Janice Wien and her Persistent Pursuit of a Meaningful Life!



Janice Wien

Small blessings happen during life in such soft and quiet ways, that it’s often not until many years later that you realize the true gift that you’ve been handed. For me, one such gift was having wonderful neighbor Janice Wien living next door during my early days in the Bay Area. Two Jewish girls transplanted to Berkeley for work and romance, we quickly bonded over our mutual love of plants (especially roses), gardens, great food, cats and books.

Fast forward about 30 years, and my blessing continues as Janice shares with us her endless thirst for knowledge and finding life’s passions. When I chat with folks who tell me they wish for a more meaningful life, I tell them about Janice. When I hear whining about how it’s too late to go down a new path, I remind them that many choose new paths at all points in life, and it’s never to late to seek more nourishing pursuits. I hope you enjoy reading about our client and my friend, Janice Wien. Be prepared to be inspired!

Janice, you and I first met as neighbors in Berkeley. I think it was our mutual love of gardening and trips to local nurseries that first brought us together --- so many plants, so little time! Tell us a bit about where you grew up, your education up to that point, and how you landed in Berkeley? What were you doing professionally, and personally, at that time in your life?

Let’s see, when Lynn and I met I was working in the accounting department at the San Francisco Symphony. I had been at UC Santa Barbara four years earlier but bailed after about 2 ½ years. I had racked up what then seemed to be a fortune in school loans. Since I was an English major, I had no idea how I’d pay back my loans, I panicked and dropped out. So began my 30 year journey to finish my B.A. I had been working for my dad’s accounting firm since I was fourteen so even though I didn’t love accounting, it was easy to fall back on those skills as a way to support myself.

I ended up in Berkeley because many of my friends had transferred from UCSB to UC Berkeley, and I just followed them. My boyfriend and I decided to move in together and rented the house next door to Lynn. I began my first forays into gardening, since then a life-long love, and learned so much from her.

As I got to know you better, I learned of your love for travel, and also your fascination with Israel as well as Hebrew studies, and your deep interest in Judaism --- it’s studies and culture. It would be great if you could share with us where this life-long interest --- perhaps passion? --- for Judaism began, how it evolved for you, and the many paths you’ve pursued personally and professionally in its pursuit.

I grew up in Los Angeles as a “cultural” or secular Jew and had no experience with religious Judaism. It wasn’t until I moved to Berkeley and discovered the Lehrhaus Judaica that I was able to approach Judaism in a way that was comfortable and meaningful for me, namely academically. I began studying Judaism, American Jewish and Israeli history and culture, and Hebrew at the Lehrhaus and I continue to study to this day. I am especially interested in Jewish fiction from the U.S., Europe, and Israel.

I’d been bitten by the travel bug during my first trip to Europe right after high school. The combination of my passion for travel and my deep interest in Judaism led to four trips to Israel, including two extended visits to study – once for an ulpan (intensive language program) at Hebrew University and once at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a modern orthodox yeshiva where men and women study traditional texts together.


Janice takes London's Hyde Park by storm!

A couple of years after we first met, my fledging business, Ballou Financial Group, was growing and I needed help. Lucky for me, you became the company’s first employee! Considering what a terrible “boss” I made, it’s a miracle you stayed my friend --- not to mention client --- all these years! But things changed for you, and you and Eric moved to Petaluma where you helped your then husband run his firm. Tell us about that business and what your role was in the company.

It took me a long time to work up the courage to leave the SF Symphony, but working for BFG was the perfect opportunity to move forward with my career. I’ve carried the top-notch organizational skills I learned while working with Lynn to my subsequent jobs and my personal life. Those skills were especially useful when I began working with my ex-husband. He had started a business, ETA, selling and supporting Great Plains accounting software. I began just “helping out” around the office -- organizing, paying bills, helping him interview his first employees, etc. – and as the business grew, I ended up working as the controller.

At some point you realized that the field of accounting and office administration as a life–time profession could not possibly satisfy your soul enough. You were looking for something that could become your own cause and calling --- a career that could sustain you for many years not just financially --- though that is certainly very important --- but most important for you, intellectually. So, what did you do to embark upon this professional quest? And what happened next?

Although I was pretty good at accounting, I never found the work fulfilling and spent many years feeling stuck. While I was with ETA, I had the opportunity to work part-time for a little while, so I took a series of classes at the Alumnae Resource Center in San Francisco (now the Bay Area Career Center) to try to find a new career. As a result, I did informational interviews with people in several fields and was most drawn to working in a library. I took a library skills class at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and also volunteered for a couple of months in the archives department at the Sonoma State University Library. I loved all of it! However, I needed to go back to work full-time so I started interviewing for another accounting position. After an interview for an accounting job with the SRJC Foundation, I stopped by to visit the instructor of my library skills class. One thing led to another, and I ended up doing an informal interview on the spot for a part-time temporary job in Periodicals. I walked out of the library with the strangest feeling – that when you truly want something, the universe just might provide the opportunity. I got that job, but since I needed full-time work, I also took a part-time accounting job in Petaluma. At that point, I decided I would do anything to get my foot in the door at the JC’s library, so for several months I spent my lunches driving from one job to the other each day. My manager had a hunch I’d be good at cataloging, given the detail orientation and accuracy I brought from my work in accounting, and she encouraged me to apply for a cataloging technician position. It took me two years to get a full-time permanent position but it was worth sticking with it.

I worked at SRJC library for ten years. All this time, I was slowly working toward finishing my B.A. through Excelsior College, an external degree program out of New York. As long as I met their requirements, I could take classes at any accredited college. I started going to college in 1974, received credits from seven colleges, and finally finished my B.A. in Liberal Arts in 2005 with emphases in English Literature and Jewish Studies. I took a break for a year during which I had the crazy idea to go for my master’s degree in library science. I loved working in a library, and it just seemed like the natural next step.

This all came about for you during a time of life when most would be settling into their career path, working up the ladder --- certainly not thinking about a mid-life complete change in career orientation! How did your circle of colleagues, friends and family react to the news? Did you feel pressured to “stick it out” in the field you were already in? Did you have mentors who championed your cause and helped you?


Janice on Abbey Road.  Can you hear the Beatles?

For the most part, my friends were very supportive of my decision to change careers and go to graduate school. They knew I had been unhappy in accounting for several years and that I wasn’t interested in advancing my career in that field. They weren’t thrilled with my decision to move to Illinois and were happy when I decided to do the distance program instead. However, once I started grad school, I had to go underground and didn’t see friends very often anyway. It was a grueling three years. When I wasn’t working, I was reading, writing papers, working on projects, and studying for exams. My employers were also supportive, letting me adjust my schedule so I could take live online classes once a week in the middle of the day from my desk.

I had an amazing mentor. The SRJC librarian who taught my first library skills class and helped me get the library technician job at the JC, was behind me every step of the way. He brainstormed and strategized with me, encouraged me, and wrote letters of recommendation. He was also a fantastic librarian. His intelligence, humor, and dedication to the college’s students were truly inspiring. When I was in my twenties, I also had a special role model – a cousin who worked as a legal secretary for many years. She was in her fifties when she decided to go to law school. After she passed the bar, she worked for a non-profit organization that represented seniors. Through her, I realized people could achieve their goals at any age, even late bloomers like me.

A major professional reorientation such as this does not come for free, right? And this isn’t a short-term program of study for a small designation! What was involved financially, and how many years did this take? Did you just “go for it” and quit working? Or did you work while attending school?

I was accepted in the on-campus program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but at the last minute decided to switch to their distance program. It’s easy to pick up and move when you’re in your twenties, but not so much in your fifties. I owned a condo, had a great job, was paying into the PERS retirement system, and had just met my boyfriend. Sometimes life is all about compromise. Because I needed to work full-time, it took me three years to complete the program rather than one (for those crazy overachievers) or two (most common) years. I missed out on the chance to work as a graduate assistant in U of I’s superb library and on all of the networking opportunities one has when they’re part of the program’s on-campus community. However, one of the requirements of the program was to attend on-campus sessions once a semester. I was still able to meet my cohort members and instructors and spend some time at that incredible university.

