Retirement Purpose

RETIREMENT – often much looked forward to and anticipated – can be a surprising let down for many people.

They spend so long looking forward to escaping from the daily grind of their old worklife but they forget to think about what they actually want to do with the gift of time they are suddenly presented with.

The novelty of a lazy morning and not having to be anywhere tends to soon wear off and many people find themselves questioning what to do with the rest of their lives - which could easily be another 20 to 30 years.

When we were in work, we had routine, networks of people to interact with and a purpose to what we were doing every day – and these can literally vanish overnight leaving a large hole in our sense of purpose.

But with a little forethought that gift of tie you had been working all your life to attain can give you the biggest opportunities to really find your meaning in life unencumbered by the need to have to clock on five days a week.

For some of us it can mean actually going back to work – finding a part time job doing something you enjoy but do not necessarily have to be chasing a career in, especially if you had been successful in your financial planning for retirement.

Having a sense of purpose means looking to where you want to invest your time, talents and energies to achieve your goals. And for once these goals are truly your own – not set by a line manager with a performance review at the end.

Research has shown retirees with a sense of purpose tend to live longer than those who do not. They tend to enjoy better physical health, have less stress and age more slowly.

This could be the time to invest in the hobbies you have always enjoyed but never had time to explore fully, or start new ones that had tickled your imagination but needed the time you just did not have.

It is also a great opportunity to give back to your community – taking the skills and experiences you developed over a working lifetime and putting them to use in your community, whether through your church, your city boards, a service organization like Rotary or Lions, running for council, a non-profit with a cause close to your heart, coaching a sport or even a bit of freelance consulting – all these bodies are always keen to work with people wanting to give of their talents and time.

Of course, many people already have passions they cannot wait to pursue but if you are not sure or even overwhelmed at the prospect of managing retirement, take some time now to start thinking about what you truly would like to achieve in your golden years.

Is family key for you? Enjoying grandchildren? Or have you always wanted to visit all the national parks? What about writing a novel or researching your family tree? Taking up gardening? Hiking the Appalachian Trail?

One way to start is to make a note of what you do in a normal week right now then identify what of those activities you had to do versus the ones you looked forward to and enjoyed. What perked your interest in the news, or programs you watched or shows you listened to?

Of course, underpinning all this is not just the time to do what you want but having the finances in place to let you do so without worrying – retirement can be expensive. You have probably waived the children off to their own independence and the mortgage is probably paid off but filling the time with your hobbies can cost a dollar or two.

Just as it makes sense not to wait until your retirement party to think about how you want to spend your time, it makes just as much sense to think about funding your retirement now and not later. The sooner we start planning for our retirement – both financially and purposefully – the longer and better it is likely to be.