and next chapters.

People often expected retirement to look different because of what they see portrayed around them and because humans have optimism bias.

We tend to expect things to go well.

We focus on:

“I don’t have to get up.”

“I don’t have a schedule.”

“I don’t have to work.”

We may not think about what we’re losing.

Tony:
I think we have a tendency to think of retirement as a marker instead of something we have to follow through on.

I play basketball, and when you shoot, you have to follow through on your shot.

Retirement feels similar.

It’s a mile marker rather than the destination itself.

Andrea:
Exactly.

There may be an event called the retirement party.

The actual process of retirement is a transition, and it can be a long one.

It can also be unsatisfying.

People need to know that.

And they need to know they’re not alone.

There are many things you can do to put yourself on a different course.

Tony:
What are a couple of those things?

Andrea:
Well, you could buy a book.

Tony:
There you go.

Andrea:
Pick up a copy of Your Next Edit and work through the exercises.

You can also join organizations.

AARP, Senior Planet, and similar organizations have resources.

There are people on Substack writing about retirement and next chapters.

Connect with other people who are going through the same thing.

That’s one.

Second, keep trying things.

Make a plan to experiment with activities that might interest you.

Another issue we don’t talk about enough is human connection.

Many people relied heavily on work for their social relationships.

Making new friends in your 60s can be difficult because most of our friendships were built on proximity and repeated time together.

In school, you made friends because you saw the same people every day.

When you’re sitting at home, those opportunities don’t simply appear.

You have to intentionally go out and find people to play tennis with or do whatever interests you.

Making friends later in life can be an intentional activity.

We also need to think about couples.

Just because you and your spouse retire doesn’t mean you’re going to want to spend every minute together.

There are all kinds of issues around spouses retiring together, retiring at different times, and having different expectations.

The key is to talk about these things.

Talk with your family.

Talk with your spouse.

What are your expectations?

What are theirs?

I’ve seen women who had their own transition when their last child went to college, then rebuilt their lives.

Ten or 15 years later, their husband retires and starts following them around the house saying, “Do you want to have lunch?”

And she’s thinking, “No. I already have a life. You need to get one.”

I have another friend who patiently waited for her husband to retire so they could travel together.

He retired, sat down on the couch and basically said, “Travel? I’ve been traveling for 35 years. I’m not getting off this couch unless I’m going to the golf club.”

She had been waiting years to travel with him.

They hadn’t communicated effectively about what retirement would look like.

The same applies with children.

Maybe your kids assume you’re going to become the full-time nanny.

Don’t fire the nanny yet.

Tony:
My wife might go for that.

Andrea:
If you want to do it, great.

Just think about it.

There’s a reason younger people have babies.

Taking care of a little child all day in your 60s or 70s can be hard.

Maybe you want to do it one day a week rather than four or five.

Tony:
The one thing I keep coming back to is that it’s simply unfair how fast little kids are.

Little kids should be slower so you can catch them.

Andrea:
They should be slower and stay off the floor so you don’t have to keep getting up and down.

I have a 17-month-old grandson.

He’s adorable, but he is nonstop.

After four or five hours, I need a nap.

And he doesn’t want one.

Tony:
The nice thing about being a grandparent is that you can give them back.

So as we start to wrap up, what are three things people should know about designing their next chapter with intention?

Andrea:
First, do it before you retire.

Start the process before you leave.

Second, be open to testing and trying new things.

Third, talk about it.

Talk with your friends.

Talk with your family.

Learn what other people are doing so you can decide how you want to build your own next chapter.

Almost anything is possible.

Sometimes having too many options can be scary.

But you really do have a lot of choices.

How do you want to spend your day?

Was there something you loved as a kid that you gave up?

Maybe you were an artist.

Maybe you were an actor.

What drives you?

What would you like to return to?

What do you want to bring with you into the next chapter?

Treat retirement as a transition, not an event.

Tony:
I love what you said there because retirement can give you the freedom to do something you may have put aside or something you’ve always wanted to try.

For me, part of retirement is this podcast.

I get to talk to really interesting people like you.

It’s fun.

It gives me something meaningful to do as I head into my retirement years.

For somebody else, it could be something completely different.

Experiment and see what you enjoy.

Pull out those old ideas you used to say you didn’t have time for.

You tried pottery and discovered you didn’t like it, but you tried it.

Andrea:
And don’t give up just because something doesn’t work.

You may try a lot of things before you find what sticks.

That was frustrating for me because I kept thinking I was failing.

I was failing at finding “the thing.”

Ultimately, what I learned about myself was that I’m passionate about helping other people and about work.

