How to plan for retirement

It’s never too early to think about retirement plans, but I’m not talking about your pension (you’ll need to see someone qualified to do that). I recommend people have a plan about what to do with their life as well as for finances as they head towards retirement.  

With life expectancy on the rise, the period we will hopefully be able to enjoy in retirement potentially grows longer. Now, more than ever, it’s essential to make plans to ensure that our retirements are as comfortable – and enjoyable – as possible. 

There are numerous resources available to help you prepare for the financial side of things – and of course, this must be a major focus of any retirement planning. But I also encourage clients to move beyond the pension forecasts and the monthly expenditure spreadsheets and start to consider how they’d actually like to spend your time once you’ve finally completed your career.  

I think it’s important to consider retirement as a transition to a new way of life, rather than an endgame. So many of us can’t see beyond that last clocking-off moment to the reality of what lies beyond – and putting in some time now to actually work out what your day-to-day life might be is time well spent.  

I’ve highlighted five key points to consider to help you plan for a successful and happy transition from your career into retirement.  

1. Get your mind ready for retirement  

Compared to the pattern of our working lives, retirement is pretty unstructured. That might sound an idyllic proposition, but without considering some kind of plan, it’s difficult to prepare. Of course, most proposals will have limiting factors – financial, for example, or practical. But taking these into consideration, it’s an important part of the transition process to try and work out how your retirement might look in reality.  

Some people don’t have a retirement plan. They might talk vaguely of more time on the golf course, with family or spent travelling. And while drifting into a fluffy cloud of vague possibilities is a great way to while away a few minutes waiting for the kettle to boil at work, laying down some definite plans and a proposed timescale can really help you feel more confident about the transition.   

What do you actually want to do, week in, week out, with your time? Can you do it all financially? In what order would you like to do things? What additional commitments might be expected of you in retirement – by your family, for example? Will you be able to – or even want to – give up all work, or might semi-retirement (which I’ve discussed in an earlier blog) provide you with a more gentle transition?   

A retirement decision is actually a life structure decision. Mapping out your time, perhaps centred around some ‘highlights’ for the first year or so, will bring a shape to the period of transition and will give you an idea of what can and can’t be done realistically. Engaging with a potential blueprint will also give you a more effective period of preparation for retirement, both emotionally and mentally.   

2. Who am I without my career?  

This emotional and mental preparation leads us neatly into the next consideration. Perhaps something that isn’t always obvious in the blue-sky thinking of retirement: being tied into a career may have had lots of downsides, but it can – and often does – bring you purpose in life, as well as structure.  

Many people discover that retirement throws up existential questions they weren’t expecting: who actually am I, now that I am longer defined by what I do? What is my purpose now? Consider relinquishing the part of your identity that is your career. Retirement potentially risks you losing a part of who you are. Some people find the reality of this loss of identity quite challenging, even depressing, lonely and isolating.  

Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile describes retirement metaphorically as stepping off a train and no longer feeling you have a direction or destination in life, or are able to make even the small amounts of definable progress you made when at work;  this can be a fearful moment. Her study explores the ‘mental and emotional toll’ of retirement and identifies how ‘identity bridging’ is one of the main processes retirees go through.   

The concept of a bridge is helpful. There’s always the other side.  As Teresa Amabile suggests, it’s useful to identify what aspects of yourself pre-retirement you still value and to attempt to maintain those in retirement.  

Consider what experiences have given meaning to your life and how you might source experiences now that can give you a similar feeling – albeit in a different way. For example, it might be that you miss the social interaction and camaraderie of your colleagues at work – feeling part of a team. Is there a ‘new team’ that you can join or even build? Are there any social interactions or activities that you can create a new social circle, but in a new outlet? It’s about identifying what made you feel good and gave you purpose before and finding a new source for those same feelings.   

3. Prioritise retirement activities 

Make a list of what you want to do in retirement. It sounds obvious, but it’s helpful. Group these into two categories: what you ‘must do’ at all costs – your retirement ‘deal-breakers’ – and ‘could do’ – what would be lovely, but not absolutely vital to do. Building yourself a priority list is a useful way of creating yourself a structure. This list can change and evolve as you discover new interests and experiences but capturing these goals and ideas can help provide focus and motivation.   

4. New tricks 

Retirement is the opportunity to do something you’ve always wanted to do, but never had the time before. While it’s great to have the chance to indulge the things you’ve always loved, it’s also wonderful to be able to stretch yourself a bit – develop new skills and take yourself to areas you’ve never been before. Don’t get stuck in a rut – set yourself a slightly-out-of-your-comfort-zone goal in the first few months post-retirement. There’s nothing more enlivening than a new challenge and now you’ve got no excuse about not having the time! 

It could be learning a language, or taking up a new hobby or sport. It might be doing all the coast to coast walks, travelling abroad to join a project, reading the entire works of Shakespeare or even parascending out of a plane – the sky can literally be the limit.  

Not ready for the abrupt transition to ‘pipe and slippers’? Your new retirement challenge could be work-related. You could consider ‘unretirement’, working in an entirely new area for you. Whether it’s for financial gain – which can help top up your income – or for more altruistic reasons – semi-retirement is worth considering if you have good health and energy to spare and a desire to try something new.  It can act as the perfect bridge between career working and full retirement; There are health benefits to continuing working, too – both mental and physical. Many retirees like to continue doing something but often they prefer something part-time to give a good blend between working and living.  

Why not consider volunteering? There are a wealth of non-profit and charity organisations crying out for volunteers and it can give you many of the things missing when you give up work – purpose and social aspects – and you feel you’re making a difference. I wrote about the benefits of volunteering in retirement in a previous blog – about how it can bring a sense of fulfilment and belonging. While volunteering might not add positively to your financial future at first, it could lead to an ‘encore career’ should you allow it to take that path;  I know someone who started volunteering as a gardener at an historic house, who ended up building his own landscape business with the experience and expertise volunteering gave him. For some hints and tips about establishing yourself in a new industry, check out a previous entry on my blog.   

5. Don’t go it alone 

Retirement doesn’t need to be a solitary journey – far from it. Most people in Teresa Ambile’s study of the newly retired had a partner; she calls retirement a ‘decision about your relationships’.    

Many of the decisions you make about retirement – when to do it, what to do, should you give up working entirely – can and should be made in consultation with your partner. Do you choose to retire together, or is that not practical or workable for you?  

Many people choose to align their semi-retirement with their partner’s and/or friends’ retirement plans, so it’s worth considering your current social circle too. Will you have social connections available to you beyond your working life, in your retirement, or will new ones need to be created? Sometimes this will happen organically through the choices you make in retirement as to what you will do – sometimes these may need to be more actively cultivated. Finally, remain open to change. Planning is important, but to quote John Lennon, ‘Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans’. Resilience is key. Don’t set everything in stone and keep yourself open to flexibility by creating an agile plan for yourself that can bend with you. Staying receptive to changes that might come your way despite your best intentions can often create some wonderful, unforeseen opportunities for you in your retirement.   

If you’d benefit from talking about how to plan for retirement, email me to book a first free session. 

 Featured image courtesy of Unsplash – Towfiqu Barbhuiya