In the end, my masters cost me about $32,000. The cost would have been $40,000, but I received an Institute of Museum and Library Services Grant for Librarians Serving Community-Based Higher Education. To pay for the program, I “borrowed” money I had set aside for retirement with the hope that an MSLIS would allow me to increase my earnings, and I’d be able to put that money back. About a year into the program, job prospects for librarians started looking bad, but I tried not to panic and stuck with it. Miraculously, I was able to find a job with a good salary and great upside potential at well-funded library, so I’m slowly and systematically repaying my savings. However, there were also intangible costs -- three years of very little sleep, no personal life, and a dramatic increase in grey hair. I’ve been catching up on sleep and fun and found a great colorist in L.A., so things are working out just fine!

So, my friend, life comes full circle and you are now back in the L.A. area, in fact working for the Santa Monica Library! How did you find this position? What work do you do for the library? And what’s it like leaving NorCal and replanting yourself in SoCal?

I found my job as a cataloging librarian at Santa Monica Public Library through one of the many librarian listservs. It took me a year and a half to find the position. The job market for public and academic librarians has been hit hard by the sluggish economy. The competition for jobs is fierce. Newly minted librarians compete with experienced librarians who have lost their jobs due to budget cuts or who have been forced to delay retirement. Our professors and advisors told us that the more flexible we were about location, the easier it would be to find that first position. I was reluctantly looking at jobs in Kentucky, Arizona, and even Winnepeg. However, something told me I might end up back in Los Angeles. I’d spent years saying I would never move back, but I guess we all have our price! To be honest, I didn’t think I would get the job at SMPL and treated the interviews as “practice.” I was shocked when they offered me the job. L.A. or not, there was no way I could turn down such a plum position. The hardest part of moving forward with my career was leaving the Bay Area. Nightmarish traffic aside, L.A. has turned out to be a lot more fun than we expected. Even so, we still intend to come back to NorCal, even if we have to wait until we retire.

You and your partner, Dave, have gone through more than just a professional move. Uprooting two households in Northern California for a complete relocation to the L.A. area was more involved than just calling a moving company! Walk us through the planning for this major life event and lessons learned.


Ah, family life:  two braniacs on the couch with their dueling laptops!

In addition to the sadness of saying goodbye to the Bay Area, the move was challenging in other ways. Suddenly I had a little over a month to turn my life upside down and move to another city. I was moving from a two bedroom condo and David, my boyfriend, was moving from a 3 bedroom house. We knew we could only afford a two bedroom apartment, so we had to get rid of an unfathomable amount of stuff! Through networking with family and friends, we found a short-term rental in North Hollywood in a house that was a borderline teardown and spent two months going through possessions (most of which David had in storage until the move) and making countless runs to Goodwill. Our temporary living situation also allowed us to take our time and find an amazing 1937 duplex in a great neighborhood. It also took three months to find a tenant for my condo, so between fixing up my condo to rent out, no rental income, and the move, I felt like I was hemorrhaging money. All this while I was trying to master my first professional position in a new career. In the end, things worked out for the best once again. The major lesson learned here is do not hang onto stuff you don’t need! Start reading “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh now! Then read it again before you move.

Tell us about more your field, Library Sciences. What is your particular area of interest now and how might that evolve?

Library science is a dynamic field. Librarians have often been the first to adopt new technologies, and that continues to be a challenge in a good way. Social media, e-resources, and digital preservation are just a few examples of current issues with which the profession is grappling. On the flip side, an unfortunate challenge is libraries and librarians have to prove their relevancy to administrators and tax payers in the face of successive budget cuts. Personally, as much as I love cataloging, my goal is to branch out and broaden my skill set by gaining experience on the “public” side of the library. I have an opportunity to work at our Information desk and hope to move toward working at the Reference desk as well. As I work toward getting over my shyness working with the public, I would love to eventually go back to working at a community college doing reference and information literacy instruction. I deeply believe in the mission of community colleges and have seen what a difference instructors and librarians have made in the lives of their students. I went into this profession with the hope I could also make a contribution to enhancing the lives of others.

You have always embraced technology, Janice, even in the short while we worked together it changed the tenor of our firm. How is your field being impacted by technology? And what do you think of the notion that paper books will soon be a thing of the past with all of us going totally digital? What does this mean for the future of Library Science?

People often ask me why we still need libraries and aren’t books going away. Given the circulation statistics at our library (1.5 million visitors and 1.8 million items checked out in 2010/11), I don’t see libraries or books going away anytime soon. Anecdotally, many people still love reading books they can hold, smell, and page through. Sure, some people prefer their Nooks and Kindles. I bought a Nook last year because I refuse to buy (and move) another book unless it’s special enough to have a physical copy. Dave and I often borrow e-books from the library to read on our Nooks. There’s also the issue of the “digital divide” – namely there are still many people who cannot afford to own a computer or e-reader. Many of these people rely on the public computers at libraries to search for jobs, do research, read and write emails, etc. They also rely on libraries for books they cannot afford to buy. That said, we are seeing a move toward e-resources. Personally, my job is becoming less about the traditional cataloging of “items in hand” and more about loading large batches of electronic books, audiobooks, and journals and then maintaining these large databases of information. The library’s Web presence (including mobile applications) is also critical, so web skills are important for some library positions. These days, many if not most libraries connect with their patrons through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest – you name it, so one needs to be comfortable using social media. At SMPL, I’m involved in a project to create a citywide intranet and am learning how to use a collaborative software application called Sharepoint. Of course Library Science is still about helping people find, evaluate, and use information, but it is also about keeping up with the technologies that allow us to do that in what will hopefully be better and more efficient ways.

What advice would you give to those readers who might be contemplating a complete and major career change mid-life? What might you have done differently and what do you think went very well?

For those contemplating a major career change mid-life, I would encourage you to go for it! Yes, a change like this comes with a fairly high financial and emotional price, but life is short. If you have the opportunity, grab it and make it happen. Do whatever you need to do to pursue your life’s work. Of course we can only do things when we’re ready, but coming from this late bloomer, I recommend you try to get yourself there sooner than later. That said, remember it’s never too late! From my own experience, I was continually amazed that when I was acting from a place of personal truth, things would seem to magically fall into place. I know a big part of that was just being able to recognize and seize opportunities as they came along.

Also, remember to rely on the help and support of friends and family. I have been fortunate to have Lynn as my friend as well as my financial advisor all these years. She has been there to give me support and solid advice through all of the major events of my life – my marriage, my divorce, buying my condo; going to graduate school and changing careers was just the most recent episode! I’d like to tell her I’m going to settle down and just sock away money for my retirement, but knowing me, she’d better not hold her breath.

Any other thoughts you’d like to share with us? If readers would like to chat with you, what’s the best way to reach you?

I’d be happy to offer support and encouragement to any of Lynn’s clients who are considering similar seismic shifts in their lives. The best way to reach me is at my personal email address: zeldaw8@gmail.com.


New additions to the family!

Janice, never one to shy away from a challenge, was kind enough to work on this Blog while mothering her two latest family additions, feral kittens rescued in the L.A. area.  Seymour and Marley, the newest small blessings, are keeping her and Dave hopping!   Don’t hesitate to reach out to Janice, just to say “hi” if nothing else.  And if you need a librarian extraordinaire --- well --- knowing Janice you don’t have to live in Santa Monica to piqué her interest and receive great advice.  Now MY challenge will be keeping up with her!   Thanks, Janice!  You never cease to motivate and encourage those around you, including me!

Marina Devoulin --- Woman of the World, Industry Leader, Family Champion and SO much more!



Marina in her office

It’s been well over 30 years since I first met Marina. She inspired me at that very first meeting and hasn’t stopped since. If there was a glass ceiling challenging her, you’d never know it. And if you know her at all, you’ll know she has vision, loves sharing and motivating, and though opinionated --- is rarely wrong! She has generously taken me under her wing over the years and patiently explained complex insurance strategies in a way even this English major can understand! She works hard on behalf of clients, her industry and her family. I caught up with her in a couple of rare “down” moments that she generously gave to this Blog. I could have slipped in a few dozen more questions, but I’m grateful for her time on just these. Enjoy reading about one of my inspirations, Marina Devoulin.

Marina, I have so much to thank you for, but especially for being a role model as a successful woman entrepreneur. You gave me great courage to go solo and open what started as Ballou Financial Group and then of course became so much more as Ballou Plum Wealth Advisors. What made you decide to open your own small business? Who were your mentors and role models? Tell us about the early days of Marina Associates and how you decided that the insurance industry was a great fit for you. What was it like to be a woman business owner in a seemingly very male dominated industry?

