It used to be that when most people retired, they assumed they’d never work another day in their lives, and, if they did, they would consider themselves a failure in retirement. Most of the people I know started working part-time once they retired. Some did it to reduce the financial strain of retirement, but most did it because they wanted to do something. I did I retired and worked for another eight years, because I wanted to, and I enjoyed my time working part-time. However, once I started to tire of the idea of working, I quit and started to do more volunteer activities, and became more involved in my community. I should have done it sooner, but retirement is a journey, not a destination.
One regret I had that kept me working was that I retired too early. I was wrong, as part of the journey of discovery in retirement I needed to explore other opportunities, which working part-time provided. When you think of regrets in retirement, you might only consider the regret of retiring too early and running out of money, but that’s not the only outcome you should fear. You could regret retiring too late.
I have friends who, before they retired looked at all the scenarios and all the models to make sure they would be able to retire. If you do this, you may find that you have waited far too long to retire. Here are some things that I have seen people plan for
· Getting
cancer.
· Having
Alzheimer’s.
· Getting
into a car accident and become disabled.
· Experience
three or four stock market crashes
· Lose
your pension.
One or two of these may happen but the odds are against them happening to you. That does not mean they will not happen to someone. The point of modelling or building scenarios is to protect yourself against likely fears, not everyone. Wait too long to retire, and you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. Sure, your kids might enjoy the millions that you’ll never be able to spend, but I bet they’d much rather have your time instead.
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