Success used to mean promotions, pay raises, and a bigger title.
For Adeline Tiah, it now means something else entirely: the freedom to choose how she spends her time and who she spends it on.
After more than two decades as a corporate marketing leader in tech and financial services, Adeline reinvented herself as a coach, consultant, author, and LinkedIn Top Voice. She’s the author of Reinvent 4.0, and one thing people often miss when they read her story: she wasn’t just planning her career transition. She was planning her finances for it, years in advance – which is exactly what gave her the freedom to make the leap when she was ready.
This is the first in our Hybrid Retirement in Action – Real Women, Real Stories interview series, where we sit down with women who’ve built a life that isn’t full-time work and isn’t full retirement – something in between, on their own terms.
A Note on the Word “Retirement”
When we spoke, Adeline made a point I think is worth sitting with: she doesn’t love the word “retirement.” She sees her own path less as stepping back and more as reinvention – staying engaged, still working hard at times, but on projects and terms she chooses.
That’s really the heart of hybrid retirement: it was never about stopping. It’s about designing a life where work is optional, not absent.
Curious where you’d land on this spectrum yourself? Take the two-minute Hybrid Retirement Readiness Quiz to find out
The Turning Point
Adeline’s reinvention started a decade before she made her move. She attended Half Time, a programme built around helping people find purpose ahead of shifting from “success” to “significance.” The idea planted itself and grew quietly for years before it became a plan.
The Financial Groundwork Nobody Sees
Adeline grew up in a family of savers, and that early habit shaped how she managed money throughout her career. She started planning in her twenties — living within her means, saving diligently, and staying disciplined as her income grew rather than letting her lifestyle expand to match it.
Becoming a mother sharpened that intentionality. She wanted to provide for her son and plan several steps ahead.
She also invested directly in her own financial literacy, completing three modules with the CFP Institute and earning the Associate Wealth Planner title. That knowledge let her run her own numbers — working out exactly what she’d need to retire, by her own definition, by age 50.
The Pandemic Reframe
Covid-19 changed how Adeline thought about money and time. With travel and shopping paused, she realised her happiness had never really been tied to spending — it was tied to time with the people she loved. Re-evaluating her finances with that lens, she saw she already had the means to step out of corporate life.
She took a year to write her book, moved into coaching, and eventually built her own consultancy — layering in speaking engagements, adjunct lecturing, consulting, and investment income until her total income no longer depended on a single employer.
What Her Hybrid Retirement Actually Looks Like
- Structured time-blocking across work, rest, and personal growth
- Picking up painting again after twenty years away from it
- Exercising three to four times a week
- Weekend-only screen time for shows, kept deliberately separate from weekdays
- Coaching and workshop facilitation as her main professional focus
- Regular coffee chats and networking, chosen rather than obligatory
Passing the Values Forward
For Adeline, the planning was never just about her own freedom — it was also about the example she set for her son. At 18, she helped him open a CDP account so he could start investing his own pocket money, years earlier than she had. Now 27, he’s financially independent, with a head start she’s visibly proud of.
In Part 2, we break down five specific financial lessons from Adeline’s journey — the actual steps, not just the philosophy. Stay tuned!
Curious where you stand on your own hybrid retirement timeline? Take the two-minute Hybrid Retirement Readiness Quiz to see which stage you’re at – Starting Line, Building Momentum, or Almost There, and what to focus on next.
Follow Adeline’s work on LinkedIn
