From intelligence to art. What Chalie MacRae wants you to know about her second act.

Chalie MacRae’s second act career.

Chalie had a long and successful career in intelligence. But she knew she was longing for something more, something creative.

She began to paint and discovered that this passion fuelled her in deeply meaningful ways.

She recalls feeling that she and her husband were “getting to a certain age and wanted to retire early and maintain [their] lifestyle.” So for some time, she chalked up her love of art as something she’d do in her spare time.

But in time, she realised she wanted to make a change. She didn’t know what to do, how to do it – or whether it was even possible. People thought she was crazy for even entertaining the idea of leaving such an established and well-respected career.

Her passion wasn’t fading, so she needed to figure out:

• What would need to be ‘true’ if she were to make art her second act career?
• Was art ‘just a hobby’ or something she could actually do part-time or full-time?
• How much income she’d need to generate if she were going to pursue art seriously, without impacting her family’s financial wellbeing and retirement goals.
• How / where and when to rent a better space in which to set up her studio.

Imagining Chalie’s possible futures.

We helped Chalie imagine the different possible futures available to her… what needed to be true if she were to leave her secure intelligence role on a part or full time basis. This helped her clarify whether art was going to be a hobby or actually something she relied upon for a steady income.

We helped Chalie income target her plans for her art business – that is, determine how much she’d need to generate from the sales of her art to keep her family’s lifestyle on track and allow them to keep moving towards their other goals while she shifted from her steady job in intelligence.

When she was ready to dive in, we helped Chalie:

• understand how different business decisions would impact her household (and vice versa). By bringing together her Integrated Advice Team and working collectively as financial planners and business advisers, we developed ultra-detailed incoming modelling and integrated forecasts.
• plan the timing of her career transition (reducing her hours slightly / dropping to a junior role first, then going part-time and finally leaving intelligence and working at her art practice full time)
• set up her business correctly (think: strategy, business structure, risk planning and the basics like applying for registration numbers and registering for GST etc)
• see that she could actually buy a studio (rather than rent) which gave her greater freedom, security and opportunities for her new business

From intelligence analyst to artist.

As we rolled into 2023, Chalie officially wrapped up her final shift as an intelligence analyst. She tells us her transition to full time artist, in her own studio space, has been profound; for both her work life and personal life.

“I have just blossomed. My own space. No one around. Just me, my tunes and my own world, my own little universe,” she says.

“We also have such a secure sense of direction as to where we’re headed – Kearney Group is helping us to achieve our financial goals, whether they’re individual, property related or business related,” adds Chalie.