WorkWise: Making the transition into retirement
"Retirement" means more than “not working,” as in days gone by, when people were likely to live another 10 years, according to John Wojcio, certified career coach at Binghamton University and Advantage Training & Development in nearby Endicott, New York. Now you can expect to live two to four times longer, he says.
Wojcio maintains that boredom overtakes many retirees whose work structured their lives. “Some people can retire, because they wing their life. They’re not planners and have a great tolerance for ambiguity. But the majority don’t like surprises.” He strives to help people “do it right” through workshops and private coaching involving “a little bit of planning.”
The Merrill Lynch/Age Wave study “Work in Retirement: Myths and Motivation” dispels the myth that “retirement means the end of work.” The report evolved from an online survey of 3,503 respondents 25 years old and above, whose age, income, gender and geography parallel that of the nation’s population.
In fact, “Work in Retirement” claims that only 28 percent of pre-retirees 50 and older plan not to do paid work when they retire.
For people with careers doing of fulfilling work, “retirement” doesn’t look at all like it does for those who disliked working, for whom escaping may be the primary motivation. Pedro Silva, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, investment adviser at Provo Financial Services Inc., a dba of LPL Financial, has observed among his happiest retired clients that “in general they’ve moved on to the next chapter of their lives with a purpose.” Wojcio says that it’s essential to identify what motivates and demotivates you. To be happy in retirement, your version of it must contain something that attracts you.
One fairly simple way to determine what this attraction can be comes from Scottsdale, Arizona’s Charles Scott, a financial planner and the founder of Pelleton Capital Management Ltd. He advises filling in a blank calendar month. “Draw two horizontal lines through each day, separating them into morning, afternoon and night.” As you fill in the segments for the month, you’ll see that working has consumed a lot of your time, including getting ready for it, coming and going to it, doing it and thinking about it. “Realizing how much time you have now to do what you want, not just what you HAVE to do, can be enlightening,” he points out.
According to the Merrill Lynch/Age Wave report, growing numbers of retirees – 47 percent – are working or plan to do so. Those with a smooth transition may elect a “bridge job,” a term coined by Paul Dillon, president and CEO of Dillon Consulting Services LLC of Durham, North Carolina, and Chicago. He advocates becoming a consultant in your specialization for “a chance to set your own hours and work at your own pace.”
Of course, making some major changes right away might satisfy your feeling that the grass is greener. “Want to buy a huge RV and travel the country?” asks Warren Ward, founder and senior planner at WWA Planning & Investments in Columbus, Indiana. “Rent one and see how a month goes. Ditto the move to Phoenix or Naples. Try it a month at a time for a start.” He cautions against moving to be near grandchildren, as you may set yourself up for a second move when they grow up and leave the nest.
Perhaps the happiest of retirees, when it comes to work, are those like Wojcio, who find what they want to do pre-retirement, and keep on keeping on.
(Knoxville News Sentinel syndicated columnist Mildred Culp, Ph.D., welcomes your questions. Contact her at workwise@comcast.net. © 2017 Passage Media.)
Click here to see more WorkWise columns.