Authored by: Suzanna de Baca, CEO of Story Board Advisors
Most of us spend years focused on building a successful life. Far less time is spent thinking about how to evolve one. Eventually, many people reach a point when the question is no longer “What should I accomplish next?” but “What deserves my time and energy now?”
Sometimes that realization follows a major event such as stepping away from leadership, selling a business, children leaving home, or the illness or loss of someone you love. Sometimes it arrives on an ordinary Tuesday when you look at your calendar and realize the life you carefully built no longer fits quite the same way it once did.
A few years ago, as my closest friend was dying of cancer, I realized I was postponing too many things that mattered to me. I wanted more time for creative work, travel, reading and spending time with family and friends. Eventually, I made the difficult decision to step away from my role as CEO of a company I loved.
When I tearfully told my very wise boss that I was retiring, she smiled and said, “Even if you think you are retiring, you are not retiring.”
She was right. Around that same time, another friend introduced me to the idea of a “portfolio life.” She had officially retired from a university career but had no intention of slowing down. Instead, she was rebalancing. She still worked professionally, but also expanded parts of herself that had been waiting patiently in the wings: travel, reading, civic engagement, friendships, and fun. She even joined a dancing dinosaur troupe that visits children’s hospitals in inflatable T. rex costumes, which may be the healthiest life strategy I have ever encountered.
After more than two decades in investment management, I immediately loved the metaphor. We understand instinctively that a financial portfolio should evolve over time. We rebalance assets based on goals, opportunity, season of life and risk tolerance. Why would we not approach life the same way?
Today, part of my work involves advising CEOs, boards, and family businesses on leadership, strategy, and transitions. Many of those conversations involve leaders trying to navigate reinvention without losing their identity or sense of purpose. Some are planning succession or stepping away from major operating roles. Others are discovering they want a life that feels more intentional, selective and aligned with who they are now.
Too often, we think about transitions in rigid categories: working or retired, relevant or irrelevant, productive or finished. But most accomplished people I know do not actually want to stop contributing. They want greater autonomy over how they contribute, meaningful work, flexibility, stronger relationships, creative outlets and the ability to invest their time where it matters most.
What surprises many people is that freedom itself can feel uncomfortable. I have watched highly accomplished executives become deeply unsettled after realizing they no longer had 400 unread emails validating their existence before breakfast.
The beauty of a portfolio life is that it allows gradual redesign instead of dramatic reinvention. You do not have to reinvent your identity in one farewell luncheon.
Maybe one season is 70 percent leadership and 30 percent personal life. Later, perhaps it shifts toward mentoring, philanthropy, travel, family, creative work, or finally learning Italian while drinking wine somewhere beautiful.
What matters is making those choices consciously rather than drifting into them accidentally. Intentional rebalancing often creates more peace, not less. It helps people feel energized instead of restless and purposeful instead of untethered.
A portfolio life recognizes something important; human beings are diversified creatures. You can be accomplished and curious. Serious and playful. Financially secure and still evolving.
Perhaps the real gift of transitions is the chance to rebalance intentionally, making room for the people, work and experiences that matter most now.
This article originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of Financial Perspectives®: The Magazine. Explore the full issue for more perspectives on navigating life’s transitions and the opportunities that can come with change.
