This Bentley Alum is ‘Killin’ It’ in Retirement — And You Can, Too
Lisa Haynes ’87 thrived in the classroom, although she never did warm up to tax accounting. But she discovered that knowing what she didn’t like was just as important as knowing what she did.
“I learned that you can’t be great at everything, but if you focus on your niche, you can be successful,” Haynes says.
That lesson stuck with her through her career in finance, culminating in her role as senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief diversity and inclusion officer at the Mortgage Bankers Association. She retired from that post last year and is now approaching her next chapter with that same strategy — identifying her niche and becoming very good at it.
“I’m creating a portfolio of all the things that I love to do,” says Haynes.
At first, Haynes had a general idea of what her retirement would look like, but she quickly realized she needed a detailed plan to move forward with purpose. She developed a big-picture outline and then added specific, actionable steps. The process was not always easy, calling for moments of reflection and asking tough questions about goals and fears as well as legacy.
Retirement Planning Inspires Book
As she moved forward, Haynes realized others could benefit from her approach. So, she transformed her process into a book. The result, Retired and Killin’ It: The Ultimate Retirement Plan, was released in July 2025.
The book takes a reader through an eight-step planning process that gives them detailed instructions on how to craft their personal retirement roadmap. It is based on an integrated approach, incorporating suggestions that promote physical, mental and emotional health, and encourages readers to go at their own pace. Throughout the text, Haynes provides worksheets to help people discover what they want to do and set goals to make it happen.
Creating a retirement mission statement is a key step. Haynes focused hers on helping, teaching and coaching others. She recommends also including goals around maintaining a personal or professional community, noting that isolation — which can creep up on people who have left the workforce — can be detrimental not only to retirement planning, but to overall health.
She transformed her mission statement into a pie chart that allocated blocks of time for each element of her mission statement. For example, she designated 20% each to consulting work, volunteering and “chill time,” while other activities, like exercise, received 10%.
She added specific activities for each category. For “consulting,” she included a goal of becoming a retirement coach, which she has since achieved. She launched Haynes Executive Solutions in 2024 and now sports the title of “chief reinvention wing woman.”
Her chill-time plans include visits with her grandchildren, travel and designated days to do absolutely nothing. She suggests adding activities, including those focused on self-care, to a calendar to stay on track.
Open to Change
Haynes also notes that plans can — and should — change as interests evolve. For example, when Haynes first retired, she stepped into a temporary CFO role that at first seemed like an obvious choice. But she learned it was not for her.
“I didn't want that kind of commitment,” Haynes says. “Fractional CFO work was on my pie chart, but I removed it.”
She also believes there is no right or wrong approach to retirement if it aligns with a person’s authentic goals. Some will build a plan based on key aspects of their career, while others “will have nothing to do with the things they did before retirement,” she says.
“It is not our grandparents’ or even our parents’ retirement anymore,” Haynes adds. “There is no one definition for it. It is about shifting into your next chapter and knowing what it will look like for you.”