Working after retirement – hear from freelancers

Inger Stähring-Holmberg

– I turn 71 this summer and have been a teacher all my life, first in music, then also in Swedish and Spanish. Since the age of twelve, I’ve been playing and singing, including with Country Road, who were quite big in the 70s. We even played in Nashville! For the past 42 years, I’ve been singing with Två Tjejer (Two Girls), where we perform and sing music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, schlager, country, dance bands, well, almost everything.

– When it was time to retire from Kumlaby school in 2019, I planned to continue teaching some Spanish at another school. However, it turned out that I started substituting in almost all subjects, and during the pandemic, I worked practically full-time.

Last spring semester, I finally decided to leave school, but the outcome was different. I have Spanish lessons at both schools now and have started a musical project. Additionally, I play the saxophone in various brass bands and big bands.

We, Två Tjejer, received requests to perform at different PRO venues, but since my colleague is slightly younger than me and works full-time, it didn’t work out. So, I decided to go out alone and entertain, and I haven’t regretted it for a second! It’s so wonderful when I perform a bunch of old favorites that are never played on the radio, and the whole audience sings along, which makes me so happy.

Since I’ve never had my own company or F-tax, I got a tip about Cool Company. It’s worked really well, even though there’s a bit of writing and reporting involved. I can really recommend others with the same interest to dare to go out and entertain. It’s so nice and rewarding! I’ve succeeded in quite a bit in life, but failed at being retired. When the energy and desire are there, why should one stop?

Thomas Carter

– Today, I work at FEI, the Business and Economics Institute, as a senior advisor. I work, among other things, with course administration for our academic courses, and especially with the training of real estate agents. I also work as a teacher, where I talk about my former employer, the Real Estate Inspection, where I was in charge of communications for nine years.

The thing is, employment in the state service ends when you turn 67, so I switched to FEI instead. I started as a consultant, both as a teacher and to support the CEO in communication matters. Later on, I chose a 90 percent employment, which increased to 100 percent by the end of 2022.

In addition, I have a consulting assignment for the Supervision Forum, a network for Sweden’s supervisory authorities, where I provide support in organizing an annual conference.

I really enjoy working despite what my biological age suggests; I’ll be 74 this summer. And, of course, I have my lovely grandchildren, whom I see as much as possible. I think the concept that Cool Company offers is extremely good.

”Age is a matter of mind and if you don’t mind it, it doesn’t matter.”

Pamela Lund Bergström

– I have extensive professional experience in various areas and have always worked with people in different activities, such as operational support, organizational changes, and negotiations. In recent years, I’ve worked as a HR manager and HR director in the public sector, i.e., authorities. HR has always been close to my heart!

I retired in 2017. It was a big change, and I missed my job, colleagues, and the context that tasks and a workplace entail. I became a freelancer in the latter part of 2017 when I realized that I wasn’t done with working and wasn’t ready for retired life yet.

My wish was not to work full-time in my assignments, as I had done practically my whole professional life. The idea was to scale down and smoothly transition to days off.

I’ve taken on assignments that have been part-time and time-limited with the possibility of summer breaks, and also had the opportunity to choose assignments that challenged me, which included tasks that I have a great interest in. For example, I worked within a foundation, which is very different from working in the authorities; it was great fun and instructive. I also got involved in a difficult labor law investigation. Ups and downs, but I focused on having fun! Additionally, I meet colleagues who are younger than I am, which is so fun and instructive.

Don’t be afraid to do something else and choose carefully with what and for whom you want to work! It should give both you and the employer good results. There’s plenty of great expertise and experience among us over-65s for employers to tap into.

One might think that it’s complicated to work as a freelancer regarding the administrative side. Invoices, taxes, do you have to start a company or how does it work? But I found Cool Company, and it’s so easy to get all the service from there!