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Discovering the Golden Years |
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This is the first sunrise of the New Millennium.
Ready to RetireEveryone has bad days at work; days or weeks when going to
work is unbearable. You hate your boss! You hate your fellow employees! All
those stupid meetings. You hate being bossed and bullied. Countless stupid
memos. Commuting is a pain, your life is a traffic jam; you become convinced that you will die
some day on the beltway. It is easy to daydream that you could be taking
the rays on a Caribbean island, watching buxom girls strut up and down the
beach. Perhaps you have thought about becoming a bullfighter or famous
artist. You could become a day
trader and become an online millionaire. YOU WANT TO BE FREE!!! Ok, I know that you want to retire. I have lived the paragraph
above. But are you ready to retire. Reality is that there is more to
consider to assure a successful retirement; like your age, your health,
your financial circumstances, your family responsibilities, your part-time
employment options and your outlook on life. Reality is also that many
people don’t have a successful retirement. Many retire from one job and
then after a short time they take a new job. With people living longer and
being healthier into older ages part-time work is becoming more popular.
People discover that what they really want is a different job. With
retirement benefits and social security it might very well be possible find
a part-time job that is much more enjoyable and still would provide enough
pay to give you sufficient resources to enjoy life more. Ideally you want to retire because you have a compelling
agenda of things to do. You may want to work for a charity that you
sincerely feel helps make the world a better place for us all to live. You
might want to work for an environmental organization that is saving the
planet from global warming. You might want to teach you personal skills to
young people at a community college or high school. You might want to
become a missionary and go to Africa to save people from AIDS. A retirement
with a mission will work out much better. It should keep you mentally and
physically active and in daily interaction with a many people as possible.
Your mission is your new identity. Why not retire? Well it might be that as much as you hate your
job; your work is your identity. Or maybe your employer is strongly coupled
to your identity. Suppose you work for the IRS. When you call and tell some
you are calling as a representative of the IRS you instantly get the
attention of the person you called. Without your job it will just be little
old you calling and the force and power of a government agency or private
corporation won’t be providing you with clout. Most of us have worked all
our lives and regardless of how we feel in moments of high stress; our
identities are closely connected to our ego. Another reason for not retiring is that you will miss the
people that you work with or you will miss the interaction with the
customers. Retirement could be very lonely, especially if your wife
continues to work and there is no one around you home to talk to. You might
find yourself seeking out company on park benches or at the local
Starbucks. Since you don’t really have any common goals or objectives with
the random person on a park bench; communication will likely be very
difficult. You might especially miss your friends at the IRS or
corporation. Not many people will probably be very interested in tax
policy. You will feel that you are falling out of the loop. With people
working more hours per week it is natural that their minds and interests
center around the activities of the work location. Reading a magazine or a
journal isn’t the same as smoozing with your friends. If you fear
stagnation and separation from your peers; it may very well be that you
shouldn’t retire. Or you can try to have it both ways. Find a part-time job
doing something you really enjoy and still have the freedom of more time
for self directed activities. The primary theme of this web site is that a
successful retirement needs a plan and that it is important to have a
detailed grasp of the your retirement budget, health care options, Social
Security, pensions, Medicare and most important what are you going to do on
a daily basis. Doing nothing is not an option; it leads to depression, to a
sense of uselessness and to a lack of fulfillment. Look into your own
experience and you will identify people you know who fit this scenario.
Alternately look to people who have retirements that you envy and use them
as role models. Find the right balance for your particular life. We will have
to continue thinking about the necessary conditions for retirement in
future essays. |
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