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Mindset & Purpose Blog

Why Knowing Your Ikigai Is So Important in Retirement

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By Susan Williams

Do you know what your Ikigai is?

Ikigai is a Japanese term used to refer to reason for being or another interpretation is “the reason to get out of bed in the morning”.

Back in 2009, a team of researchers from Japan released the results of a study on the affect that ikigai had on aging.

In their research of over 73,000 people, what they discovered is that those that answered “yes” to whether they had ikigai or not had a lower mortality rate years later than those without it.

It makes sense.

If you feel your life has no meaning or purpose or you don’t have a reason to get out of bed in the morning you could see how this could affect you.

Especially in retirement.

Once we retire, if our identity or purpose to get up in the morning and go to work is no longer there then what are we to do?

Dan Buettner conducted a very interesting interview with Richard Leider on the importance of purpose – especially when aging. Here is his interview…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6XlZnb7rTs

These are some of the highlights from his interview;

  • Having a purpose is a fundamental need
  • It’s fundamental to longevity, health, healing happiness and also creativity and productivity
  • When you have a purpose, it helps you live longer because of the physiological effects on both your brain and your body. It also allows you to develop relationships, a sense of community and in turn safety and security
  • With a purpose, not only does it give us a reason to get out of bed in the morning but it also affects our overall mindset and mood
  • When we retire, there is a risk to us if work is all that we believe we had as our purpose. Here’s a great quote from the interview; “If you are what you do, when you don’t you aren’t”
  • In retirement, if you have no time structure or relationships outside of your work this can be a significant problem

So, how do you find your purpose? Richard Leider suggested the following;

  • Recognize that your purpose is not a goal – it’s a mindset.
  • Realize that your purpose is a need in life that is outside of yourself
  • He suggested that to get started in discovering your purpose – start with two words – GROW and GIVE
  • Put these two words on a sticky note on your bathroom mirror. Every morning ask yourself what will you grow and give that day. And each night ask yourself what you grew and gave that day. This action will help you explore and find your purpose.
May you find and live your ikigai….

 

This blog post originally appeared on www.boomingencore.com and was reprinted with permission.

Susan Williams is the Founder of Booming Encore – a website and social media network dedicated to providing information and inspiration to help Baby Boomers create and live their very best encore. Being a Boomer herself, Susan loves to discover ways to live life to the fullest. She shares her experiences, observations and opinions on living life after 50 and personally tries to embrace Booming Encore’s philosophy of making sure every day matters. For daily updates to help you live your best encore, be sure to follow Booming Encore on Twitter and join them on Facebook.

How Clear is Your Retirement Vision?

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by Denis Wuestman

If you want to go somewhere it helps to have a plan to get there. Seems to make a lot of sense, as I am sure we have all planned or have been involved in the planning of a trip, celebration, or a work related project. They all have something in common – a destination, maybe not in the physical sense but in the context of achievement.

When we approach a retirement transition, planning for our next “destination” can take on a new meaning. Retirement is not something we “complete” but rather a series of destinations or achievements.   This can be more complicated than planning for an event, as it tends to take more thought, time, patience, and a “try it” attitude.

Sharpen your Vision

I believe creating a vision of your retirement life is the first step for this part of your life and nicely complements an actual plan.  In the book, “The New Retirementality” by Mitch Anthony, the author’s four philosophical pillars of the New Retirementality include Vision, Balance, Work, and Successful Aging. He further points out that “Vision is important because successful retirees retire to something – failed retirees retire from something”. [i]   Spot on!

So, if you are like me, you may find that creating a vision is difficult but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it can be fun and filled with personal insights. Without a vision of your retirement life, I would argue that your destinations become vague, harder to plan for and you may not feel fulfilled when you reach them.

Here are some things to consider as you think about creating a retirement vision.

  • Have a Purpose – define what gives you fulfillment. Ask yourself: what do you care about? what inspires you?  This is very much about you….and only when you embrace that concept are you able to apply it to other parts of your life.

 

  • Start with end in mind. I like to think of this as “connecting the dots”:
    1. What am I trying to achieve?
    2. How will that achievement benefit me (does it align with my purpose)?
    3. How will I feel when I achieve it?