Lynn, you continue as my inspiration and you sure can make anyone sound like a star but here goes! My insurance career started modestly 49 years ago as a must-have part-time neighborhood job. Ben Shaffer, the agency owner, was a great mentor and let me run as much of the operation as I was willing to do. Insurance then was fairly simple and most agencies also handled real estate so I was licensed and active in both fields almost from the start. With absolutely no marketing background the idea of a “sales” career was totally foreign but I did find a great fit in a “consultative” role and that service focus became a cornerstone of our agency.

Planning for his retirement, Ben and I executed a buy/sell agreement and I became the agency owner with three massive loans! Fortunately, I had several strong supporters - my husband, Nick, my Dad and my grandmother Lena (an entrepreneur herself!) - all encouraged me to be in business for myself. As for being a woman insurance principal at that time – it was plain silly!! I won respect mostly for “thinking like a guy” and was often the only woman in professional gatherings. Later it was marvelous to see more women enter the insurance industry at both the agency and corporate levels.

Your sister, Lana, shared some childhood memories with us in her earlier Blog. We would really enjoy hearing your perspective on your family and childhood, early influences and educational background.

Well, Lana, being younger and born in SF, missed some of the fun immigration part! Our family fled one revolution in Russia and settled very comfortably in Shanghai where Nick and I were born. Then came WWII and the ensuing occupation/bombing/chaos, followed by the Communist takeover of mainland China. My family was able to get exit visas and leave in late 1947 aboard a converted troop carrier –100 passengers in our CABIN! – that’s travel in style! Nick had to spend almost two years in a Philippine island refugee camp – ah, resort life! We were both incredibly fortunate to have families who gave us a sense of stability – even in the face of chaos and uncertainty. Education-wise I gave up a modest scholarship to marry, we put Nick through college, several postgraduate degrees and started a family. By then I was deep into running a business and very happy doing it. For more than 20 years I also was a guest lecturer at several Bay Area colleges and universities on the subjects of insurance, real estate and financial planning. Mostly, I have been either the least educated or most self-made member of the agency among giants!

So at some point you fell in love with your wonderful husband, Nick Devoulin, and started a family. How did you and Nick meet? Tell us a bit about his background.

I met Nick when I was 15 and he was 19 – we’ll be married 55 years this September – two kids, three grandkids, working together and still happy! Nick is an agency principal and active on the financial side – bringing 34 years of corporate engineering and management to the operation 20 years ago. It’s hard to tell a separate story about one of us - it’s always a story about both of us!
 


Nick hard at work

How did you manage to “do it all?” Successful entrepreneur, Mom and wife -- and make it look so easy to do?

You must be joking!!! Smoke and mirrors?? Actually, probably a lust for life – gotta do it all, gotta enjoy every minute! Early on, I had two grandmothers and a fabulous mother who helped out with the kids - that can make the difference for an entrepreneur, especially a woman! The agency was featured in a national magazine years ago and the writer got the verbiage a little wrong – complimenting us for our “flexibility due to sex” - that made for some great jokes!

One of the most admirable things about your firm is how you stay current on not just the laws and industry trends, but really are known as a trend setter and industry “mover and shaker” within your own right. How did that industry recognition and passion develop?

Once the agency was on a firm footing and staffed, I was drawn into the bigger industry picture and invited to serve on national advisory boards. For many years, I was a member of a Presidents Council, participated in task forces which dealt with products, delivery of services, automation and underwriting. I met and worked with excellent colleagues and was in a position to communicate directly with top corporate management. I had strong ideas about fairness and ethical service – that was really the driving passion behind my involvement and still is to this day! Recognition by our carriers, including 20 years as an Award of Excellence Agent, meant many of those ideas were heard and our resulting positioning enabled us to better serve our clients.

What do you see as some of the biggest challenges facing your industry in this high speed world? And with the advent of so many communication channels, is this a blessing or a curse?

It’s a little of both – there are the benefits of access to many companies and the ability to very quickly serve clients across a huge range of products. On the other hand, consumers have a lot more information about insurance (some of it incomplete or even erroneous) and can choose their delivery channel. The challenge for the industry is to stabilize their products and communicate better with insureds. Some examples – too many options, too many changes, too much information – our agency mission is to filter out the confusion. We’re sure there will always be a place for consultative service and clients who value it.

When I think of you I cannot help but think of your incredible commitment to your family. Bringing your sister into the business, your children, hers and grandchildren --- is this a vision you had early on or did it develop over time? How do you encourage the next generation(s) to embrace the notion of a truly multi-generational family business? There must be a lot of challenges there, as well.



Marina and Nick celebrating their granddaughter Nina's wedding

Perhaps remarkably, I really like my family and all of them are immensely smart and competent. I didn’t need any special vision to hire them – they were always just the very best for the job and, of course, brought total commitment! Steve, our son and his wife Raquel are now principals, my niece Suzanne and my granddaughter Nina are all active producers. The family trend started with my sister, Lana, who for over 30 years helped build the agency – after retirement, my Dad was the Treasurer and, at one time or another, our daughter, other niece and grandson have also lent a hand! This successful example is sufficient encouragement for the next generation and, fortunately, they all do get along and respect each other professionally! One member of our staff who is not related has been “adopted” so we continue the tradition.

Another admirable path that your firm took involves location. Early on you really understood the freedom that technology and the internet could afford and discussed with me on several occasions that these tools would allow you to run your firm from virtually anywhere, anytime. Has that worked out as well as you had hoped? What challenges does this present with keeping staff connected and engaged and the synergies flowing?

One of our biggest and best decisions was to go “virtual” about 15 years ago. We do have offices in San Francisco and Santa Rosa but our secure access online to complete client data as well as carrier interfaces means we can do more, do it faster and document it better. Initially, I was concerned about keeping staff connected – the exchange of ideas and knowledge is absolutely vital in a vibrant organization. We utilized several great techno-tools: Continuous/live Webex Connect which enables us to literally see who is available and communicate instantly via IM, online phone or video. We have regular video-conferences as well as in-person staff meetings in our Santa Rosa office. Our internal Blog provides instant information regarding industry or carrier developments, online sharing enables us to collaborate seamlessly on key agency ideas and issues and our website, www.marinains.com, keeps clients and colleagues informed. Remarkably, we almost never discuss the “business” at family gatherings - a good way to keep our professional and personal lives in the proper perspective!

And of course, we cannot possibly talk about the importance of technology in freeing us up from a specific physical space without chatting a bit about your passion for travel. You and Nick are absolutely global in your thinking. And you don’t just skip around --- you really enjoy settling in to an area for a bit. Please share with us where you’ve traveled that made the most lasting impressions and how you like to travel. And how you juggle all that with still being firmly in control of your company?



Marina and Nick enjoying a London pub

We’ve traveled extensively, even before our agency went virtual – then and now, having family as partners has been crucial and enabled us to work from afar. After many trips abroad we discovered the pleasure of several home exchanges – later, the advent of vacation and apartment rentals worldwide made that even easier to arrange. We find that grocery shopping, local dining, visiting less famous attractions, cycling foreign byways and generally settling into the rhythm of a country is far more gratifying than being always on the move. It helps communication that we’re somewhat multi-lingual plus willing to give any language a try! Having visited 50 or 60 different countries for extended periods, the most lasting impressions are always in the small experiences that make the place real for us. With high speed internet everywhere, agency connection and involvement is NO different than when we are in the Bay Area!! Although it does surprise some clients when I email them at 3 a.m. their time!

What are your future travel plans?

We’re off on a short jaunt (Nick’s post hip surgery) to the Oregon wine country, great jazz at Portland’s Benson and books at Powells. In 2013 we’ll be in Mexico (a laid back favorite) and then in France – probably Bordeaux where we haven’t been for several years. Planning ahead and savoring afterwards is a big part of all positive travel experiences!

Any other thoughts, Marina? And, what’s next for Marina and Nick?

Never a dull moment on the personal side - moving one home, selling another, starting a new garden from scratch for this avid hobbyist, resuming cycling – it’s a long, long list!

Many clients and colleagues who know you will be reading this Blog. If they’d like to reach out to you, what would be the best way to do so?

I’m the email queen - drop me a line at marinains@aol.com and I reply like a flash! By Phone: 877-921-8900 X703.
  


Lovely Marina!

Okay, so true confessions, I didn’t know about her passion for bicycling and gardening.  So, now I truly have no hopes of ever fitting as much into even a whole day as she fits into just one hour!  Marina’s genuine when she gives her email out and says she’ll reply in a flash --- she will!  So don’t hesitate --- if any topic resonates with you she’d be more than happy to chat with you further.  Marina:  thank you so much for making time for us.  I’ll try to do a better job of keeping up!

