Retirement Ready: Partners, Pastimes and Paying the Bills.

Few individuals have given careful thought to what their lives might be like after they retire. Although some may have considered the financial implications of living on a fixed or limited income, most have not considered the social and emotional impact of leaving work. Career practitioners can play an important role in facilitating the transition between work and retirement. This paper explores the common challenges and concerns faced by people entering this important stage of life and provides case examples from a variety of clients: some who are considering retirement, others who've chosen to fully retire, and a few who are enjoying a refreshing combination of less work and more leisure. (GCP) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori inal document. Retirement Ready: Partners, Pastimes and Paying the Bills Roberta A. Neault and Gerald F. Neault Life Strategies Ltd. Coquitlam, BC Canada U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 © 2003 Roberta A. Neault and Gerald F. Neault The authors own the copyright of this article. You may photocopy or reprint this article, or a section of it, provided that you acknowledge the authors. 2 EST COPY AVAILABLE R. Neault and G. Neault Although we've conducted workshops for hundreds of folks as they prepare for the transition from work to retirement, Roberta still recalls the shock she felt when facing her first such groupthey were all so young! She says, thought I was well-preparedI had done my homework and knew that the participants had received early retirement incentives (some voluntarily, some not). I knew that they'd each worked for their company for 25 to 30 years. What I didn't know was that some had started working there as teenagers! Doing the Math, I realized I had a group of retirees that were in their mid-forties or early fifties. I instantly realized that I had to challenge my own assumptions about retirement, especially as someone who felt like I was in mid-career at close to the same age. Gerry speaks from a different perspective, having retired from a busy financial career at 49too young, in his mind, to but definitely ready for a very different pace of work. We always ask our retirement workshop participants to think about people they know who've already retired. The description that we hear most often is, They look 10 years younger. We also hear how busy these retired folks arethey wonder how they'd ever found time to fit in work before. Many who thought they might continue working never do not for lack of opportunities. However, not everyone finds the transition to retirement so easy or satisfying. This paper addresses some of the strategies that people have found useful as they move on to this significant next phase of their lives. We'll share case examples as we attempt to challenge some of the myths about retirement and describe what it's really like. By looking at all of the phases of retirement, from pre-retirement through to full retirement, we hope this paper will not only help prepare individuals for their own retirements but also help career practitioners better serve this growing segment of the population. Pre-Retirement Planning With most significant life changes, people go through a series of stages before feeling settled in a new role or situation (Bridges 2001). The same is true for retirement. Between the pre-retirement stage and the final stage of feeling settled into retirement, it is common to go through honeymoon-like periods of fun and adventure (e.g., the long anticipated extended vacation), low points of disillusionment and even despair (e.g., Is this all there is?), and then times of self-reflection and re-direction. Although like most developmental stages in life, the steps and the timeline may be predictable. Some individuals begin their pre-retirement planning with their first Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution in their late teens. Others have scarcely considered retirement when they are presented with a nonvoluntary early retirement opportunity. Still others don't do much planning until they've already been retired for a while and realize that something about retirement isn't working for them. People retire for very different reasons. One busy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a dynamic, challenging healthcare organization said, I'd like my work to end at the end of the day. For him, although retirement may well include ongoing work, ideally it won't be so demanding and all-consuming. Others, however, are eager to build a life of total leisure or more time with family and friends. Pre-retirement planning, therefore, needs to be customized to individual needs. For those not intending to earn any additional income by working after retirement, pre-retirement financial planning may take on greater significance. Some families may find it particularly challenging when one spouse retires before the other. Pre-retirement planning for them may involve discussing shifting roles and responsibilities at home or readjusting individual retirement expectations to fit their new reality. We had one client who enrolled in cooking classes because he retired a few years before his wife and wanted to help out at home. We had other clients (a married couple) choose to maintain two homesthe retired partner relocated part-time to get a home and life established in a new community where they both hoped to retire in the future. Many of our clients express common concerns, usually about money (Will I have enough?), time (What will I do with all of it?), health and fitness (Will my body keep up with my mind? or vice versa), relationships (How will my partner adjust? Will I be able to make new friends? How will I keep in touch with my former colleagues?), and housing (When should we downsize? Should we move to a new town?). However, with a bit of pre-retirement planning, these concerns can be considerably diminished. NATCON Papers 2003 Les actes du CONAT 2 R. Neault and G. Neault

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