By Christina Wallace
This is yet another excellent book that’s not explicitly all about retirement, yet very applicable to retirement.
Christina Wallace describes herself as a “human Venn Diagram.” Her portfolio life includes being a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School, startup mentor, angel investor, writer, podcaster and theater producer – and that’s just on the professional side of her life.
The core idea of this book is taking business frameworks and exploring how they can be used in life planning and design. A foundational concept behind The Portfolio Life is a familiar principle in investing: diversification. Wallace makes a compelling case against putting all of your eggs in any one basket, when it comes to designing your life. It’s a concept that fits quite well with planning your life in retirement. Rather than looking for a singular interest to replace what full-time work provided you, craft a combination of multiple pursuits instead.
Another useful idea that Wallace advocates is to create your own personal Board of Directors who can advise and assist you in your future endeavors. And like an organization’s board, she notes that you’ll want to think through the optimal roles and skills you’ll want the collective board to possess. She advises build a diverse group to play different roles like Coach, Negotiator, Connector, Cheerleader and Truth Teller.
Another practice Wallace recommends importing from the business word is measurement. What gets measured is indeed what gets done. She recommends building your Personal Balanced Scorecard to gauge how you’re doing with your new portfolio. Creating it can be a thought provoking exercise in defining and clarifying what success and and/or satisfaction will look like for you in your new life.
If you’re unclear about your vision for your future The Portfolio Life includes practical exercises that can help you started. One especially powerful one is 100 Wishes, which she described in my podcast conversation with her. You can listen in here and get started on building your own portfolio life.
Buy The Portfolio Life here
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Related Book Summaries You May Like:
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
Tapas Life by Andrew Robin
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Retire Smarter: Listen to conversations on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
