By Joni Lindquist
When business executives start planning for retirement, they tend to focus on the money. But a happy retirement is more than just having enough money. While 79% of people planned to work in retirement, only 29% are actually working in retirement (EBRI 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey). Happily, almost all retirees in this study who say they worked for pay in retirement gave a positive reason for doing so – because they wanted to stay active and involved (90%) or enjoyed working (82%).
Here are five tips to help prepare for your transition into retirement:
- Know what makes you happy. Life gets so busy while building our careers that we can get into a rut. We may not have the time or energy to do the things we love. Once retired, you will have more time – so choose the activities that make time fly for you!
- Recognize what you will lose. Many of us have our identity wrapped up in what we do career-wise. So when you leave your job, what will you lose? Is it status, power, intellectual challenge, social friendships, a sense of accomplishment?
- Replace what you will lose. Or choose to let it go in favor of a new identity. If you want to maintain some of the satisfaction your job provides you, consider entrepreneurial activities, an encore career, or volunteer opportunities.
- Visualize your ideal week in retirement. Now that you know what makes you happy and you are prepared to replace what you lose from leaving your job; put it all together. What does your week look like? How will you spend your time?
- Practice! If possible, take a sabbatical to practice retirement. Many law firms allow or require sabbaticals. If it isn’t feasible to take a sabbatical, can you take at least a three-week vacation? Do this for a couple years to try out new activities to determine what you like.
Preparation for retirement is all about how you use your human capital: your time, talent and experience, and how you will use it in this exciting new life phase. To build your own retirement readiness plan, schedule a meeting by clicking below, contact Joni Lindquist –jlindquist@makinglifecount.com, or call (913) 345-1881.