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 True Stories

Author Robert Otterbourg Sets
Example For How to "Retire &Thrive"

Author and columnist (Raleigh News & Observer) Robert Otterbourg is himself an example for how to reinvent retirement. As he tells it in his book, Retire & Thrive (The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. 1999) his was a gradual and relatively smooth transition from 30 years in the news and public relations field, including 20 years in his own public relations firm, to a rewarding new career as a full time writer.

At 58, Otterbourg found himself "no longer as resilient or as patient" in the face of business setbacks. After a number of excellent years in his own business, he had lost several accounts. "If this is a problem at this age, what will happen when I am 65?" he asked himself. The answer was to phase out of public relations and launch a new career as a writer. "For three years, I wrote an average of six to eight corporate annual reports a year and then in the early 1990s I became a freelance writer."

The transition proved to be easier than anticipated. "A few factors were in my favor: I knew what it was like to be self-employed, and I enjoyed being a writer. I was also a hobbyist as well as an officer and trustee of several not-for-profit groups. My daytime calendar was usually full. I anticipated few problems in my career and lifestyle switch." Soon, Otterbourg’s articles on lifestyle and workplace issues began to appear in New Choices, National Business Employment Weekly and Duke Magazine. Currently, he writes a column on this specialty which appears twice a month in the Raleigh News & Observer Sunday Business Section

In 1993, his first book, It’s Never Too Late, which profiled people in their 30s to mid-50s who make mid-life career changes, was published by Barron’s Educational Series. Retire & Thrive, which we reviewed in the Reinventing Retirement newsletter(1-15-00), is also filled with profiles, in this instance of the 50-plus set who are putting their own unique signatures on an outdated concept. "We’re living longer and leaving the workplace sooner," he writes, "Simple arithmetic proves that most retirees need to find ways to redirect the 2,000 to 2,500 hours or more a year that were once spent at work."

After relocating to Durham -- "NOT... in a retirement community" -- Robert Otterbourg and his wife, Susan, a full-time educational consultant, have blended work, hobbies, volunteering and family into a rewarding lifestyle. Like many of the people he writes about, Otterbourg has found that "there's more to life than the Dow Jones Industrial Average."

"Since moving to Durham, I have been a trustee of the Durham County Public Library starting in 1996 and chairman for two years, a reader with the Triangle Reading Service which reads news to the blind, visually impaired and older folks over the radio; and I'm a consultant with the Executive Service Corps of the Greater Triangle." He wants to continue to write "as long as I can remember that George Washington was the first president, and "A" is the first letter of the alphabet."

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