Family focused, lovely and newly retired, Janet Evans!

Janet at Mono Lake

This month we are treated to a chat with a beloved client who truly exemplifies what it means to be devoted and compassionate --- retired attorney Janet Evans.  Known by many of our readers as a colleague, professional and friend, you will enjoy catching up with her as she begins her retirement years.  It’s not at all easy to step away from a busy and successful law practice and segue into retirement.   She shares this professional journey with us along with other life lessons learned along the way, her passion for gardening, and how she fills an irreplaceable role in her aging Mother’s life.

Janet, I first had the opportunity to meet you because of your professional move from San Francisco to Walnut Creek. A mutual colleague told me that there was this brilliant estate planning attorney named Janet Evans who was relocating and starting a practice to be close to her family as her kids grew up. Surprisingly, even that recently, it was still considered a bit shocking for a woman to walk away from a big successful law firm in “The City” to practice in the “burbs.” So of course, I just had to meet you! Having done the same thing myself --- staying in the suburbs to be close to my kids as they grew up --- I was a bit ridiculed by those who said I’d never “make it” if I wasn’t working in “The City.” Did you take a bit of ridicule or “flack” from your colleagues, or were they generally supportive? What was the “ah ha!” moment that you experienced that brought you to that decision, Janet, or was it a series of so many little things that just added up? Did it all come to pass as you had envisioned?

Everyone was very supportive, and I have my fellow estate planners to thank for many of my first clients. Leaving a job I valued in San Francisco to set up my own practice was an intimidating prospect, but I'd already been practicing for 20 years and had survived a career change that was far more wrenching a decade earlier. At the time I made that earlier change, I had an infant and a toddler and was coming to terms with the fact that trying to practice full time and care for my family made me feel like I was coming apart at the seams. Deciding to take a part-time "contract" position ran counter to everything I'd absorbed from the culture of practicing law, yet it rejuvenated me and taught me that change is possible.

When I first went to work in San Francisco, we lived in Oakland, and my commute was quite manageable. Relocating to Clayton six years later substantially lengthened that commute, and after four years, I decided I needed to work closer to home. I also realized that I wanted to live and work in the same community. Knowing that growing a practice would take time, we moved to a more modest home, which helped balance the economic impact of losing my salary. Did it turn out as I envisioned? Close enough. I very much enjoyed my clients and my practice, and as I'd expected, it made it much easier to care for our children, Brian and Megan, as they moved through their teenage years and into young adulthood. I never regretted making the change, and that period was the most satisfying of my professional life.

Brian and Megan, Lassen National Park, July 1998

Tell us about your childhood and how that influenced you as you developed your own core values. How did you and your husband, also an attorney, meet?

Let's start with the easy part of your question. I met my husband on the second day of law school in Classroom H. All first year law students were assigned to one of six sections, and each section took all their courses together in a single classroom. I'd bonded with my classmate Lindy on the first day of law school over the frigid temperature maintained in the classroom. She strode into class on the second day with my future husband following in her wake. I could say the rest is history, but in truth, it took a number of years for us to become a couple. However, our friendship dates back to that time, as do a number of other friendships.

I suppose I developed my core values the way any child does, by observing my elders and being instructed by them. I was fortunate to have a nurturing mother and a supportive father, as well as a number of other elders who let me tag around after them and treated me as a valued human being. The adults in my life also talked to one another about moral issues, big and small, as well as politics, science and religion. When I was three, I learned that it didn't feel particularly good to hurt someone else by whacking my younger brother John on the head with one of my blocks because his very presence annoyed me. I do not remember being disciplined, but I remember vividly feeling appalled at what I'd done. When I was in my 50's, I asked my mother if she remembered the incident, and how she'd responded. Yes, she remembered, and said she'd picked up my brother and comforted him, telling me that I must never do that again. Suffice it to say that she had a gift with children.

Janet on her wedding day, escorted by brothers Jeff and John

Did you always know you were destined to become an attorney? What drew you to specialize in Estate Planning?

I had no idea I wanted to practice law when I was young. I only knew that I didn't want to be a nurse (my mother's profession) or a teacher. Perhaps it was hearing my mother say that my father should have been a lawyer, and everyone saying that I was "just like" my father, that first put the idea in my head. (My father was an aerospace research scientist and worked for NASA. He died when I was 18.) Falling into estate planning was a happy accident. I was offered the opportunity and took it. The intersection between the law and the human issues it addresses is particularly apparent in estate planning and fit my capabilities and interests far better than would have litigation, family law, or many other areas of practice.

Are your children following in their parent’s footsteps or finding a different path?

Neither of our children is interested in practicing law. Our son has a Masters in Marriage and Family counseling and is currently working with prisoners who are about to be paroled, helping them line up medical assistance, disability benefits and other services to which they may be entitled. The hope is that having these services and benefits in place before they are released will reduce recidivism. Our daughter, who has a BA in Sociology, is in a nursing program, and has found her niche there. So both children have chosen "nurturing professions," and while most people do not think of the law in this light, practicing law does involve counseling other human beings. So in that sense, there is a common thread.

Last year you made a shocking announcement: you were retiring! Many readers of this column are former clients as well as colleagues, and I can just share with you something I’m hoping you already know --- you made a tremendous and positive impact on many lives and are missed! You continue to be incredibly family oriented, Janet --- I think it’s just imbedded in your DNA! Even as your children have launched, you are now deeply involved in the care of your Mom. I’m certain this is something that many of us can relate to and it would be great if you could share that journey with us. Was your retirement planning tied in with your Mom’s growing need of your time?

Thank you for saying so, Lynn. Meeting my mother's needs over the last seven years certainly had a cumulative impact on my ability to maintain a law practice. Caring for someone else, or managing their care, often involves a long term commitment of time and emotional energy that requires adjustments to other areas of one's life. So many people have this kind of responsibility, but there isn't much guidance on how to make everything work together.

Part of the challenge is simply finding the hours in the week necessary to see that she is well cared for and remains as much a part of the world as she can. However, it is also a challenge to manage the emotional ups and downs of caring for someone you love who is slowly failing. One moment I'm cheered because she still knows her family and friends and can enjoy stories about them despite her cognitive issues. The next moment I'm having to grapple with the way in which her world is contracting, or feeling helpless because yet another small problem needs solving.

I am very fortunate in that my two brothers are emotionally supportive. However, the price we pay for our mobility is that when my mother needed to leave her home in Los Gatos, we had to make a choice as to which of the three of us she would live near. Making the relatively short move to Contra Costa County was the least disruptive to her, and for a variety of reasons, my time was more flexible than theirs. I am also fortunate to have a supportive husband, both financially and emotionally. It was easy to see the value of my work with our children precisely because they were ours, not mine. But my mother is not my husband's mother, and it would be easy for him to resent the impact caring for her has had on us. (I tell him I'm modeling for our children.) I value his support greatly.

Megan, Janet's Mom, Muriel, and Janet at Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite National Park

Do you feel that your work in Estate Planning, and particularly your work with clients planning for their own old age or grappling with their own elder's needs, helped you prepare for this role? What advice would you have for those of us just embarking on a similar path with our own parents as they need assistance?

Certainly my background helped, as did the generosity of clients, friends and family in sharing their own experiences. Having a good estate plan in place, and getting legal advice when it must be implemented, are both important. However, I can't make any estate planning recommendations in response to your question. Changing my status with the State Bar to "inactive,” as I did when I retired, means that I am no longer permitted to give legal advice. So what follows are some of my personal experiences. Perhaps they will be useful, just as other people's stories were useful to me.

It was very helpful that our family began discussing the fact that my mother probably could not remain in her own home for the rest of her life several years before she needed to move. And when the time came, it was her decision to move, as sad as that made her. To a degree, this shows what a remarkable person my mother is, but it may also reflect the fact that her physical disabilities forced her to move at a time when she was fully capable mentally.

I am also thankful that we hired a professional care manager while my mother was still in an independent living facility. A few months later, she had a bad fall, hit her head, and wasn't discovered until the next day. She was hospitalized, had surgery to drain a subdural hematoma, and underwent a period of intensive rehabilitation. However, she could not return to independent living and had to be discharged to a board and care facility. It was the most difficult period I've yet encountered, and the care manager was tremendously supportive and knowledgeable about our options.

