Finally the day arrives. The day when you are not awakened by an alarm clock, calling you to scurry away and spend the majority of your day at work. Retirement. What will your retirement life be? How will you spend your many, many days of retirement life? Beyond the fact that you will not be working, what will your retirement be?
There is a big difference between your last day of work and the first day of retirement life. However the end of work isn't the end of the story. Retiring is a process that takes place over time, a process of readjusting your life to a new structure and new possibilities. This process can start before retirement or after and is unique to each individual, depending on his or her desires and wishes. So the process you go through and the amount of time it takes will be different for you than for others you know.
Taking Inventory
How do you feel about retirement?
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Are your feelings about retirement overall negative or positive?
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What aspects of retirement do you like most or look forward to most?
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What aspects of retirement do you like least or are most worried about?
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Even if your feelings about retirement are very positive, you should still take time to consider all that retirement can be and take time for introspection to understand what will make you most happy and fulfilled in retirement life. If your feelings about retirement are overall negative, use this workbook to uncover the unique pleasures waiting for you in retirement life.
The Long Retirement
When Social Security was created, setting the retirement age at 65, the average life expectancy was close to 65! It wasn't an accident that 65 was the age chosen to retire. The idea was that if you were lucky enough to live to 65, you would be allowed to spend your last year or two relaxing, rocking on the porch.
We have basically the same Social Security system today, but longevity is rising generation by generation. People today often live to 80 or 90 or beyond. Combined with this, some people are retiring earlier. So rather than planning a year or two rocking on the porch, the retiree today must think in terms of living 20 or 30 years of retirement life. This makes retirement life a major section of your life, as long or longer than childhood, young adulthood, adulthood or career life. We have specific ideas of how we should behave and what we should strive for in each of those other sections of life. Do we have as good an idea of what we should be and should be doing during retirement life?
In the past, how have you thought of the word "retirement" in terms of time? As the moment you stop working? As a phase of life? Explain.
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How do you feel about retirement life lasting possibly 20 or 30 years?
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Assuming 20 or 30 years of rocking on the porch could not truly satisfy you, what would you like your 20 or 30 years to be?
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The Retirement Life Workbook can be ordered at www.coachyourselfworkbooks.com