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V O L . X X X I I N O. I I JA N UA R Y 2 6 , 2 0 2 6 14 W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T / R E T I R E M E N T F O C U S 'Owning' your story Colleen Paulson, founder of Ageless Careers in Pittsburgh, has spotted a sim- ilar trend among her clients and weekly polls she conducts on LinkedIn. "As we grow older, our goals and priorities change, so it's natural to think that our relationship with work will change as well," she says. She also finds that despite today's competitive job mar- ket, the once frowned-upon "resume gap" no longer raises red flags with employers for applicants who can highlight how they stayed active between jobs. "It comes down to being confident in the story that you're telling and owning it," she says. While there's no rule about how much time away is too much, Scarborough-based career coach Debra Boggs points to one client who took nearly a decade off in a demanding field and now faces a return at a significantly lower professional tier. "If you've taken a couple of years off or left for caregiving, it's really hard to reenter at the level you left," says Boggs, founder and owner of D&S Executive Career Management. "Anyone can have a job tomorrow, but the right job at the right place with the right com- pensation takes time." Boggs also recommends tapping into networks and warns against procrasti- nating: "If you are going to take a year off, that's great, but start your job search at the six-month mark," she says. Solar executive recharges abroad For Fortunat Mueller, 49, co-founder and CEO of ReVision Energy, taking a year-long unpaid sabbatical gave him and his family the chance to experi- ence life abroad. ey started in Arusha, Tanzania, where they rented a house for six months with the two girls — then in seventh and eighth grade — attend- ing an international school. "My wife and I, before we were mar- ried … talked about how we would like to do this when we have a family to help give our children some perspective on the world," he says. During COVID, home-schooling, they revisited the idea and started plan- ning. ey also started telling people so they couldn't back down and Mueller arranged for the time off. "We wanted to be in a place that is more diverse and pretty different from where we live in southern Maine, and Africa was very appealing to us," he says. e family then went to Europe, orig- inally intending to be based in Mueller's » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Interested in starting an energy efficiency project for your business? Efficiency Maine offers no-cost, no-obligation virtual customer consultations. Sign up today at, efficiencymaine.com/business-customer-consultation. Whether your business is a for-profit, non-profit, school, or municipality, Efficiency Maine's Commercial and Industrial Prescriptive Initiative can help you make the most of energy efficiency. From heating and cooling solutions to compressed air and lighting, there are many ways you can work with Efficiency Maine to help reduce your energy costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Save Money Now, and Later, with Energy Efficiency Efficiency Maine incentives lower the up-front costs of equipment that can help you save in the long run. Fortunat Mueller, co-founder and CEO of ReVision Energy, took a year-long unpaid sabbatical from the South Portland-based solar company to spend time abroad with his family. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY I appreciated the opportunity to think about how I might do this job differently or better. — Fortunat Mueller ReVision Energy

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