A Chef’s Retirement Plan
Joe aspires to become a great chef.
At the age of seventeen, he’s been thinking about how there’s more to life than working late night shifts at Taco Bell, making fifteen dollars an hour. So he decides to go to school for about two to four years, earning him either a diploma or a bachelor’s degree that he believes will give him an edge to start his career.
School taught him all the basics that he needed to know: how to cut, how to butcher, how to cook, how to cost things, how to manage people and expenditures, and of course, how to profit. After passing with flying colors, Joe starts his journey.
The degree proved to be useful.
For the next ten years, at the age of thirty-one, Joe rose from being a commis cook to become a great chef de cuisine. He has mastered his craft and is ready to take on the lead, only to be surprised by the owners of the restaurant that he is now the new executive chef. What a fruitful journey.
The next twenty years will pass and Joe, at the age of fifty-one, will have have done everything—from operating multi-outlet locations, managing a hundred-million-dollar-a-year restaurant group and mentoring the next generation of successors.
“I’ve got about ten more years in me,” he whispers under his breath, “I’m starting to feel things in my body that I can no longer tolerate.”
The next ten years passed and Joe’s health declined. Despite becoming the SVP of culinary operations, he caught himself in a dilemma of wanting to retire but couldn’t afford to. Having only ten-thousand dollars in the bank—after amassing massive raises and bonuses, he wondered where did all the money go while staring at the fancy furniture that he had custom-made by an Italian artist. He took a glimpse of the garage from the living room, which the glass wall made everything sparkle brilliantly, but the Porsche and Lambo have been quite a burden to him.
He recalls a faint memory of his friend, Bryan, who thirty years ago, mentioned about the power and magic of compound interest. Sulking on one corner of his leather couch, why is he thinking that he should have done something about that advice? Now the memory ripples in his mind, becoming more and more vivid as he drowns in sorrow, while his spirit drifting away into thin air.
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While some chefs become successful business owners and end up being the face of Food Network, most of us end up just climbing the corporate ladder. It even gets worse reaching for the top as there are not too many positions that open up for soon-to-be retiring executive chefs. I know that you’ve seen sixty year-old sous chefs or line cooks.
Solely relying on salary and bonuses don’t guarantee a bright future. When I went to school, they didn’t fall short in teaching us all the things that we needed to know on our way in and while you’re in it. The issue is… nobody taught us anything about how to get out. The exit plan is the missing component of schools. Do you even realize that you are already too late in the game thinking about the exit plan ten years before you retire? The exit plan must start the moment you get in to the game. Yes, that’s right. The power of time gives you the advantage.
So today, I want to educate my fellow culinarians regarding how to set yourself up for a bright retirement. Let’s be real, even if we wanted to, at some point we will slow down and be in the way of the twenty-year old line cook. We will be grumpy and defend ourselves from small mistakes that we commit and say, “I’ve been doing this for more than forty-five years, you can’t tell me anything new.”
Rather than just be a problem, I suggest that while time is still on your side, let me educate you on how to invest and build a retirement nest that you can tap into when the day comes.
But be aware that this takes commitment and dedication. It may strip you off of all the glitz and glamour. Your friends might even leave you for being different. The results will not kick in until after the tenth year of the investment plan. Although, if you trust in the process, you’ll be thanking yourself once you hit your golden age.
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