One of the books I've been reading this week is 'Voices of Experience: 1500 Retired People Talk About Retirement' by Mario A Milletti. It's an old book - published in 1984 and now out of print, and our perception of and expectations for retirement have changed considerably in the intervening quarter of a century. However, if you're due to retire within the next 10 years, the book still contains some good advice from some established retirees about the steps they recommend you take NOW to prepare you for the next stage of your life.
The advice was originally aimed mainly at those people seeking a more traditional, 'rest and relaxation' type of retirement but, even if r'n'r is the last thing on your mind, there's still a lot of sense spoken by the interviewees. I'm only halfway through the book but this is a summary of what the interviewees are saying so far:
Start to plan and think about retirement early (not just the financial aspects of retirement, but the way that you want to live your life, where you want to live it, how you want to spend your time, etc.)
Try to become less absorbed in your work (especially if you have a tendency to become absorbed to the point of the exclusion of other, life-enhancing pursuits and activities)
Start to develop hobbies and outside interests, particularly if you haven't had much time for these activities during your working life so far
Make a thorough study of the financial aspects of retirement
Save as much money as you can (as one retiree said, 'Income helps determine the flexibility a retiree has to choose a retirement lifestyle - the higher the income, the greater the options...')
Become involved with people outside of your work situation - you need to be prepared to constantly make new friends, either to supplement or replace the old ones
Plan to continue to work part-time and generally ease yourself into retirement - many retirees reported a feeling of 'being cast adrift' when they went from full-time work to full-time retirement in the course of a day
Study retirement - find out as much about the subject as you can. Know what to expect and what the pitfalls of retirement can be.
Talk to retired people - find out what their experience has been
Become more involved in community activities
Take full advantage of any retirement education and/or retirement coaching/counselling programs which are available to you
Have some long-term goals for retirement alongside your short-term goals and build the things that you want to do into your calendar - have a 1 year plan, a 3-year plan, a 5-year plan, etc.
Try to anticipate what your long-term needs will be and plan for them - assume that you're going to live a long life
Comments