Retirement — kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? For many of us, it means starting a new chapter in our life and doing some of the things we didn’t seem to have time for while we were working. I’ve written before about some of the financial aspects of retirement. The Retirement Checklist article is one recent example of this. This month, I want to talk a bit about some of the non-financial aspects of retirement. You might want to reread The Three Phases of Retirement article to kind of tee this up.
Let’s start by identifying the most central aspect of retirement — change. Yep, your routine is going to dramatically altered. For some of us, we’ll miss the self-worth that sometimes comes with a successful career. We might also miss socializing with our colleagues at work. On the other hand, the time pressure of work will ease up or even go away. Maybe we’ve had a boss we didn’t like. The point is, things will be different and how we feel about that varies from one person to another.
There are lots of articles and many books on retirement. After reading some of these and visiting with my friends and clients who have retired, I’ve found that there are four concepts that can benefit most of us.
First of all, it’s probably good advice to let yourself settle into retirement a bit before doing anything major. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take your dream vacation shortly after retirement. But, you might want to hold off on moving to a new city, selling your home and other major decisions.
Second, it’s fairly well established that relationships are good for us – including both our physical and our psychological health. Retirement can offer more time for socializing. Spending more time with your spouse, visiting your kids and grandkids, having lunch more often with a best friend or group of friends are just a few of the ways we can strengthen our relationships. If most of your relationships were professional, it might be that some of those people would still like to get together from time to time. You can also meet new acquaintances by taking classes, going to the health club, joining a committee at church, doing volunteer work and so on.
Third, it’s up to you how to best use the time that retirement offers. Maybe you want to play golf every day. Maybe you want to learn a new language. Maybe you want to learn to play an instrument. Maybe you want to read more books or see more movies. The options are endless.
Fourth, and finally, a lot of the time pressure and stress that you had to manage while you were working will be dramatically reduced or even eliminated. You may be just as busy as you were while working, but you’ll be busy doing the things that you want to do and doing them at your own pace and that’s a huge difference.
If you’d like to discuss your retirement situation, we’d be happy to talk with you in a no-charge, no-obligation initial meeting. Just visit our website or give us a call at 970.419.8212 to learn more.
This article is for informational purposes only. This website does not provide tax or investment advice, nor is it an offer or solicitation of any kind to buy or sell any investment products. Please consult your tax or investment advisor for specific advice.