Not necessarily work that makes money, but work where I’m contributing and adding value.

And it’s okay that I like it.

I don’t have to feel badly about that.

I simply don’t want to work 40 hours a week anymore.

Tony:
I love that idea of adding value.

That’s what I think a lot of us ultimately want to do.

We talked earlier about nonprofit boards.

Most people who serve aren’t doing it for the title. They’re looking for a way to contribute.

So Andrea, to close, I have what I call the Get Ready Hot Take Trio.

These are three quick questions I ask all my guests.

What’s one myth about retirement that you’d like to break?

Andrea:
That retirement is an event.

It isn’t.

And the transition takes longer than you think it will.

Tony:
That’s such an important point.

Just because you try one or two things and they don’t work doesn’t mean you stop trying.

There are so many possibilities.

Go back and look at what you’ve enjoyed before.

Today you could probably even ask AI, “I like these 10 things. Help me think of a hobby.”

Andrea:
That makes me think of being a kid.

My mother let us try everything.

Dance.

Horseback riding.

All kinds of activities.

She exposed us to things and let us say yes or no.

Retirement can be similar.

Expose yourself to different things and find the ones that bring you joy, make you want to get up in the morning, and help you feel like you’re contributing something to the world.

Tony:
I think adding value to the world is so important.

Sometimes people hear “what brings you joy” and think it sounds a little fluffy.

I don’t think it is.

Andrea:
How about “purpose”?

That’s actually one of my least favorite words.

People say, “I need to find my purpose.”

Purpose isn’t a thing.

People are looking for a thing when they think about purpose.

Purpose is about what brings you joy and how your gifts give something back to the world.

That’s different for everybody.

For you, it’s bringing people information they might otherwise not have through a podcast.

You like talking to people and sharing information.

Tony:
I do.

If I know something that I think could help other people, I want other people to know it.

Andrea:
Exactly.

Those aren’t things you necessarily “find.”

You learn them about yourself by trying things and looking for common patterns and themes.

That’s another exercise in my book.

Find the patterns in your life.

What have you consistently been drawn toward?

When I went back and did that exercise, I realized, “It’s right here. This is it.”

Sometimes what matters has been right in front of you the whole time.

Tony:
Let’s get out the time machine for a minute.

What advice would you give your younger self about work and identity?

Andrea:
Don’t make work your whole identity.

I don’t think I did it deliberately, but I think life would have been easier if I had developed more interests outside of work along the way.

The people I see having the easiest transition into retirement are the ones who already had a lot going on in their lives.

Maybe they were active in their church or synagogue.

Maybe they loved pickleball.

Maybe they were in a theater group.

Maybe they belonged to a country club and played golf.

They had other parts of their lives that helped carry them into retirement.

I didn’t.

I had work and my kids.

Tony:
But you found it now.

Andrea:
I found it now.

It was painful getting there, though.

The idea is that other people can prepare earlier and avoid some of that.

Tony:
And it’s great that you’re willing to share that because it can help other people find their own direction.

To close out, what’s your number-one tip to help people change how they think about money and life?

Andrea:
Money can’t buy happiness.

That’s the easy answer.

In this context, retirement is about much more than money.

Of course, you need financial resources to retire.

But money by itself isn’t going to make you happy in retirement.

You have to create a life that works for you and find things that matter to you.

Money gives you the opportunity to reinvent yourself.

It gives you the chance to build something new and different if that’s what you want.

Tony:
Exactly.

There are people who are very happy without large sums of money.

Money gives us opportunities, but when you talk with people in their 80s and 90s, they usually aren’t talking about their jobs or their money.

They talk about family.

They talk about relationships.

They talk about connection.

That’s something worth thinking about as we move into the next phase of life.

Andrea, where can people learn more about you, your coaching, and Your Next Edit?

Andrea:
My book, Your Next Edit, is available on Amazon.

I also publish a weekly Substack called The Next Edit. It’s free to follow, and I share information about retirement, next chapters, and these kinds of transitions.

You can also visit my website, AndreaMaizes.com, for information about coaching and my other work.

Tony:
Fantastic.

For everybody watching and listening, you’ll find links to Andrea’s book, newsletter, website, and other resources in the show notes.

Andrea, thanks for joining me on Get Ready: Before Life Happens.

Andrea:
Thank you so much for having me, Tony. I really enjoyed it.

Tony:
This was fantastic.

And thank you, everyone, for tuning in.

If something in today’s conversation changed the way you think about retirement or your next chapter, please share the episode and subscribe.

Because when life happens, the way you think about money matters.