Q. I was thinking about retirement before the stock market plummeted. I do have a lot of money saved but I don't feel comfortable cutting off my income stream. What are your clients doing about their careers who want to retire but have watched their savings dwindle?

A. Many of my clients have built a second career into their thinking about retirement. A second career can keep you financially, emotionally, and physically healthier than retirement.

With the financial realities and worries of our current economy, many people are putting off or giving up the idea of retirement. The concept of living off interest from a fixed amount of savings increasingly makes people nervous.

Even though you may be reluctant to give up your income stream, being trapped in your cubicle till your eighty may also be unappealing. There are other options.

Instead of thinking of retirement as severing yourself from the world of work, brainstorm ways to continue to make money but have more freedom. Perhaps this is the perfect time to keep your job, start a business and gradually retire to your own business.

You could also look at working part-time. Because of the financial crisis, many companies are more open to employees proposing a flexible work schedule because your reduced work hours means they save money.

If you financially have to continue to work full-time, consider ways to make it in your employer's best interest to let you work from home part-time. If you can prove, working from home sometimes makes you more productive, your employer will be interested. Continued...