About RetiringWorks
A bit about me
I spent most of my working life as a copywriter — in ad and design agencies, and later in tech. Happy years, mostly. Even if they were spent on other people's messages, other people's deadlines, and other people's budgets.
My own semi-retirement crept up on me gradually. When I moved back to the country from the city, full-time agency life stopped making sense. I started contracting, then freelancing, juggling freelancing with a cottage renovation, a family, and the ongoing challenge of keeping enough money coming in without losing my mind or my weekends entirely.
It wasn't really a plan. It was more like a negotiation with life, in real time.
What it taught me — slowly, and occasionally the hard way — is that this kind of transition asks more of you than just sorting out the finances. It asks you to think about who you are, what you actually want, and how you want to spend the time you have. Not easy questions, but ones worth giving some time to.
That's really what this site is about.
What you'll find here
RetiringWorks is a place for reflection, ideas, and practical thinking — for anyone navigating the shift away from full-time work and wondering what comes next.
Not a financial planning site. Not a bucket list blog. But a space to think through what it actually means to leave the structure of full-time work behind, and to build something that feels genuinely yours in its place.
The things this site keeps coming back to:
Finding purpose after full-time work — because a pension doesn't answer the question of what you're for.
Reshaping identity beyond a job title — because more of us than care to admit it have quietly become what we do, and unwinding that takes some thought.
Staying curious, connected, and mentally active — because the alternative is a kind of slow diminishment that nobody wants but plenty of people drift into.
And staying financially afloat — because freedom needs a floor. Whether that's part-time work, freelancing, a small online income, or some combination of all three, finding a mix of earning and living that actually works for you is a central part of what this site explores.
Who it's for
If you're somewhere in the middle ground — not ready to stop, not willing to keep going as you are, and looking for a more deliberate way through — this site is for you.
You don't need to have it figured out. You just need to be asking the question.
Keep moving, stay curious
Westrow