The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2018 39 10 THINGS I Wish I Had Known: Confessions of a Recent Retiree Dolores Marie Brown retired from the Foreign Service in April 2018 with the rank of Minister Counselor. Ms. Brown’s most recent assignments include political adviser to the three-star general at the Defense Logistics Agency, acting assistant secretary in the Bureau of Con- flict and Stabilization Operations and management counselor at Em- bassy Cairo. She also served as deputy director of the Operations Center and deputy chief of mission at Embassy Tallinn, and was the first State Department officer seconded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to establish the Terrorist Screening Center shortly after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Ms. Brown is AFSA's retirement benefits counselor. R etirement sneaks up on you— and it doesn’t. I prepped for it over many years, methodically putting money away, deciding on my retirement destination of choice (I’m remaining in the D.C. area) and, most recently, scouting out couch-surfing opportunities with my still- employed Foreign Service friends. But when the final days of my career were upon me, I remembered like yesterday lamenting with my A-100 classmates that in most career spans we could only serve in about eight overseas posts. I knew I wanted to do more, but I wasn’t sure what. I also thought I knew what I needed to know. I was wrong. Here are 10 things I wish I had known as the big day closed in: 1. It can be really energizing to shake your life up. The first rule of thumb for me was to stop focusing on the end of life as I knew it, and to start looking forward. The FS KNOW-HOW BY DOLORES BROWN Foreign Service Institute’s Job Search Program supports the tran- sition from old habits of mind to new, which was very helpful (see #10 for more). For those who aren’t able to take the course, you will chart your own evolution; but believe me, it’s a liberating pro- cess. And we Foreign Service members tend to have the renewal gene—if nothing else, we are adaptable. 2. Don’t pay attention to newspaper headlines trumpeting that you need $1 million to retire. Those newspapers and magazines are not factoring into their $1 million equation a reliable lifetime annuity. Figure out howmuch your annuity is worth over the span of time you’re likely to receive it, and you’ll see that your retirement nest egg is considerably larger than you think. In addition, although I underscore I am no financial adviser, given that we receive a stable and reliable income through our annuity, we can choose to be more aggres- sive in our investment strategy with other funds we have at our disposal. This strategy can provide a hedge against inflation and unforeseen events. To learn more, take advantage of FSI’s battery of retirement courses starting in mid-career and tune into AFSA webinars on retirement subjects as early as possible. 3. It’s a new world out there in terms of job- hunting. I think we all realize that applying for jobs now happens online. But do you know how to get your resumé noticed? The answer is keywords. After all, a computer is doing the initial culling and will only spit out resumés and letters that include the words for which it’s looking. So don’t use your own vernacular; instead, use phrasing that is included in the job advertisement to better your chances to scale this hurdle. In addi- tion, be aware of pitfalls when using technology. One speaker at the JSP told an entertaining but apocryphal tale about a woman