Retirement comes in all colors and forms

This week Crayola Crayon announced that they would be retiring one of their colors.  Today it was announced that the notorious color "dandelion yellow" would be retired.  For Crayola this means the end of using this iconic color from their standard box of 24.  To learn more this click here. yellow Many young artists will always have fond memories of the coloring books and drawing they created using this color and may have some of these masterpieces in their bedrooms or adorning their parents and grandparents refrigerators.

I also retired my car known as BIG RED this week.  I too have many wonderful memories of this vehicle.  I have owned BIG RED since 2004 and it was the family carpool vehicle through my kids middle and high school years, the CRCAP camp pick up truck,  the moving van to and from NYU, Dartmouth and Tufts as well as the vehicle used for family vacations over the past several years.  This car has over 140,000 miles and was well enjoyed by our family.  My kids each learned to drive using this car and they definitely gained a sense of confidence having one of the larger cars on the road.  The time to retire BIG RED came after it began to show severe signs of old age on the underside.  Rust began to spread like a disease and could not be reasonably repaired.  Fortunately though she did not have to become a salvage vehicle and has found a new home with someone who will take gentle car and fix her up as needed.  Although sad to say farewell to my loyal BIG RED it was time to move on and buy a newer car.

Retiring can mean different things to different people.  It can mean ending your current job or role and resting or it can mean changing your job to do something new.  Often retirees find a brand new career or area where they can volunteer their talents.  It can also be a time to change a living situation by downsizing and moving to a new location or retiring to a new community.  During each phase of life we go through many transitions.  As we go through these changes it is always good to find others who understand and can support you in your new ventures or help you go through the transition.

As part of my real estate practice this year I realized helping others go through this process was a niche I am interested in working with.  Thus this prompted me to get my SRES which is a real estate designation to help more senior clients transition from their possibly large family home to a more appropriate living situation for the current life phase.  I enjoy working with clients who are thinking about retiring and downsizing and hope I can help others with this process.  If you are starting to plan for this stage or know anyone who is please have them reach out to me or check my blog and Facebook page @wendybcb where I enjoy sharing relevent content on this subject.

Wendy recently joined Coldwell Banker Needham.  She has been a realtor for over 8 years and knowing the area quite well can share a hands on local perspective.  She has also recently earned the SRES  designation and looks forward to helping other baby boomers as they approach their next transitions.  Feel free to contact her directly or click here http://www.wendybcb.com if you would like to learn more.