The Thursday Ramble: Retirement

This is not the ship we are booked on, her newer sister will be a part of next year's grand adventure.

A lot of people are afraid of retirement.  Some refuse to use the word, describing leaving the paid workforce as refocusing, reforming or retreading. Many fear the change in finances. Others simply don't know what they will do with their life without work. Yes, I felt all of those things, along with a great deal of stress and anxiety at the idea of retiring. But not nearly the level of stress and anxiety generated at work. 

Now being 18 months into retirement, I have to say, I really like retirement. 

We planned for it. A decade ago, we crunched the numbers, estimating income, and expenses and I was sure we would be okay. And yet as we moved into both of us being retired I worried about the money. I have to go back from time to time and revisit the numbers. The financial planners assure us if we live into our 90's (unlikely, but possible) we will still die with money in the bank. 

If you worry about money in retirement, sit down and figure out what it really costs to live and what income you can draw, make a plan to draw against your lifetime of retirement savings - you can't take it with you and your kids will likely fritter it away on new kitchens, new cars, and poker games (what my siblings and I did that with much of our inheritance.) Leave your family a legacy of your having lived a good life. 

For most of 50 years, I had a job description or list of duties.  To overcome the worry about "how will I stay busy and engaged" I wrote myself a retirement job description. I have actively worked to implement it, to do the many of the things I said I would do.  A couple of projects didn't work, and a couple of new one's emerged. One has been fermenting for a few months and I will get back to it someday soon. I feel engaged in life. I am doing things that I find meaningful and enjoyable. I am still working on learning to say no, or no thank you to things I don't enjoy or find meaningful. I was surprised by how fast I lost interest in some of the challenges I had worked on for 25 years. If you worry about what you would do in retirement, make a plan. 

I can't say retirement is entirely stress free or that I don't worry from time to time. But overall, in my adult life, there have been few times when I was this relaxed and at ease with the world around me.  

I do hope that if you haven't yet, you will make a plan to join me in a meaningful and engaging retirement. The best is yet to come.