When past generations retired from work, it usually meant the end of working for a paycheck. Most people spent their retirement years traveling or pursuing their hobbies, or maybe doing some volunteer work. These days, people enjoy better health and live much longer than they did in past decades. While some retirees look forward to not having to go to work every day, others use their retirement as an opportunity to pursue new careers. Sometimes this decision is precipitated by financial need. Other times it is a choice born of the desire to finally realize a dream career that, for various reasons, he could not chase after earlier.

If you want to have a post-retirement career, it is much easier to choose one for which you can use transferable skills. Transferable skills are skills obtained in one line of work or occupation that you can adapt to another. If you don't have to acquire new skills, you can begin looking for a job in your new field immediately. If you don't have these transferable skills, you will need to retrain for your new career. This can mean anything from completing a degree to simply taking one course.

Whether you are 26 or 66, you must have the necessary qualifications before an employer will hire you. Before you choose your new career, you must determine what skills you need and if you are willing to invest money, time, and energy to acquire them. Also take care to choose your career wisely, particularly if you must retrain in order to get hired. This will take extra time and money that you might not have originally planned for.

The bottom line is this: If you want to work in retirement, you absolutely can. Many people find that pursuing a long-lost dream in retirement revitalizes and inspires them. All it takes is a little extra thought and planning to do it right. The time and energy you put in now will contribute to a better experience down the road.