Previous occupation: Head of quality assurance, Procter & Gamble, beauty care division
Age at retirement: 47
Gail MacDonald took a year after she retired in 2004 to decompress. During that time she stayed in Cincinnati and took advantage of the attractions - golfing and dining options, gardening - she had always been meaning to try. "I had all 24 hours in the day," she says. "I could go grocery shopping on a Tuesday afternoon instead of eight o'clock at night after work."This transitional period makes sense to Dave Corbett of New Directions, a firm that coaches senior execs through major life changes. "If you rush off immediately to a gated community in Florida, you could miss out on the next big part of your life."
Three years later, McDonald's now happily ensconced on North Carolina's Outer Banks. "In that first year, I didn't make any big changes," she says. "I allowed fate to take me, and it was delicious."
