The Next Edit - Issue #025

The Portfolio Life: When "What do you do?" is complicated.

🧠 One Big Idea

When you enter a new life phase — retirement, empty nest, post-career transition — you’re not just changing schedules.

You’re changing identity.

The first challenge?
Figuring out who you are without the job title that once did all the heavy lifting. (It’s amazing how convenient those little corporate labels were: “Oh, I’m the SVP of ___.” Conversation over.)

But once you finally sort out who you are now — or at least who you’re becoming — there’s a second challenge:
How do you explain it to people?

Because sooner or later, someone will ask:

“So… what are you doing with your time now that you’re not working full time?”

And “it’s complicated” is not a good answer.

For me, intentionally or not, I’ve built what I now recognize as a portfolio life. I’m an Executive Coach, an HR Consultant, a Retirement Coach, a Blogger…and soon, a published author.

A tidy little 30-second elevator pitch? Not exactly.

But here’s the part I think matters most:
A portfolio life - is a strategy — one that more and more people are adopting as they build their next chapter.

When you shed one big career, you don’t automatically slip into one neat replacement identity. Most people try things on and see how they fit. Some stick. Some disappear quietly after a few months. At any given time, you might be doing three or four things — some paid, some passion, some purely “because it makes life more interesting.”

A portfolio life lets you:

• Stay intellectually engaged without going back to 60-hour weeks

• Explore long-shelved passions

• Keep a hand in meaningful work at a pace you set

• Build an identity that reflects who you actually are now — not who you were at 42

This is the new normal for high achievers entering their second (or third) act: a mix of roles, interests, and experiments that add up to a full, satisfying identity.

And maybe the answer to “What do you do?” becomes:

“I’m building a portfolio life.”
(If they want more, then you can give them the menu.)

🛠 TRY THIS

Build Your Portfolio Life Snapshot

Make a quick list in four categories:

1. What I do (paid or unpaid)
2. What I’m learning or exploring
3. What I’m creating
4. What I’m experimenting with (even if you’re unsure it will stick)

That grid is your portfolio life — and it’s a much more accurate representation than any single title.

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📘 READ THIS

Portfolio Life: The New Path to Work, Purpose, and Passion After 50 by David Corbett.
👉 Read it here

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🔚 THE LAST EDIT

A portfolio life isn’t a backup plan.
It’s a curated, intentional way to build identity, purpose, and joy — without pretending that one title can possibly contain who you are now.

It’s not about having the perfect answer to “What do you do?”
It’s about building a life that feels true, interesting, and undeniably yours.

See you in The Next Edit,

Andrea

Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash