Retirement a “life transition

Planning for retirement is not just a financial process, it is a transition to do something else, whether it’s travel, or living a dream — it’s a new period of personal discovery.

Doing nothing gets boring quickly and is unfulfilling for most people. Those who have outside interests and hobbies while they are working are going to adjust better to retirement. For individuals whose whole lives are consumed with work, there will be a sudden void when they retire. For many, work is where much of their identity and satisfaction is obtained.

After working for years, often at the same job, or in the same industry, people who retire may struggle to figure out how they still fit in and contribute.

The ability to say goodbye and express your feelings is an important process that we all go through when we decide to retire. When someone retires somewhat abruptly or unexpected for whatever reason, there is a lot of unfinished business. 

Professionally, their lives may have concluded, but people want to believe that their “contributions will continue to count and mean something.”

We have an identity when we work for 40 years somewhere. To transition from a work identity to something else that people will respect” is something that should be thought about before retirement.

Transitions by nature are always very difficult. Even so-called good transitions like the birth of a child, buying a home, getting a new job, or going to college cause a lot of change in a person's life, and change is stressful. The key to dealing with transitions is to be as flexible as possible. Anytime you have a significant change in role -- such as returning to work after raising children -- the ability to adjust and assume another role in society is very important.

Retirement planning, Leach suggested, incorporates the “mental, physical, as well as spiritual health in addition to your financial well-being.”

People who haven’t thought out their future properly are easy to pick out — not so much because they didn’t plan well financially, but because they didn’t know what else to do.

People who fail at retirement, go back to work. One of the reasons is that people undergoing transitions becoming depressed. When this happens, their energy levels and motivation decrease, and they may even have problems with their sleep and appetite. When these symptoms persist and people find they are preventing them from actively participating and enjoying life that is the time to seek help.

Be sure, though, to give yourself a little time. For most people after you retire there is some initial euphoria about not having to go to work, but if several months into retirement, you find yourself struggling and feeling depressed, it may be time to seek help. Sometimes just talking to someone and getting an objective opinion about what's going on can help people sort things out in their mind and will help them formulate a plan to help adjust to their change in role

Active living is important to successful retirement. In addition to spending more time on passive leisure, retired women and men also spent more time socializing than when they were constrained by workplace demands. Indeed, the data  from Stats Canada, suggest a dynamic social life. Two thirds of retired women and men got together with friends and/or family outside the household each day.

As well, retirees were more likely to participate in and to spend more time on, active leisure activities than employed mid-agers. More than half of the retired population (50% of women and 59% of men) went for a walk, played cards, or participated in hobbies and crafts each day.

Nearly 17% of retired women participated in activities such as walking, jogging, hiking and running for nearly 1½ hours per day. Participating in mentally stimulating games, cards, puzzles and board games also was more common among female and consumed more of their time Women who were retired from the labour force also were more likely to do home crafts. Participation rates in active sports for women keeping house were also high for retired women.

Retired men were far more likely to walk, hike, run, or jog than retired women. Participation in games, cards, puzzles and board games increased from just over one hour before retirement to more than 1½ hours after retirement. Not surprisingly, golf showed the longest time commitment; participants spent 3.7 hours a week on the game.

Retirees appear to be happier than people who have to work. Factor analysis indicates that happiness correlates strongly with a number of time pressure indicators such as: striving to accomplish more than one can handle; having no time for fun; constant stress from not having enough time; feeling trapped in a daily routine; and finally, that sinking feeling of not having finished everything that was planned at the end of the day. Not surprisingly, reducing the time commitment to the job and having more autonomy in choosing and scheduling activities eased time pressures and led to greater individual happiness. Interestingly, men were somewhat more likely to report they were very happy than their female counterparts

Boomers will be retiring in greater numbers over the next few decades. We  have benefited from medical advances, a prosperous economy and expanded educational opportunities and will become not only the largest retirement population ever, but also the  healthiest, wealthiest, and most powerful politically and economically. Many forecasters have taken the reality of Boomer retirement to mean economic and social catastrophe will befall our society (Thus the need to increase retirement and cut government pensions to put the responsibility on the individual). Others see the upcoming retirement tsunami as one of a cultural transformation leading to a more peaceful and caring society. We can only be sure retired boomers will revolutionize the prevailing attitudes and activities of the “senior” population. Being a senior may well mean becoming a sonic boomer or a zoomer and a very good thing as long as we can make the transition from work to retirement.

