Loss of Status

Loss of Status

Loss of Status

Retirement, or half retirement in my case, is a major life change.  Transitioning from the accumulation phase, to the maintenance stage, and eventually to the de accumulation phase can be daunting.  These transitions are accompanied by a series of losses.  We all understand the loss of income.  But there are many other changes we don’t often talk about.  There is loss of social interaction.  Loss of purpose.  And if you have a high profile job, there is loss of status.

Although we don’t always think about, there are rewards to being an important and well respected professional that go well beyond the monetary.

I am already starting to feel the changes.

Loss of Hearing

It happened in a moment.  One minute my left ear was fine, the next I could barely hear out of it.  It happened after I had pushed the tips of the stethoscope into my ear.  I didn’t need to be a doctor to know that I had wax buildup.  Simple.  The solution was simple.  I just needed an ENT to clean my ears out.

In my heyday, managing a bustling office of thousands of people, I could get myself or one of my patients a visit at a specialist immediately.  I had at least three or four ENTs on my speed dial that appreciated my referrals and would bend over backwards to do me a favor.

As the years have passed and I have slowly withdrawn from clinical medicine, many of my connections have retired, moved, or long since closed their practices.  So it was with trepidation that I searched out a doctor’s office to get my ears cleaned.

There was a definite loss of status.  The secretaries at most offices were unimpressed by name and I had to metaphorically get to the back of the line like everyone else.  I eventually did get an appointment.

A week later.

Loss of StatusLoss of Privileges

For the last decade, I have had privileges at the local hospitals.  This meant that I regularly visited the wards and took care of patients on the medical floors.  Every secretary knew me.  The security guards, techs, and nurses would all nod when I walked down the hallway.  I belonged in those sterile halls, and received the respect and deference allowed my position.

Years later, I have long abandoned the hospital and don’t take care of my own patients when they need to be admitted.

A few weeks back, I was visiting a friend at the local hospital.  He had been admitted late in the evening, and I strolled up to the main entrance around midnight.  Unlike years prior, a knowing nod was no longer enough to get me into the building.  Security didn’t recognize me.  My badge was old and worn.

Eventually I was begrudgingly given a visitor’s badge and escorted to the appropriate floor.

My loss of status was complete. My days of being treated as different or special were gone.  I was just any other concerned friend visiting a sick person in the hospital.

Transitions

We tend to focus on money when we talk about retirement, and get caught up in spreadsheets and projections.  We fear sequence of returns.  But we do a lousy job about contemplating the other less tangible losses.

We not only lose income but also suffer a loss of status.  We no longer hold the position of importance that we used to, and others have jumped forward to take our place.  It burns a little.

We have proudly moved on in our lives.

And so has everybody else.

Doc G

A doctor who discovered the FI community but still struggling with RE.

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19 Responses

  1. Xrayvsn says:

    That is an interesting perspective of what happens when you do withdraw from medicine. I definitely take it for granted how quickly my family and I can get in the schedule for a some sort of issue. If a spot is not available they would double book /make one for me.

    That will be something that will take some getting used to especially when your name fades from staff memory.

    Of course the benefit of leaving medicine early far outweighs this in my mind

  2. Steveark says:

    I was thinking along these lines yesterday. It was the state chamber of commerce annual meeting. Three years ago when I ran one of the biggest corporations in our state I sat next to the Governor at his table at that meeting. Now I am a mostly retired consultant sitting at a table in the back of the ballroom with people who don’t know me. It didn’t bother me, life is much better now that I am not enslaved 24/7 by that job. But I did feel a small sense of loss at no longer sitting with the cool kids. I hate how shallow that reveals me to be.

  3. Bill Yount says:

    When I hang up my stethoscope I do not think I will become hung up on the increasinly high priced status loss.

  4. I know this part will hit me hard. That status for me would be more in line with things like airline status , hotel status, ect. I haven’t paid for a hotel room myself in almost 8 years thanks to work miles and credit cards. Lounge access, upgraded seats, ect are all normal things when your a heavy business traveler. Those things will be gone when I retire, as I shift to personal travel where I fly less and stay longer.

  5. Your story reminds me of a colleague at a small company where I worked. He was one of the 5 founders of the company in 1993. Over the years, it grew to over 200 people and he had gone from being in the building, to contracting from his home 2 hours away. After years of that arrangement and during a growth period of the company, they had a job that required him to be on site. Arriving in his cubicle, the guy next to him asked him if he was new. He replied, “I’m employee number 1”.

    That feeling has stuck with me. I felt the loss of identity at first when I quit, and I went 100%.

  6. Gasem says:

    I like the loss of status. It means I don’t have to spend any energy fulfilling a role I’m no longer committed to. It means I moved up the bell curve, out of the tail and into a place of greater anonymity, a place more normal and less rarefied. It means I can take advantage of a few tax breaks instead of being the rich always taking a soaking. I am no less accomplished. I made my mark and made my difference. I saved lives and won valuable prizes! I did my time in the dunk tank and was there when it mattered. Now I do something else. I am not a legend in my own mind, just a sojourner on a journey and I have enough hamburgers to see me through to the other side of the dirt, so my attention wanders elsewhere. The Journey, such a beautiful thing.

    This is the Zen

  7. Dr. MB says:

    I never cared a wit about status while I worked. Thus it was zero change when I stopped full time practice.

    The main benefit was receptionists creating earlier appts for me and my family. But they still do that now. 👍

  8. MsTJ says:

    I retired from a prestigious career over 20 years ago, though not as prestigious as yourself and other commenters. It does take time to realize, and get used to, being just another person. The trick was to realize I have so much more than most people have who are still working. Sure, I don’t have the prestige I used to have when I walk into a place I used to work, and I have something much more valuable- financial freedom.

  9. I lost tons of status over the past year going part time. Big office, assistants everywhere, more pull at meetings. It hits the ego somewhat but I’m trying to build status elsewhere.

  10. A very thoughtful post, interesting perspective and aspect I have not considered all too much so far. My wife and I have been working towards achieving Financial Independence by the end of 2024.
    Recently, we adapted that plan quite a bit. By the end of this year 2021 I will leave my relatively well paid job as deputy manager to start my own consulting business. The social aspect when making the jump into starting something new out of the „conventional work life“ shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s pretty tough. But I am looking so much forward for that new challenge.
    Cheers

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