Because of some of the ways in which my mother's cognitive issues manifested themselves, working with a good psychiatrist was also very beneficial. This was not a matter of sedating her to make her easier to manage but of helping control some of the symptoms that were most troubling to her. One of the medications prescribed also helps manage the chronic pain she has dealt with for the last 25+ years, augmenting the pain killers she needs to take. In fact, all my Mom's medical providers have been very helpful, and I'm glad we have them.

Beyond that, I think it’s important to keep your siblings in the loop. They don't know what you know, and most likely, they care. By the same token, if you have a sibling who is responsible for making day-to-day decisions, try to be supportive. I can't tell you how much it helps me when my brother John says, "Thank you for all you do" or my brother Jeff let's me vent about some frustration I've encountered. Each of them sees my mother as often as geography and time permit, and each has made an effort to see that his children see their grandmother when they can. It all makes a difference.

I'd also like to pass on one of the most useful things someone said to me when my children were young, and that is that loving someone doesn't mean that caring for them isn't work. I think it's important that we all acknowledge this, and acknowledge the economic and practical value of that work.

Lastly, remember what you learned when you were raising your children? If you don't take care of yourself, you're no good to anybody. It's still true.

Your love of gardening is legendary! Tell us about the style of garden you enjoy, how you design and maintain it. What drew you to this passion?

Black eyed Susans are a favorite!

I think gardening was one of those interests I was born with. My parents weren't gardeners, but my maternal grandfather was. I liked playing "harvest the wheat" with the weeds in our backyard, and whenever we spotted the first green growth after the rains started, my brothers and I would tear into the house to share this exciting news with our parents. Let's call my gardening style "exuberant." I like growing perennials, herbs, roses and California natives, and I'm afraid I want all the colors and all the flowers. I love having native bees, birds, lizards and spiders in our yard. Besides being good exercise, I find caring for the garden soothing, and there is always something interesting to see. This year, there was a swarm of bees that passed through, weeks when the air was full of dragonflies, and some birds I'd never seen before, maybe flickers.

Janet's garden path

I also know that you are a big hiker. Is this a solo event for you typically? Or do you belong to hiking groups? You are incredibly fit, Janet, so I’m thinking that a lot of that comes from these great outdoor activities. Is that what launched your interest?

I was taught never to hike alone, Lynn, and I don't. I don't have a formal group, but I have friends I hike with, and there are lots of organized hikes to choose from here in the Bay Area. There are also a few trails that are well enough traveled one really isn't alone. We camped and hiked when I was growing up, so that's what developed my interest.

So, I conspired with your former “right hand,” Robyn Garcia, to ferret out some “unknown stories about the REAL Janet Evans!” In addition to your love of the outdoors and nature, you are also a bit of a pet whisperer, I learned. And let me just say, after hearing some of these stories, if something happens to me I SO want to be adopted by you!!! Tell us about the finches (one with the curved beak), Chester the lop-eared bunny, and adopting your Mom’s dog, Dalai. Any other pet stories to tell? Would you say you are an animal lover, or just a great Mom who happened to be in the right place at the right time to help very lucky animals?

Pet care is not one of my strengths, nor is it a great interest of mine. But if your daughter's bird will die unless you catch it every few weeks and clip its beak, you learn how, and if the rabbit needs a penicillin shot every other day, you pick up that odd skill as well. (Both animals required this special care because their beak/teeth did not properly occlude and consequently did not wear as nature intended.) I think we come to love the creatures we care for. I am not a dog person, but after my mother fell, we took over the care of her dog Dalai, who died recently at age 17, and I confess to growing quite fond of her. We're down to two elderly cats now. I'm still not a dog person, and I'll never have another bird or a bunny, but I'm glad I learned to care for them.

And – okay --- here’s that big secret out for everyone to know --- I hear you collect hats! Tell us about that fun hobby --- what kind of hats and how did your hat affair begin?

I have sun damage along my part that probably relates back to childhood vacations at high elevation without a hat. My dermatologist said "Wear a hat", so I wear a hat. And if you have to wear a hat, you might as well have fun doing it.

Your husband is a huge golfer, so I know you do a lot of travel around that sport. Do you golf as well? What type of travel do you enjoy the most?

No, I don't golf, nor will I. (I don't need another time-consuming hobby.) However, I've promised to walk a golf course with him, and have learned a bit about the game over the years.

You continue to educate and inspire, Janet. In closing, please share with us lessons learned that you believe are timeless with respect to “having it all” --- family, career, retirement. What do you wish someone had told you right out of college?

"Having it all" is simply a euphemism for doing it all. And you can't, so just do the best you can. You'll have to make adjustments one way or another and how you make those adjustments will be unique to you and your circumstances. A sense of humor helps, and talking with other people in the same boat will keep you sane. Lastly, don't let anyone else define what "success" means to you.

As someone who has been fortunate to work with Janet in a variety of roles, I know how much she is missed by colleagues and former clients.   Thanks, Janet, for sharing your journey with us as you wound down your busy professional life and traded in law journals for gardening books!  Your family is truly blessed to have you there for them, and we all wish you well in your newest adventures!

Janet in her lovely garden

Diving Into Life With Cathy & Art Neely

We are excited to catch up with the Neelys this month. Good friends of the Yamashitas, featured in last month’s Blog, they take adventure to a whole new level with their passion for the deep blue sea. Hard working, down to earth and yet always up for an adventure, you can never be bored when you have a chance to chat with them. In this Blog they share with us their deep seated values, strong and realistic work ethic, as well as their tremendous love of life and each other. Oh, yes – and their sense of fun! What a great time of year to explore the depths with Cathy and Art.

Cathy and Art enjoying everything the sea has to offer

I think I’ve known you both so long that I’m not sure I remember the years I didn’t know you! That’s crazy, right? But what I will never forget about you both is how you are always smiling, optimistic, hard working people with great senses of humor, yet at the same time seriously interested in working hard for what you feel is important and focused on achieving the results you want in life. You were one of the first couples to truly embrace financial planning and all that it could do for you. How did you come to be so focused? Tell me about your background, childhoods, and what made you the wonderful people you are!

Cathy: My guess is that it all comes from my parents and my typical boring Midwest family. My Dad was a fire fighter and my Mom was a stay at home mother. I think that the most important part was that they were always there for us (I have one older sister and one older brother), even my Dad. Because of his work schedule as a fire fighter he would be home 24 hours at a time, which meant that we had a lot of time to do things together as a family – Sunday drives after church, playing cards all day long on “snow” days, day trips to the lake for picnics and swimming, softball and croquet in the backyard. They also instilled the idea that before you could do the fun things you had to get your chores done – shoveling that snow before the card games, weeding a bucket full of weeds from the garden before you could go to the pool, homework completed before playing with your friends.

It wasn’t until my Father passed away and I started to help my Mom with her finances that I discovered how frugal they must have really been. They had accumulated quite an estate. They were not wealthy, but we always seemed to have what we needed. Plus they were able to save even on just my Dad’s salary. All of us kids were given a weekly allowance (even my parents only gave themselves weekly allowances for “want” items!). We were expected to manage that allowance and once it was gone it was gone until next week. The only way to get more was to earn it by doing extra chores. So although I don’t ever remember my parents talking to me specifically about money, I guess that they taught by actions and examples.

Art: I always worked since I was very young. I had some dry spells in my early 20’s and had some trouble finding steady work. I would take just about any job I could get. Some people said I was a hustler. I always wanted to work and make money. I have had so many different jobs, too many to list. At one time I actually had three jobs and remodeled a house at the same time. I was a lot younger then! If one job ended, I would just start another one and move on. Now, our hard work and living within our means, has paid off.

How did you meet? What drew you to each other?

Cathy: We met about 32 years ago in the Treasure Island pool – literally. I was getting my basic scuba certification and Art was training for his assistant instructor certification. As part of the classes there were three weekend trips for ocean training which meant that class usually camped out and had potluck dinners. Since Art was the bachelor we usually included him in our group. After getting our certifications we started to actually date. By that time I considered him a good friend, which I feel is always the best way to start out a relationship. We are still best friends and enjoy doing a lot of the same things together.

In the beginning I guess you could say that it was the love of scuba diving that brought us together. Since we were both “hooked” on diving that would have been a must for either of us. I also like his dry sense of humor. Some people might not get it but I have always thought that he is funny. He tries to say that he is shy, but I don’t believe it - it seems like he can talk to almost anyone almost anywhere. I think that he got that from his Mom. So I think he’s a little more outgoing than he gives himself credit for.