Information for this blog was drawn from Days of our lives: time use and transitions over the life course: The transition to retirement:  When every day is Saturday, published in 1998 and the full study is available here and from Planning for retirement is about more than just the money by David James Heis published here

Issues for seniors Canada vs. Australia

In an earlier post I talked about issues and concerns for Seniors in Canada, while I was in Australia I was interested in seeing what the main issues facing seniors are to see if they were the same in Canada. In Australia, there seemed to me that the following were of interest and concern:

Employment, Superannuation (Pensions), Health Reform, Global Financial Crisis, Public housing and rent

In Canada, some of the issues facing seniors include: Working and participation in society, health and wellness, safety and security and income security discrimination and negative stereotypes, social participation and ethno cultural diversity, living arrangements, transportation, and social isolation and loneliness, family/informal caregiving 

In both countries, there are distinctive barriers faced by older workers, which outweigh the perceived disadvantages to employers, but in both countries, little is being done to help. In fact, seniors who cannot get by on the Superannuation they receive are not treated well by society. For example, a headline in a paper I saw in Australia was this: “The best form of welfare for seniors--get a job” Not all seniors may need to work for the money (but every little bit helps) I suspect that many of us work to participate in society and to feel useful. Older workers should be afforded equal treatment in the workplace and better access to retraining opportunities. 

Pension or Superannuation has long been an issue of major significance to seniors in both countries, and in the current period of reform this should be of major concern. The Canadian government and the Australian government as are other governments around the world are willing to reform .benefits to seniors, which means reducing benefits not increasing them.

Health and wellness is a major issue and the governments with short-term thinking have not yet tackled the issues of health reform that would benefits including greater access and more holistic approach to medicine use and awareness amongst seniors.

The impact of the global financial crisis on seniors across both Canada and Australia aged 50 and over is still being felt. Many of us have not yet recovered from the loss and it will take appropriate and timely action to provide assistance

Many seniors have to rely on public housing and assistance because they cannot afford the rents they once did.  In Australia, they are taking steps to help seniors who need this help, yet in Canada the issue is not being addressed.

Thinking back on Xmas

Two years ago, we spent Christmas in the Hawaiian sun and really enjoyed the day but family was not with us, so although we had an enjoyable time, it was not the same. This year we spent Christmas in Australia with family and the Australian sun, so the holiday was wonderful. 

I found it hard to get used to the idea of having the big meal in the middle of the day but it was delightful cooking on the barbecue and enjoying the 30 degree Celsius temperature. I like the idea of spending Christmas out of the rain and snow and enjoying the sun. 

Christmas without family can be a very difficult time of the year for some, so I am thankful that I was able to watch my grandson enjoy opening his presents and start to get into the spirit of the day. 

Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning

My thanks to Timothy Mobley, who is a managing agent at the Baron Group, and who is a  Louisiana licensed professional with over twenty years of experience in a wide range of financial products for this link. Very useful ideas for planning, a very good site for my American friends but useful for the rest of us as well.

One tool that I found particularly valuable is the Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning tool. It doesn't only discuss the issues most Americans are faced with when planning for retirement but it has some concrete, useful worksheets.

It's not going to be your parents' retirement - rewarded at 65 with a gold watch, a guaranteed pension, and health insurance for life. For many Americans, retiring in this new century is a mystery. Earlier generations of workers could rely on employer-provided pensions, but now many workers will need to rely on their own work-related and personal savings plus Social Security benefits. These savings have to last longer because Americans are living longer, often into their eighties and nineties.

If you are one of those people who want to plan - and are about 10 to 15 years from the day you retire - this booklet is for you. Today's (and tomorrow's) retirees may well have a new kind of retirement. With a longer and healthier life span, bikes, boats, planes, and RVs may be part of your life, because you are more likely than previous generations to be an active older American.