Ask yourself: what do you see happening? what will my week /day look like? will this fulfill me?   You may find that this takes time and reflection to fine-tune.

  • Physically create your vision. This is important as it enables you to engage more with your thoughts and ideas.  It also helps when you look to re-visit, tweak or possible change things. This is different for everyone but here are the choices:
    1. Write it – simple
    2. Draw it   – pictures, diagrams, images, ideas
    3. Speak it – use audio to record your thoughts

 

  • Share it – there is nothing like getting some feedback from someone you respect and trust. In fact, a good listening partner can help refine and strengthen your vision.

You Can Do It!

Janice is a 59-year-old former manager who deployed these same tips when creating a vision for the next destination of her retirement life.

Purpose – she identified the desire to help others learn along with her love of travel to explore new cultures. Both would provide personal fulfillment in her retirement years.

Start with end in mind– in forming her vision she identified that teaching high school-age children in a lower income area as a volunteer would satisfy her desire to help the less fortunate. It gave her a personal sense of joy.

Writing it – she liked to write things down and used a small note pad to help keep track of her thoughts and ideas.

Sharing it – she shared her vision with her husband, who gave her encouragement and support, with an added benefit of understanding how important this was to her.

What happened to the love of travel? She also created a vision for what she wanted that to look like – where she wanted to go, why and with whom to share these experiences.   She surprisingly discovered how important the sharing part meant to her.

In summary, having a vision of what you want your retirement life to look like is an important step in moving toward the destinations in that next part of your life. A vision can energize you and make planning not only easier, but more focused. And ….you are likely to be more fulfilled when you arrive at that next destination!

What thoughts do you have on the importance of vision when entering retirement?

 

[i] Anthony, Mitch, (2014), “The New Retirementality” 4th edition, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons (pg 27-28)

An Article You May Like from Money Magazine:

2020 has certainly been one of the most unprecedented years of the 21st century. It has made a lot of people take a step back and revisit some of the most important areas of their lives. One of those areas is their personal finances, specifically, making sure they have enough savings put away for a rainy day. With so much uncertainty lately, it’s wise to revisit both the financial and non-financial sides of preparing for retirement.

Yes, Jimmy You Can Retire – If You Really Want To…

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by Joe Casey

Jimmy from the block.

You know him. Or someone like him.  Always a step or two ahead. The smartest person in the room.  (At least according to him. I’ve personally never had that experience. Sometimes I wonder if Jimmy should spend time in some different rooms).

Jimmy is well-read. He stays on top of things (he’ll tell you). He is convinced that he’ll never retire. The concept of retirement is ‘so 20th century’, he says. It’s pure folly for anyone to even think about ever retiring today. Retirement is over – for all of us. We will all have to work until we drop. He can explain why in compelling detail, and cite all the articles – chapter and verse with scary stats – if you’d like (He’s world-class at this. He’ll tell you that, too).

While he always talks a great game, sometimes Jimmy has convinced himself so well that he fails to see or consider other points of view. Or facts that don’t support his perspective. (You may not know this yet, but Jimmy coined the phrase ‘alternative facts’ in his epic takedown of our 10th-grade science teacher in a discussion on Charles Darwin. I must have been out sick that day, but he recounted it for me blow by blow just last month).

It May Not Be Up to You

Jimmy’s not alone. The retirement plans of many people can be summed up as ‘I’ll just keep working.’

While the labor participation rate of people 65+ is trending up, only 15% of those surveyed in the 17th Annual Transamerica Survey report that they do not plan to retire.

And while the average age that people plan to retire at is 65, the median age that people actually retire at has remained at 62 for over two decades, according to a 2015 report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Many people end up retiring earlier than they planned, for a variety of reasons, notably organizational changes, downsizing or buy-out, health issues or taking care of a family member.

So, Jimmy, you may plan to work forever, but it may not be your call.

Retirement May Include Work, But That May Not Be Right for You

Jimmy and I do agree that the old model of retirement where you work at one company, retire at 65 with a gold watch and head off to a life of leisure is passé.

We agree that when people do decide to step away from their primary career, it’s wise to stay active and engaged. We’re not talking about a life of walking the dog, playing golf, sitting on the porch – rinse and repeat.