Art: I second all that, it sums it up. I was lucky to meet Cathy and it has worked out well. Our relationship is well balanced, our chores and household duties have been well divided up and we work toward the same goals.

Cathy and Art on their wedding day, October 1, 1983

Cathy, you and I have spoken often over the years about your incredible financial intelligence. I even tried to lure you to my field at one point! Share your career path with us. How did you decide what to specialize in and where have you worked? How did your profession evolve over the years and where do you think it’s heading?

I guess you could say that I never really decided to specialize in my career, I just kind of fell into it. I had always been good at math (it was my minor in college). I came out to visit my sister after graduating from college and she got me a summer job working in the I. Magnin store planning department. I was supposed to help the interior designer 50% of the time and the project accountant 50% of the time. The workload increased significantly with numerous projects and I was hired full time to help the accountant. I continued to work there and decided to go to law school at night too. I did a full year of law school and decided it wasn’t for me. I like problems to have a correct answer (the math side of me) and not have an answer based on how well you can argue! I continued on in the construction accounting/management field through various job changes from the owners, general contractor and subcontractor sides. I liked the area of construction accounting because, although it was accounting, there was always something different about each project. The various players in the project change every project so you are always involved with different procedures, places and people, making the work more interesting. And at the end of a project there is an actual finished project and you can see something tangible that you had a part in.

Art, your work with Kaiser has spanned a very interesting period in the history of that company. What are some of the more important changes you’ve witnessed? How did you end up in your field, and what might you say to those thinking of working in any facet of the field of Optometry?

The biggest changes were automation and computers. When I started in the optical field, computers were not invented. It was a hands-on trade, everything was done in your head and written down. Now its robotics, laser barcodes, automatic arms and conveyor belts to move the jobs through the lab. I liked it the hands-on way. I ran my own lab for another business in San Leandro, one of my part time jobs. I did everything from start to finish. It was not as boring as production line manufacturing for a major company. As usual I was looking for a job, I was on the waiting list to be hired by the Oakland Fire Department, and laid-off from my job as a pipe fitter due to winter slowdown and low man-under-union rules. I thought about going back to pipe fitting, but landed a low paying job with Bausch & Lomb Optical, being somewhere between a janitor, a mechanic and a “gopher.” I got an interview with Kaiser Hospital and the rest is history. Thirty-five years, some good some bad, but I was thankful I always had a steady job. The pay was good, not great, but the benefits were excellent. I worked in manufacturing and sales. Optical manufacturing has changed with skilled technicians no longer being needed. There are still opportunities in dispensing and sales. If you have your own store you can do very well in sales.

Would either of you change anything about your career path? Or let me ask it this way: if you were just starting your careers now, what would intrigue you? Has the technology revolution of the past few decades influenced that?

Cathy: Actually, if I thought now about changing anything it probably would have been to have majored in engineering (electrical or mechanical) rather than political science in college. I would still have been in the construction field but more involved in the actual building of something. I assume that technology has drastically changed the engineering field over the years, so that would also have meant getting more involved in computer sciences.

Art: I thought and did apply for other jobs in the early years with Kaiser. But as time went on, I decided to just be a lifer. I never planned on a career in optical, it just evolved. I took a couple of extension classes at U.C. Berkeley and just stuck with it. I am not sure what field I would want to go into now, I am just enjoying retirement. And working at Kaiser helped make an early retirement happen.

What advice do you have for couples who want to retire while they are still young and healthy? What would you say were your successes in getting to this point and what might you recommend be handled differently?

Cathy: I guess you need to know as a couple what your goals are and that they are the same for both of you. There is nothing that causes more arguments between couples than money! So you both need to know what you are working for and be on the same path to get there. Plus there is also a level of communication so each party knows what is happening and why with their finances. As an example, I read about the benefits of paying a little extra on your mortgage. I decided to just pay an extra $100/month and it cut our mortgage by three years. With the interest we save it was well worth it. I have some friends who now say to me that because we have our house paid for we do not have that interest paid tax deduction. You pay the IRS or you pay the bank. We think that it was better to own our house and not continue to pay the bank. I have refinanced three times over the life of our mortgage but always because of rate changes and never to take any equity out of the house. Because we decided to stay in our original starter home and fix it up rather than buying something a lot bigger we have been able to take our great vacations and retire early.

Art: Well, work hard, live within your means!!! I think it is funny how some of my generation gets trapped into the materialistic things, which a lot of us rebelled against in the hippy 60s. Now some want a $3 million house in Danville, with BMWs in the driveway. Don’t get me wrong, we would love all that, but all my life I wanted to be in a position that I didn’t have to sweat money. We are free now and I am not a wage slave with loads of debt. We have a modest home in the East Bay hills (paid for), two cars (paid for), great vacations, no credit card debt and money in the bank!

Cathy and Art rafting in Fiji

One of the themes in our Blog is folks who just get it done! Art, you are one of those guys who just puts the tool belt on and makes stuff happen! You should have your own show! I cannot believe the amazing work you’ve done in your home and the quality of it. Where did you learn these skills? How do you decide what projects to tackle, in what order, and what to do on your own as opposed to contracting out to others?

I worked a lot in construction and I learned as I went. So finish what you start and don’t get in over your head. Painting, plumbing, electrical, etc. all just came naturally to me and I like to do it. Although at 60, my ladder climbing days, especially up to the roof, are slowing down!

Cathy, the same can be said about you: you just get it done! You are such a great thinker and organizer. How do you and Art use your respective skills in your life together?

Cathy: Well I guess that I have always been that way; it’s in my nature to try and be as organized as much as possible. I am used to multi-tasking, usually because I can get bored only doing one thing at a time. I also don’t like things “hanging over my head.” If something is going to have to get done, just do it. If you don’t all that happens is it will stress you out and make you worry more than if you had just gotten it done in the first place. I try to not schedule too much at once so as to avoid additional stress. And luckily Art is the same. Art and I will usually discuss a project, then I depend on his knowledge on how to do it and he then depends on my knowledge on how to pay for it!

Art: As I said, our household chores/duties have become well defined over the years and it works out well.

When I first met you, your dive business was up and running. Tell us about your passion for diving and how accomplished you are. What made you decide to share diving with others? It’s such a huge responsibility! Were you happy with the level you took your business to or had you hoped it would become your full-time career?

Cathy: Well it’s always been a passion for us – it’s where we met. I have always been a “water” person so I guess it came naturally to me. I love the feeling of being underwater with all of the fishes and feeling like one myself. It’s great when you go someplace and see something totally new. When we went to Fiji we saw our first hammerhead shark. Our last trip to the Florida Keys we were amazed to see a goliath grouper – they can weigh up to 900 pounds! Art and I would probably get a bit cranky if we could not take at least one dive vacation a year - you work to have fun! And we would try to not overspend in other areas so we could take those fun vacations.

Cathy earning her SCUBA certification

Art: I was certified in the 70s when I was young. Like a lot of sport divers I had a fantasy of working in the dive industry. I ran boat trips, organized dive trips, rented gear etc. But as the old saying goes, don’t quit your day job! I never pursued a full time career in diving. I found out that being a dive master can be a little stressful at times, when you are the one responsible for other people underwater. One time I was doing a checkout dive with a young teenager, his tank fell out of his backpack and his weight belt fell down around his knees. I had to put him back together underwater. It was a little unnerving. In the 80s, my uncle invested in a dive resort hotel in the Turks & Caicos. I was “promoted” to resort operator and we went to South Caicos to check out the resort. I found that the place needed quite a bit of help, especially in the dive area. Unfortunately the whole deal fell through and I never fulfilled my dream of working full time in the dive industry.

Your love of nature, joy of oceans, diving and even the tamer vacation known as “camping” make your adventures come to life! Share some of your more memorable travels with us and where you will definitely want to revisit.

Cathy: I get my love of travel from my Mother. Unfortunately she did not get to go to many places since my Dad was more of a homebody, but she always encouraged me to do so and looked forward to hearing about ours. I went to the Soviet Union (when it still was the Soviet Union) in college as part of a class. I visited Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Kiev and Moscow. I have thought that it might be interesting to go back and see how things have changed over the past 35 years. But we definitely would not dive there - too cold!

