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My Biggest Retirement Mistake: Coming Out of Retirement
Money was tight, but going back to work full time proved too stressful
Kat Kombrinck, 80, walks a friend’s dog in Eden Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kombrinck retired at 67 only to re-enter the workforce a few years later. Now she dog-walks and pet-sits for extra income.
Maddie McGarvey
Retirement isn’t always a choice. Sometimes life happens and forces a change. And it doesn’t always happen all at once.
Kat Kombrinck was 67 when she retired from her job as a financial planner. She had recently moved from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to help her son and daughter-in-law with her grandkids and was still adjusting to her new surroundings. On top of that, the technological changes rippling through the financial-services industry were stressing her out.
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Apple had just launched the iPad, and 4G was rolling out. Mobile was taking off. Apps and digital investing platforms were becoming more prominent, adding a new layer of complexity to her profession.
“I started getting physically unwell,” says Kombrinck, now 80. “My heart rate went up. I had a tough time breathing, and I realized I had to get out.”
Gregory Reid
What’s Your Biggest Retirement Mistake?
Retirement isn’t just about leaving a job. It's about changing your life — your routine, your budget, your priorities, where you live. It's decision after decision, and you don't always make the right one. Is there something you wish you’d done differently?
AARP Members Edition wants to hear about your retirement regrets. A mistimed exit from the office? A move to the wrong place? A relationship you gave up? Spending too much, or too little? Share your story at retirement@aarp.org and we might feature it in this series.
But retirement didn’t last long. Rents were rising in Southern California, and Kombrinck didn’t think she had enough cash flow to cover the increases and live comfortably. Then there was the time to fill; she wasn’t the type to pick up a hobby or relax. So, two years after retiring, she went back to work.
“I don’t do well with nothing or very little of anything to do,” she says. “I have to feel like I’m productive.” Working gave her that feeling.
New job, same stress
Finding a full-time job proved difficult, however, so Kombrinck took temporary positions while she searched for something solid. About a year later, she ended up back in financial services, the industry she had fled, this time as an insurance agent.
By then, she felt comfortable with the technology and thought she could do the job, but the cutthroat nature of working in sales was a new stressor. So was the ageism she says she encountered.
“Going back to work was a mistake. I thought I knew enough, was comfortable enough, but I found out I wasn’t,” she says. “It's really hard to get older; you're not as quick as you were.” Her younger co-workers noticed and made comments that took a further toll on her psyche.
“I really thought I was having lung problems, but the specialists said, ‘You are just stressed out,’ ” she says.
She was 77 by this time and ready to retire permanently. She still needed the money, but the job was causing more harm than good.
Kombrinck says she has made progress on the financial front. After quitting her job, she dabbled in pet-sitting and decided to focus on that. It's grown into a money-making business and, just as important, it brings her happiness.
“My health improved drastically,” she says. That’s yielded savings on medical expenses like prescriptions and copays for doctor visits. And it’s brought wisdom about staying too long in a profession that no longer brought her satisfaction.
“Find something that you really enjoy, that you look forward to doing without hesitancy,” she counsels fellow retirees. “I love animals, so this is perfect for me. I can look at a dog walking down the street and get a big smile on my face. It’s about joy.”
Kat Kombrinck urges retirees who want to return to the workforce to find work "that you really enjoy." For her, it was a pet-sitting business.
Maddie McGarvey
What the pro says
Kombrinck is far from alone in re-entering the workforce a few years after retiring. It was particularly common after the pandemic, with millions of people “unretiring” for a slew of reasons. Hers were that she needed the cash and feared idle time, even though she suspected it was compromising her health.
The best defense against financial insecurity is to save as much as possible before retiring, says Christopher Manske, a certified financial planner and president of Manske Wealth Management in Houston. Maximize any savings option your workplace offers, like a 401(k) plan.
If saving is tough, try tightening your budget now to bank for tomorrow, he suggests. And if you’re making a big move, as Kombrinck did, consider the financial implications before taking the leap.
“When you move from the Midwest to California — or from Mobile to Miami, or from St. Paul to New York City — it’s a very expensive change, and the cost of living will be higher,” he says.
But in Manske’s view, the key is balancing what brings you money with what brings you joy — or at least doesn’t make you feel ill.
“Ms. Kombrinck did a great job of this,” he says, “identifying her affinity for pets and then finding a role that capitalized on that.”
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