And we concur that for many people, work – in some fashion – will be a big part of the equation in their retirement years. The 2016 Transamerica study found that “Half of the women plan to work after they retire, including 11% who plan to work full-time and 39% who plan to work part-time. Similarly, 52% of men plan to work after they retire, including 15% full-time and 37% part-time”.

We also both recognize that for many people continued work may entail self-employment, which can be a big transition.

Create Options and Choices That Are Right for You

But many of us know something that Jimmy hasn’t sorted out yet. One size does not fit all. Life in retirement is a uniquely individual experience.

The ‘doom and gloom’ articles that Jimmy cites about the looming retirement crisis highlight the very real financial challenges that many will face. But it’s also a fact that there are many people who are prepared. Many have saved and invested and/or are willing to make trade-offs to shift to a different lifestyle.

The 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey found that “Six out of 10 American workers feel very or somewhat confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement, though just 18 percent feel very confident.”

Jimmy still firmly believes that none of us will be able to retire. I believe that many people are able to retire and create a different portfolio of activities that are right for them.

In the old model of retirement that Jimmy (correctly) declares dead, the policies of the government and corporations helped define the path. Today retirement is being redefined, but now it’s up to us. We each need to define the path that’s right for us.

What I see in my work isn’t visible to Jimmy yet. People who have been successful and have done the right things to prepare financially for retirement often haven’t done much planning for the non-financial side. They have dreams and ideas, which are often vague, about what they’d ideally like to do after they move on. But they haven’t clarified them or thought much about how to make them happen – or if they’re aligned with what their spouses or partners are really thinking. For those who want to keep in working in some way, usually part-time, they don’t have a sound plan in place on how to prepare for that yet. But with exploration, reflection, and planning, they chart a new course and smooth out the transition to their next chapters.

A New Identity

Jimmy’s been successful. He does tend to be visionary. (He’ll tell you the story about our 8th grade Science Fair where his ‘legendary’ project was a sketch of a roadmap to create something like the Internet. “Many years before Al Gore! And I got a B minus. ‘Creative science fiction, but impractical computer science’ was the comment!’).

And he has resources. He has a lucrative job and it sounds like he’s a smart investor (“Don’t forget: I went to 100% cash in September 1987 and shorted Lehman in May of 2008…” he likes to remind us).

But the truth is that Jimmy, at 61, is scared. He’ll never admit it, but despite his bravado, uncertainty gives him fits. His whole identity and status appear to be centered around his job and I sense that he may not know who he’ll be without it. Right now, he has a hard time envisioning what he’s going to do with his time without his job.

But don’t worry about Jimmy. He has many other options – he just can’t see them yet. He’ll figure it out though –and he’ll definitely tell us all about it. We’ll keep you posted.

Listen to our retirement podcast. (Jimmy does. He’ll tell you it was his idea in the first place…).

References

Collinson, C. (2015). 16th annual Transamerica retirement survey: A compendium of findings about American workers. Los Angeles: Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Retrieved from https://www.transamericacenter.org/docs/default-source/resources/center-research/16th-annual/tcrs2015_sr_16th_compendium_of_workers.pdfCollinson, C. (2016). 17th annual Transamerica retirement survey: Influences of generation on retirement readiness. Los Angeles: Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. Retrieved from https://www.transamericacenter.org/docs/default-source/retirement-survey-of workers/tcrs2016_sr_retirement_survey_of_workers_generation.pdf

Helman, R., Copeland, C. & VanDerhei, J. (2015, April). The 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey – Having a retirement savings plan a key factor in American’s retirement confidence. Employee Benefit Research Institute, EBRI Issue Brief, no. 413.

Greenwald, L., Copeland, C. & VanDerhei, J. (2017, March 21). The 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey – Many workers lack retirement confidence and feel stressed about Retirement Preparations. Employee Benefit Research Institute, EBRI Issue Brief, no. 431.

Will Your Personality Change in Retirement?

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By Joe Casey

While passing by and seeing this title, my wife commented, “Let’s hope so.” Oh, well.

Our personalities were previously thought to develop early in life through childhood, adolescence and early adulthood and then remain fairly static. Now it appears that certain aspects of personality evolve later in life.

Does Your True Personality Become More Apparent in Retirement?

