Living a Fulfilled and Meaningful Retirement, are You?

Living a fulfilled and meaningful retirement, are you?

Scott klatt

 

You may feel this is a strange title given it is framed as a question. But as I began thinking about the topic and the counterintuitive nature of what I have uncovered, I frequently thought of the popular character Yoda, from the amazingly successful Star Wars series. Yoda (not baby Yoda) had the uncanny knack of making a statement, but always framing it as a question. So, after assisting hundreds of clients for close to four decades with the task of accomplishing their financial goals and objectives, I have uncovered that this particular question is an important one to contemplate.  As I have found, similar to developing a sound financial plan, establishing a comprehensive plan for the next step in life is just as important. A colleague of mine and wonderful writer, retirement consultant and certified retirement coach, Marianne Oehser¹, calls it a “A Happiness Retirement Portfolio” in her book, Your Happiness Portfolio ™ for Retirement, It’s Not About the Money. So how and why do we need to develop a “Happiness Portfolio” both before and during retirement? 

 

Defining Retirement

Let’s first start with the definition of retirement. The term was first invented back in 1889 by German Chancellor Otto², saying “for those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the state” * Not the most uplifting definition I must say. The French also have a not so exciting definition³ as to “withdraw to a place of safety or seclusion.” Our own Webster dictionary⁴ defines retirement as “to withdraw from one’s position or occupation or from an active work life”. Again, a somewhat dark definition with negative connotations of withdrawing or being less active. I prefer the Spanish definition, which is Jubilación

, a word for post career, taken from the root word of celebration.

So, is retirement in today’s day and age a celebration or a withdrawal to a safe place of seclusion? The answer mostly depends on you. As I have found, similar to developing a comprehensive financial plan and investment portfolio, it takes some deliberate thinking and planning.

 

Woes of Retirement

Why is it so important to plan for life after retirement? What I have found is that many retirees do not recognize the serious risks that are associated with “being retired”.

After all, retirement can last for more than 1/3 of your life and for many of us, you may be retired longer than you worked. Think through that statement and ask yourself, what do I want to do for the next 30 years of my life? It can be daunting and intimidating, or it can be an exciting challenge.

The Secure Retirement Institute project⁵ quotes the following stats:

·         25% of 65-year-old men of average health will live to age 89

·         25% of 65-year-old women will live to age 90

Although this may sound like Jubilación it can also become a very challenging stage of life.  I think of my own father, who sold his business at an early age of 55, became a snowbird along with some part time work for a few years and then slowly faded away in front of the TV. I am not sure if I agree with Neil Young’s line in his famous song Hey Hey My My⁶, “it is better to burn out than to fade away” as I think there should be more to this next act in life.

Clare Davenport⁷, in her Ted talk “Rethink retirement well beyond your bank account” *notes some very alarming issues that come with retirement:

·         Substance abuse

·         Depression

·         Boredom

·         Feeling irrelevant

·         Weight gain

·         Divorce

o   Over ¼ of all divorces are couples over 50

o   1 in 10 are over 65

·         Early death

§  Research done by Harvard Scholl of Public Health⁸ found people who retired are 40% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than working on who were still working and the increase is most pronounced during the first year

 

Stages of Retirement

Why you may ask, are there so many risks associated with a time in life that should be happy and joyful? These risks seem to come at different stages of retirement. There are many different definitions of these stages developed by experts in the field, but let’s look at one. Dr. Riley Moyes⁹ in his Ted Talk “The Four Stages of Retirement” outlines the stages of retirement as follows:

Vacation Phase:

Typically lasts up to one year after retirement- The first several months of retirement can seem like a vacation. You can do what you want when you want. You may even blast through your bucket list and your “things to do” list with ease and feel some great accomplishment. But then the second, most dangerous stage can set in.

Feeling lost:

All at once you feel like you have no routine. You may begin to possibly struggle with finding a new sense of identity. The relationships you built up in your work career may suddenly come to an end and your sense of purpose may be hard to capture or articulate and may be somewhat frighting to think about. You may