As the 73 million Baby Boomers retire en masse, at the rate of 10,000 a day, and adding more than a quarter of a million Americans each month through the year 2030, we enter a period of disorientation and personal confusion, tell the truth. We are a hard-working generation, and often our careers have defined us. And we have high expectations. So our concerns are valid.
Although we have earned money through lifetimes of hard work, our savings have been affected by major downturns in the stock market, the banking industry, and the housing industry. Even if we did save enough, which many of us didn’t, we’ve seen those savings dwindle dramatically, with little we could do about it.
Baby Boomers are also known to be a generous group. We have done well with our children, our parents, our communities, our churches. Many of us have felt the pinch of adult children who have had difficulty earning an adequate income for themselves. And many of us have dealt with elderly parents who need significant help, financial or otherwise.
We grew up in an era where making a meaningful contribution was paramount to living life well. We have always wanted to make a difference. From women’s rights, civil rights, world hunger, to preserving the planet, we’ve always been there: marching, demonstrating, donating our funds and services. We are a generation that has always cared.
And now it’s our turn to retire. Our parents retired under a very different paradigm, generally supported for the rest of their lives by pensions provided by their employers. It is not so with us. Only one in four Boomers can expect significant income from an employer-provided pension.
And we know better than to expect retirement to be cheap. Statistics show that almost half of retired households now spend more money, not less, in retirement. We also know that we are likely to live quite a long time. According to the Social Security Administration, one in four 65-year-olds will live past 90, while one in 10 will live past 95.
So if some of us associate feelings of panic with retirement, we have a good reason. But there are positive factors that will make transformative differences in our favor. Use these five tips and considerations to your advantage to make your own retirement years some of the best years of your life.
- Time is on your side.
- Reinvention is the new normal. Expect to have freedom and commitment as well.
- If you need more money to live the lifestyle you want, earn more.
- Seek help with your “transition.”
- Nurture your pioneering spirit as a role model. Lead the way.
Time is on your side.
If you have lived to age 65, you have another 25 to 30 years to live. Therefore, she will have plenty of time to make her own retirement transition. This bounty of time can be harnessed to redirect and explore, gain self-knowledge, and study the patterns and passions of your own unique and inimitable self to produce a retirement design that is optimal for you, mentally, socially, and mentally. physically, financially and spiritually. Use time to your advantage by giving yourself the gift of a future that fully engages you and toward which you can and will dedicate yourself with vitality, enthusiasm, and enjoyment. Create a retirement that will be your handiwork, not just a condition where you wander aimlessly.
Although, as a Boomer, you’re already part of the most educated and tech-savvy generation in our country’s history, you know there’s much more for you to learn. With 25-30 years to go, there is no need to rush into the third phase of your life limited by what you already know how to do. Once you discover what you long to do and be next, you will have the luxury of time to learn how to do it and do it well, to apply your new learning for many years to come, and even to pass it on.
Reinvention is the new normal. Expect to have freedom and commitment as well.
“Working” in retirement, with or without earning money for it, can be a meaningful activity when it’s in tune with your truest, most naturally enthusiastic self. It is essential to understand that what we are talking about here is not simply more of the same. After retirement, motivation to work is based on a desire to continue with purpose, productivity, stimulation, satisfaction, and social connection. Gone are the days of “I’ll do anything as long as it pays well.”
Although the majority of Boomers plan to work when they retire (71%), that does not mean that we are willing to continue with the same job. More than half of us (51%) plan to enter a different line of work in retirement. Since we are looking for a job that produces stimulation and satisfaction, we will be less willing to adapt to a job and more likely to find work paths that suit us.
This translates into the need to reinvent yourself and then reinvent your work. Make decisions based on the knowledge of your own true self. What are you like? (his type and temperament). What involves you? (Your interests). What has meaning for you? (your values). And what can you do well? (your skills and talents).
Then, based on what you discover, reinvent your work. Most likely, you are not interested in continuing at the same pace and level of intensity as your previous work life. And you may not be willing to choose freedom over commitment, or the other way around, when you want and can have both. According to the 2013 Merrill Lynch Retirement Study, many Boomers will seek flexible work arrangements, such as working part-time (39%) or commuting between work and leisure periods (24%). Others will start businesses or companies, offer services, create, perform, invent, train, guide or advise.
If you need more money to live the lifestyle you want, earn more.
In the past, the focus of retirement planning has been on saving and investing money during your prime working years so you can live on passive income in retirement. To the extent that we have succeeded in this task, or have the benefit of increasingly rare employer-provided pensions, this passive income can provide a solid foundation after we retire. But this base income certainly does not define or limit our potential lifestyle. Retirement doesn’t have to mark a shift to passive income alone or the end of active income. It’s much better, and probably more realistic, to think about having a little of each!!
With the advent of computer-based labor, locating and executing employment contracts can be accomplished without even leaving your home. The world can be your market for the services you offer, the art or craft you create, the books or courses you write. Once you redefine yourself and decide what your purpose will be from now on, you will have many options and scenarios to move forward.
If your dream has been to travel in retirement and you don’t have enough money to do it, take the plunge and earn the money you need to travel and fly to France and Italy for a month. If you want to buy books, or season tickets for the Symphony, or even a boat… work as many “concerts” as you need to achieve your dreams. Don’t fall prey to the mentality that you will always be forced to live on a fixed income.
Seek help with your “transition.”
Retirement and the considerable challenges of planning for this dramatic transition is not something you should face or plan for alone. Although it may sound simple to discover what you are uniquely and even passionately prepared for during the years you have left, this will be a process, not an event.
After decades of work defining you, it’s no easy task to change this so that work defines you. You will also be fully in charge of establishing your new balance between work and lifestyle. Without a plan, you can waste precious years of this peak moment in your life. These life and work redesigns become even more complex for couples, each of whom must create an individual vision and then, through a series of conversations, build a shared vision that takes into account what each one needs and wants.
During this critical transition period, give yourself permission to seek the help you need to get it right. Although in the past most so-called Retirement Counselors have focused exclusively on financial matters, the emerging industry of Certified Retirement Coaches, Retirement Therapists and Transition Counselors has become an excellent source of assistance, offering one-on-one consultations, as well as group sessions. In addition, there are a number of helpful books on the retirement transition, particularly those that offer assistance with self-analysis and career change. Try searching “life and work after retirement” to identify resources to guide you through the transition process.
Retirement is a time of rediscovery, followed by essential decisions about what to do and be, achieve and contribute, for the rest of your life. It is worth devoting energy and time, as well as resources, to your own future.
Nurture your pioneering spirit as a role model. Lead the way.
As we, the 73 million Baby Boomers, redefine the process, face, experience, and results of retirement, we will finally show future generations how it can be achieved creatively and appropriately. This will provide them with all the essential role models for their own lives in later years. And with 73 million Boomers going through these changes in less than two decades, there will be a lot of need and demand for more retired coaches in the years to come. Then, once you get your own retirement transition right, you can choose to offer the necessary guidance to other Boomers.
