Have you built a dream retirement in your mind? Are you idealizing life after work and romanticizing how great it will be after you retire? This is true for many of us, especially if retirement was earned over many long, painful years.
Because you have experienced fantasies in other areas of your life—a new job, a new relationship, a vacation to a new place—you know the newness wears off and reality sets in. You need to seriously plan your retirement lifestyle so your dream retirement and your reality meet.
Few people know exactly where they want to focus their time, talents, education, and experience after they retire. If you’ve planned well financially, then you can concentrate on what’s really important to you and create your lifestyle around those things. However, if you don’t have some kind of plan, you’ll end up “failing retirement” instead of experiencing a dream retirement.
What constitutes a failed retirement?
• You are bored with retirement life
• You are dissatisfied with your retirement lifestyle
• You go back to work for something to do
• You are unhappy in retirement
• You realize you didn’t plan for retirement
Careful preparation and planning can give you a dream retirement rather than a failed one.
• Begin by taking stock of your working career
• List all the things you like about your career
• Focus on more than just money and consider relationships, intellectual growth, sense of purpose, etc.
• Think outside the box when you imagine your retirement
• Replace the benefits the work has always provided for you
• Consider recareering
• Stop thinking and take action based on what you’ve learned
For me, that meant I recareered as a lifestyle retirement coach and joined a local Rotary Club. This opened me up to a new world of business, friendships, and volunteering. I took piano lessons. I got serious about improving my speaking skills by joining Toastmasters and then the National Speakers Association. I made numerous other changes to ensure that when I finally did leave my therapy practice, my identity would be defined by who I was and not by what I did. I would also be clear on what I was going to do with my life.
How will you plan and prepare so you can have your dream retirement?
Make the best of your life for the rest of your life as you prepare for retirement with Retirement Lifestyle Strategies coaching and resources from Dee Cascio.