Purposeful Retirement

Combining Passions and Service for Impact

The Center for Lifelong Learning and the Volunteer Ministry Council at Fourth Church invite you to join a cohort of people who are nearing retirement or have recently retired that would like to collaborate together and support each other to rediscover their passions and plan or retool their retirement to combine passions and service for greater impact.

What is included

• 5 Monthly in person workshops and a reconnect 3 months after the program
• 2 individual coaching sessions with a professional coach
• Membership in a small “progress partner group” for accountability and support
• Retirement Planning Workbook activities for refection and discussion
• Guest Panel discussion with retirees who will share their retirement experiences

Schedule

We plan to meet for monthly workshops to allow time for reflection, researching and testing alternatives between sessions.

We are thinking of the second Wednesday of the month from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. or the second Sunday of the month from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. 

Listed below are the topics we plan to cover.

Session One

Discover your Passions and Purpose in Retirement

We will use the SHAPE model developed by Rick Warren and Erik Rees to combine your HEART (the roles you love, the people you want to help, the needs you like to meet and the causes you care about) with your ABILITIES or TALENTS that you excel at and are passionate about. This will provide a glimpse of your unique purpose for your retirement – where you can combine your passions and service for impact.

Session Two

Plan your Transition into Retirement or a more Purposeful Retirement

We will reapply the techniques you have successfully used for other life transitions for the transition into retirement. We will develop plans to use existing networks and relationships and build additional networks and relationships in the areas you are passionate about. We will also develop plans for self care as we experience the shocks associated with the transition. We plan to have a panel of successful retirees that will discuss the ways they made a successful transition into retirement.

Session Three

Personal Growth during Retirement

We will identify new skills we would like to build to be more qualified to serve in our areas of passion. We will also identify opportunities to mentor and teach others on the skills we are already passionate about.  We will also plan to serve together to build relationships and learn about an area of service we may not have tried before.

Session Four

Financial Literacy and Legacy Planning in Retirement

We will review the basics of budgeting for retirement and confirm we are financially ready to retire with or without part-time work and what living arrangement makes the most sense. We will review some basic strategies to determine which accounts should be spent first.  We will also discuss which types of accounts are more tax effective to use as a legacy gift for people vs. charitable organizations.

Session Five

Goal Setting and Action Planning for Retirement

We will develop some key goals and plans for your upcoming or retooled retirement. We will each select an accountability partner from the cohort to help us meet our commitments and goals. We will ensure that we have the right amount of structure and pace for our retirement by looking at our weekly and monthly schedule.

Three months later

Reconnect and Progress Check

We will share our progress and learnings about our retirement plan actions and goals and collaborate on any adjustments that are needed.

BACKGROUND

This workshop series is co-sponsored by the Center for Life and Learning and the Volunteer Ministry Council at Fourth Church and will be facilitated by Alan Bath. Alan has been a member of Fourth Church since 2015 and has retired from teaching GED Math in 2023. At Procter and Gamble Product Development, he provided employee development coaching for over 10 years and more recently has been a teacher and a self-employed strategic planning consultant for several nonprofits. He has a keen interest in helping people discover, develop, and use their abilities and passions.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP!

Please express interest in this workshop by completing the survey.