Cathy having fun in the Soviet Union

I remember our first dive drip to Little Cayman.  We had to “buzz” the airstrip to get the cows off of it first.  They now have an actual runway!  Little Cayman is probably our favorite overall dive place for where we have been so far.  It is a marine preserve and somehow the sea creatures know it and come out to visit.  It’s the only place that I have ever petted a grouper.  We also were fortunate one trip to frequently be able to dive with a wild dolphin.  “Spot” was a juvenile male who had lost his mother.  He “adopted” our dive master and always seemed to follow the dive boat when we went out.  He would wait until the divers got in the water and then go to the bottom and roll over on his back so you could rub his tummy.  What a wonderful experience to feel the beating heart of a wild dolphin.

 
Press "Play" to enjoy undersea adventures with the Neelys

Then there was the time we were supposed to go to Grand Turk but were told that we had to go to Providenciales instead because the fire truck had a flat tire and they couldn’t land the jet there. When we landed a guy came over grabbed our bags and we had to run after him. It turned out he was a shuttle pilot that would take us to the right island but until we caught up with him we had no idea what was going on. We didn’t even know if we were in the same country. When we went to Fiji we ended up zip-lining through the rain forest over river gorges and then rafting down those same river gorges. Diving was absolutely wonderful there with a wide variety of undersea life and coral landscapes. It is still pretty pristine because it is so far away from everywhere else. We even had a dive there where they fed the sharks right in front of us, only about 15 feet away. We also decided that the Fijian people are some of the friendliest in the world – everywhere we went people would be yelling “BULA” (hello) out to us. Our favorite camping in California would have to be MacArthur Burney Falls State Park. There’s a lot to do there – hiking, swimming, fishing, biking, eating – I’m a pretty good camp cook. So if I serve Art a gourmet meal he does the dishes!

Art with the day's fresh catch!

Do you feel “retired” yet? How is being home together full-time working out!

Cathy: Well I think that it is just starting to set in. I actually still went into my old work place to help out now and then. But doing it that way, it was almost fun. I could just go in and do actual work and it was now someone else’s job to handle the stressful items. And since I am still friends with my co-workers, we would plan on a get-together lunch. I love to cook and have collected thousands of recipes over the years that I never had time to make, and now I get to try those new recipes. Since we don’t have a huge house, Art and I do get into each other’s way sometimes. But for the most part his jobs are usually in the basement or outside and mine are on the upper floor, and it works out.

Art: :)

What’s next on the adventure list? Anything else you’d like to share with us?

Cathy: I guess our dream dive vacation now would have to be Australia (we’re thinking about it!), or the Red Sea (probably not a good idea right now!). We have never been on a cruise because we would always want to be under the water rather than looking at it from above. But we have thought that if we did a cruise it would be one of the small boat cruises in Alaska to see the whales, the glaciers and maybe Denali National Park. In regards to camping we have lots of places on our list - Glacier National Park, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Moab and more. Ours friends, Ken and Sue, also retired early, are our inspiration for where to go camping. So we’ll see what happens next.

Cathy and Art with Ken and Sue Yamashita

Art: In addition to our trips with the camping trailer, we might take a dive trip to Indonesia, via Singapore. We are in the process of planning a dive trip with a group of friends, probably in April. Our friend running the trip is a retired marine biologist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we get quite the education besides. This will be a grand adventure, but as Cathy says, we must dive the Great Barrier Reef before we die - maybe next time!!!

If readers would like to reach out to you, what’s the best way to do so?

Cathy: By email at: clneely@sbcglobal.net

Cathy and Art living their passion!

So, dear readers, as you can see above, Cathy and Art are in the process of putting a group dive trip together to Lembeh in Indonesia for next April.  If you are interested in diving with the Neelys on that trip  (I think my fearless business partner, Marilyn, might join them!), or just want to chat with them in general, reach out to them at clneely@sbcglobal.net   I can see we’ll need another Blog on them in a few years to see where they go next!  Thank you, Neelys, for sharing your life and adventures with us!  Happy diving!

Sue and Ken Yamashita: Live, Love, Laugh

Long-time friends and clients, Sue and Ken Yamashita, have so much to share and so much to teach us. Children of Japanese-American families who suffered greatly during World War II, they inspire me every day with their hard work ethic and ability to stay positive and focused on what truly matters in life. Sue, whom many of you may know as a former Contra Costa Teacher of the Year Finalist, and perhaps a teacher of some of your own children, is also a great believer of all things tech. So, delightfully for the first time we are able to imbed in our Blog a wonderful clip of her and her husband on an adventure in the Southwest. But I’m getting ahead of their story! Enjoy their journey, their beliefs and the wonderful family life and retirement they have crafted together.

Ken and Sue enjoying the Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Sue and Ken, it truly seems like just yesterday that we met!  It was during that time in my career when I visited clients in their homes to help with tax preparation. I was so fortunate to be able to see you with your brand new baby boy, KC, who is now all grown up with his own successful life.   You were already focused on long-term planning and were asking smart questions such as how much insurance do we need, what should our estate plan be like, how much should we start putting away for college for our child (soon to be two children when Todd came along!).   In fact you are one of my client families who really inspired me to pursue a career as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.   How did you two get so smart so early in life about planning for your future?  Are these values instilled in you by your heritage and upbringing or did you come to it on your own?

Lynn I can still picture that day we met working on taxes together with a sleeping baby in his crib so many years ago.  Ken and I both came from Japanese-American families that emerged from internment camps with the clothes on their backs and little else, except the will and drive to succeed in the country of their birth.  With WWII, they had lost everything our grandparents had worked so hard for, farming the land they were forbidden to own, successful businesses they had established from the ground up.  From that wartime experience, always present was the possibility of “losing it all” despite diligence and careful planning. So we were raised in an atmosphere of thrift as our hardworking parents pursued the American dream.

Tell us a bit about your childhood, your families, where you grew up, and your educational background.   How did you choose each of your professional career paths?

We are both Bay Area natives and have not moved far from our childhood neighborhoods. Ken was born in Oakland and grew up locally in Albany, with his older sister, Mom and Dad.  Before WWII, Ken's father’s family had a small store/boarding house in Concord and are mentioned in the local book "History of Concord.”  His mother's family farmed land in Auburn, Washington, and sold vegetables at the now famous Pike's Market in Seattle.  With the Executive Order 9066, West Coast civilians of Japanese ancestry were sent to "internment camps.”  Ken's Mom and Dad were sent to Tule Lake where they met and married and Ken's sister was born right before the camp was closed.  His parents traveled back to Contra Costa County where they were taken in by an Orinda family as housekeeper, babysitter and gardener.  Eventually they moved to Richmond housing when Ken was born. Shortly thereafter they bought a home in Albany which was not an easy task with the anti-Japanese post-war sentiment that existed. Although the owner of the Albany house refused to sell to them initially, a strong-willed attorney supported them and they were able to complete the purchase and the attorney became a life-long friend.  The family lived in that Albany home for many years.  Ken went to Albany schools and went on to Merritt College and took optometric classes at UC Berkeley.  He apprenticed as an optician at Northwest Northern and American Optical labs before being hired by the Permanente Optical Lab where he worked for 35 years.

My Mom was born in the Central Valley of California, in the tiny town of Livingston.  Her family was farming the land and she was attending Merced Community College and her brother was attending UC Berkeley when the war broke out. They were sent to the camp in Amache, Colorado.  My father's family also farmed in the town of Newcastle, California, north of Sacramento.  He was the oldest of three sons and was attending UC Berkeley when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  He and his two brothers enlisted in the U.S. Army and their widowed mother was sent to camp.  Can you imagine what must have been going through her mind?  My grandmother could have lost all her sons who were serving their country, while she was held in barracks behind barbed wire!  My father became a Master Sergeant in the Military Intelligence Service teaching at language school training men to be interpreters, interrogators and translators of intercepted enemy communication.  The Japanese-Americans of the MIS and 442nd Regiment were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last year to honor their meritorious service. Unfortunately there are very few of these men still alive to receive the long overdue recognition.  After the war my Dad finished college at UC Berkeley, he and my Mom were married and bought their first home in Berkeley. My brother and I were born in Berkeley where we lived until our family moved to El Cerrito in 1958.  I graduated from Kennedy High in Richmond and earned two scholarships to attend UC Berkeley where I earned a teaching credential.  I substituted in Oakland before being hired by the Lafayette School District where I taught elementary school for 33 years.  I think I enjoyed being a student so much that I wanted to continue to "go to school" for a career!  I must say, I learned something new every day during those many years in education.  And I guess I still can't quite let go of the educational field so I keep connected to the schools in other ways now.

