A Gen Xer found retirement overrated after stopping work at 50, so she opened a business
Courtesy of Susan Cesarini
- Susan Cesarini retired at 50 but unretired during the pandemic, opening a cat grooming business.
- She initially retired after adopting principles of the financial independence, retire early movement.
- Cesarini now balances work with teaching her grandchildren financial principles.
Susan Cesarini aimed for much of her career to retire at 50. At 57, she's instead running a business full-time in Nevada.
Cesarini worked multiple jobs as a single mom who raised two children before taking a risk and opening a cat grooming business. She retired in 2017 at 50 after adopting principles of the FIRE — financial independence, retire early — movement.
However, once the pandemic hit, she realized she missed work and felt purposeless. She restarted her business on a smaller scale while taking care to maintain a work-life balance. She's taught her grandchildren about financial principles to set them on the right path.
"Once I discovered FIRE, I knew that my grandkids needed to learn about this stuff, not just by watching me, but by me telling them to save," Cesarini said. "With my grandkids, I've been a little more open to talking about money. My grandson is 12, so it's easier to talk about what's an investment purchase compared to a disposable purchase."
Cesarini is one of dozens of Americans who told Business Insider they've followed at least some of the tenets of the FIRE movement. Many FIRE followers have told BI they felt retirement was overrated and returned to work. Some are taking slower approaches to retiring a few years early instead of in their 30s. Most said the movement pushed them to focus on long-term financial planning to weather periods of unemployment, medical emergencies, or economic downturns.
Retiring at 50
Cesarini grew up in a family without much money. Her mother immigrated from Germany and had a crafts business that she and her siblings helped run. She recalled making food from scratch, wearing secondhand clothing, and cutting her own hair.
As a teenager, Cesarini worked in a police records department earning $3.35 an hour in 1984.
"Growing up without a lot really makes you be creative with how to make do without a lot of money," Cesarini said. "Sometimes I find that it's hard to splurge on things just because of that mindset of how I grew up."
After moving to Reno, she worked as a secretary and receptionist that paid just above minimum wage. She lived frugally and rarely made large purchases, though she didn't touch investing until her 30s. In the early 2000s, she transitioned to real estate, specializing in new home sales. She estimated she earned between $5,000 and $10,000 monthly.
She grew tired of "being someone's employee" and wanted to explore a more creative career route. She did various side hustles in the 1990s and 2000s while raising her children, including selling on eBay. She found success after attaining a master cat groomer certification, finding high demand for pet care services
"I could literally work 24/7 if I didn't have to sleep or do anything else," Cesarini said. "That's how busy my clients could keep me."
She bought a failing boarding resort for cats after managing to scrape together the money. She had one cat at the resort when she opened the door and estimated it took 18 months to grow the business to a sustainable point. Her daughter also joined full-time around then.
She built the cat grooming business to be "highly successful," growing her client base and gaining a strong reputation in her community. She knew if she worked long hours and maintained relationships with clients, she could retire at 50. She saved whatever money she could, paid off her house, and discovered the FIRE movement in 2016. She sold the business in 2017, thinking she would retire for good.
She took a trip to Africa to research lions, relaxed, and spent time with her children and grandchildren, expecting to be financially stable through her retirement years.
Courtesy of Susan Cesarini
Unretiring and rediscovery
When the Covid pandemic came along, she said she lost her sense of purpose and missed her connections with clients and the cats she cared for.
"If Covid wouldn't have happened, I would have continued traveling and volunteering," Cesarini said. "But Covid made me just sit here and think, 'Wow, I miss working.'"
There was still such strong demand that she decided to unretire — and started referring to her period not working as a sabbatical. She opened a business that was half the size and bought the building in 2022 so she could rent out two-thirds of it for passive income. This time around, there are more rules: She won't always accept last-minute appointments, and if a client no-shows, they can't come back.
"I only want to work with clients who respect us and value our time," Cesarini said. "I've reached the point where I'm really good at telling clients no."
She said she's been "super careful" not to overdo work. She said she's hoping to be completely retired by 65 and move abroad, potentially to Portugal.
"I wanted to create something where I could still help cats and my clients but have a life, which is sometimes really hard to do for any business owner," Cesarini said. "I feel I've created that, where I can have that balance in my life."
Passing it on
As a single mother working multiple jobs, Cesarini said she didn't have much time or direction to explicitly teach her children about concrete savings tactics or long-term planning. Cesarini said her children learned to live frugally by following her example.
However, she's taking a much more hands-on approach to educating her grandchildren about financial planning, even before they become teenagers.
She said she's taught her grandson not to always want to fanciest option — she drives a 2009 Prius, which she bought for $3,500, and she's stressed to him that it drives and depreciates the same way a Ferrari does. She showed him investment calculators so he could learn compounding. And she's shown them how they don't always need new clothes, and when they do, they could get them from thrift stores or at less than face value at a nicer store.
When Cesarini bought a riverfront property, which was in poor shape, she put in flooring and made other renovations herself. She had her grandson help paint the house and do trim work. After he helped with the housework, Cesarini broke down how much they saved at each stage.
"Seeing me work hard, seeing his mom and dad work hard, I think he wants to work hard and learn new things," Cesarini said. "I definitely see property flipping in his future."