The goal of being able to retire in your 50s is one that many Americans can’t even fathom achieving.    The two main things you needed to do to make it happen were: continue in your respective career paths due to excellent retirement and other benefits, and live below your means while you raised your children so that you could invest as much additionally as was needed to supplement your pensions.  And congratulations!  You did it!!!  Tell us about the focus it took to accomplish those goals.

We didn’t start out with early retirement as the goal.  When you are young, retirement isn’t something that is forefront in your mind.  We made daily financial decisions in our early years based on what we could afford at the time.  Simple vacations of family camping trips to National and State Parks, hiking, boating, biking and fishing were things we enjoyed doing together.  Road trips to visit relatives in Washington, jaunts to Disneyland and the occasional air-travel trip were budget friendly. 

   

Todd and KC at Crater Lake, Oregon

Todd fishing at Burney Falls, California

Although teaching provides the weeks of summer break, there was no paycheck for me from mid-June until October 1st. Although I tried to set aside money during the school year, with kids there are always unexpected expenses. One summer we ended up relying on the credit card to carry us until that October 1st check.  It was an uncomfortable time of paying down that debt and dealing with the accompanying finance charges (which I hated to pay!!).  We learned from that mistake and have never carried a balance on the cards again.  I began having automatic deductions taken out of each paycheck and put into a separate account to get us through the summer.  It was a relatively pain-free way to save since it was deducted BEFORE any money went into our household checking account. The added benefit was if we didn’t use up that set-aside money, there was some left over for emergency expenses or some “fun money!” I think the trick to staying financially sound is to learn from your mistakes and do everything possible to make sure you don’t get into an uncomfortable situation again. We used the same automatic payroll deduction strategy to fund an IRA making it much easier to save in the long run. It’s too easy to spend money once it is in your hand, so “out of sight, out of mind” was the best way for us.

Coastal camping in the Airstream nicknamed "Spud"

So let’s switch gears and talk about my favorite “sermon” --- living within our means! Doing so meant making many sacrifices while your young men were growing up.   I never heard about many extravagances in our meetings.  To this day you do much of your retirement travel from a camper! Wait --- news flash --- camper was just upgraded to an Airstream --- your big retirement splurge! Tell us how you were able to stay focused and not buy into the need to spend money on things that would derail your long-term goals.  Did you encounter a lot of pressure to spend more than you did? How did you handle that?

There was a time when my fellow teachers were having babies and left the classroom for many years. We truthfully needed both incomes for stability, so it was not a real option to quit teaching. But I never once felt deprived or guilty…. which, I believe, is the essential ingredient to success as a working mom. Those were busy times, but those years fly by in the blink of an eye. Our sons were great kids who grew up to become wonderful adults! And by the way, those teachers who took time off to be home raising kids are working hard now, well into their 60’s, to put in the years for a decent pension. They envy me for being young enough to have an active retirement after those 33 consecutive years in the classroom.

Having grown up in frugal families, we were not accustomed to lavish spending or pricey trips. Our love of the outdoors led us into snow skiing when the boys were young.  BUT, that can be quite an expensive hobby when paying for equipment, lift tickets, meals and lodging for a family of four.  We figured we could buy a ski boat with the money saved from snow trips and switched instead to water-skiing!  So our family trips extended to boat-in camping and house-boating.  Winter sports got traded for summer sports…pack a picnic lunch, swimsuits and towels and off to the lakes or delta.  We did take an occasional airplane trip too:  Hawaii, Mexico, Orlando, Caribbean cruise…. looking for bargains.

Ken and Sue relaxing after a challenging hike to Agnews Lake in the eastern Sierras

I don’t think it EVER occurred to any of us that we were “sacrificing” anything…. our lives were filled with activity, family fun and a lot of togetherness.  Judging from how close-knit our family is today, I’d say our lives were pretty darn rich!

I think one of the reasons you are such successful cash managers is that you have done so much of the improvements in your home all this time yourselves.  Ken, walk us through all the remodeling you have done to your beautiful home in Pleasant Hill over the years.  How much were you able to do yourself and how did you decide when to engage contractors?  How did you learn to do all this?

We both grew up in homes where there was a lot of do-it-yourself upkeep going on.  If the house needed painting, out came the ladder and brushes.  Saws and hammers were gathered when the fence needed fixing.  Lawnmowers, rakes and shovels were tools needed for yard maintenance.  From early on, Ken was not afraid to tackle a do-it-yourself job, starting from rebuilding the engine on his first car, a 1967 Mustang.  It may have taken trial and error, steep learning curve, but he is a real “hands-on” kind of guy.  Nine times out of ten, if there’s something not working in our house, he will figure out how to fix it. Never having done any carpentry before, he planned and built an incredible play structure in our yard for the boys. When the kids were grown and gone, a lovely multi-leveled deck took its place.  He has installed bamboo flooring and picture windows to customize our home.

With no dog in our yard any longer, he took out the lawns and created our beautifully landscaped yard based on plans our son drew up.  As I type this up, he is outside sawing wood for a new gate to our side yard area. I think our vehicles could auto-pilot to Home Depot!

Backyard before Ken's handy-work...

So although Ken’s quite an all-around handy guy, we hired contractors for the major remodels, plumbers for the pipes, electricians, and craftsmen for skilled work like tiling, taping texturing walls/ceilings and concrete work.  There is a point when our blood-sweat-and-tears can’t replace the professionals.

... and after!

We resisted the idea of moving to a larger house and taking on more debt when the boys were growing up and stayed in our modest home.  We paid off the mortgage before we retired and have no debts to cloud our lifestyle.  We are so happy that we stayed in a home that has been lovingly cared for and remodeled, perfect for just the two of us!

Both your sons are hard workers, successfully employed, and very good at living within their means as well.  In fact, we hope to include them in future Blogs!  How were you able to successfully teach that skill set, especially in the Bay Area with all the costs and pressures of life?

Our hardworking sons have also become do-it-yourselfers when it comes to auto and home care as well. They are in beautiful homes with lovely yards and push those lawnmowers and change car oil themselves.  They search out great deals on (gently) used cars.  I guess growing up, like we did, in families that live within their means has influenced their choices in spending.

Now that you are retired, have your hobby interests changed?

With all the digital images we are collecting on our travels we are rapidly gathering more than we can handle.  We are both busy editing those digital images and creating iDVD slideshows so we can enjoy and share those trips on the TV.  Those DVDs are much easier to store than the boxes of photos buried in the closet.  One of our long-term projects is to (ideally) scan all those old yellowing photos to restore, edit and preserve digitally…. that is if we can stay home long enough to make a dent in them!  The short little video clip you are including with this blog is a sampling of some iMovie work with our Southwest trip pictures.

As I mentioned above, I still have not yet completely left the education field.  I recently provided in-service training in iMovie creation for some of Lafayette School District’s teachers on their Staff Development day.  For the past five to six years I have had fun working on digital projects for the Contra Costa County Office of Education.  The Teacher Cadre creates online interactive standards-based lessons for Contra Costa County teachers to utilize on the Ed1Stop website.  We search the internet for videos, games, activities, literature and lesson plans to support the instruction of the California State Standards and create web pages that bring those resources to classroom teachers for whole class or individual instruction.  I loved using technology in my classroom and received a grant to bring an interactive SmartBoard into my room.  My students were so excited to use the technology and loved lessons that grabbed their attention and stayed in their minds.

What adventures await you next?

Our camping years reflected our life journey:  starting out with a 2 person tent in our 20’s, gradually upgrading to 4-6 person tents, pop-up tent-trailer and finally treating ourselves now in retirement, our Ritz-Carlton-on-wheels the Airstream named “Silver Spud”.  (Can you guess why that name was picked?)  So I guess we will continue to explore the natural wonders of the USA and Canada with "Spud" for as long as we are able.  We also have future plans to travel to other continents and see the world!  Ken continues to fish in lakes, rivers, streams in the Sierras and saltwater fish in Mexico. He and our neighbor fish and crab in the Pacific Ocean. Coveting spring and fall travel for the last 33 years, we are finally getting to explore many places during the best times of the year. Avoiding school holidays is a treat we have been waiting for!  We are frequently hitting the road to explore the USA and have camped in ten of the western states.  We look forward to camping up through Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, then across Canada soon with “Silver Spud” our cool Airstream trailer!

Ken and Sue relaxing during a hike at Pinecrest Lake

Huge thanks to the Yamashitas for sharing their journey and family history with us! Their affordable and well planned retirement is inspirational to all.  If you would like to get in touch with Ken and Sue, they said to reach out to them via e-mail: s.yamashita@comcast.net.