“As individuals age, they become increasingly like themselves…the personality structure stands more clearly revealed in an old than in a younger person.” (Hooker, 2002).

Retirees often reconnect with passions and interests they had earlier in life, and now have time to pursue them again. Taking a life-course perspective, certain interests can come full circle – and perhaps certain personality traits do as well.

The ‘Big Five’ Personality Traits

The five-factor model of personality consists of five dimensions:

  • Openness to Experience (having a range of interests, imagination and insight)
  • Conscientiousness (being responsible, organized, detailed and thorough)
  • Extraversion (being outgoing, high-energy and assertive)
  • Agreeableness (being sympathetic, considerate and warm)
  • Emotional Stability (or Neuroticism) – (even-keeled versus tense and anxious)

What Tends to Change

Of the Big Five factors, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness have been found to increase in the fifth and sixth decades of life and beyond, while Openness to Experience has been found to decrease (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). It’s important to note, that like the aging process itself, there are general trends, but significant individual differences. Life experiences, environmental circumstances and genetics all play a role. For example, one study found that remarried men were found to have lower Neuroticism (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008).

Conscientiousness generally increases with age. This often manifests itself in more attention to habits and behaviors that can serve as mediating factors to neutralize stress, avoid disease and enhance health (Roberts, 2006).

Unfortunately, scammers seem to know the Agreeableness trend and use it to prey on elderly adults. (As an undergraduate Psychology major, I often wondered who knew more about human nature? My professors or the criminal element I came across in my hometown north of Boston. Discuss…).

Why It Matters

These personality changes tend to create greater “social maturity”. This enhanced social maturity leads to greater connectivity and stronger relationships that, in turn, are associated with better health outcomes (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008).

If you sense these changes in yourself or your partner (‘He’s so much more mellow now’), embrace them. They’re probably very good for both of you and your health and well being.

Joe Casey is a former senior HR executive, who is in his second career as an executive coach and retirement coach at retirementwisdom.com.

References

Costa Jr, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2006). Age changes in personality and their origins: comment on Roberts, Walton, and Viechtbauer (2006).

Hannon, K. (2014, August 8). Finding an identity beyond the workplace: There’s more to retirement than financial planning. The New York Times. Retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com

Hooker, K. (2002). New directions for research in personality and aging: A comprehensive model for linking levels, structures and processes. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 318-334.

Shanahan, M. J., Hill, P. L., Roberts, B. W., Eccles, J., & Friedman, H. S. (2014). Conscientiousness, health, and aging: the life course of personality model. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1407.

Srivastava, S. (2016). Measuring the Big Five Personality Factors. Retrieved 21 December 2016 from .

Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Personality traits change in adulthood: Reply to Costa and McCrae (2006).

 

My Thinking About Retirement Needed an Adjustment

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by Denis Wuestman

There was a time not long ago that I had created for myself a picture of what it would be like to stop working – commonly referred to as “retirement”.   I convinced myself that I would find great pleasure in not having to get up early, commute long distances and have little time for relaxation.   In fact, I created a vision of what my days would be like but my vision became fuzzy when I realized that the activities I planned would occupy so little of my time, and it got me thinking.  So I looked to experiment a little first, figuring I would follow a “phased retirement approach”, being comfortable that I could alter the course at any point if need be. This philosophy served me well at other times in my professional life – so why not try it again?

Some Experiments

The first thing I did was to negotiate not having to be in a traditional office setting 5 days a week – I would telecommute 1 day and, in addition, started to take more regular Friday’s off during the nicer weather months.  This was a big adjustment but started to feel good as it was giving me time to reflect and really think about what is next for me – how do I want to spend my time, what will keep me energized and engaged. This was a true turning point for me and taught me the power of reflection.

I soon realized that this was not something I wanted to figure out alone – so I spoke to good friend of mine who would encourage me to “try” some different things – reading books, speaking to different people and taking an assessment about what my perception of retirement currently is vs. what I expected it to be. BINGO! That opened me up to an interesting perspective about this so called retirement and led me to conclude – that this is about LIFE – not about stopping something but about pursuing fulfillment in ways that I haven’t thought of.

Moving off the Career Treadmill to the Next Phase

Leaving the traditional work force was no easy task – as a matter of fact – it took time, a lot of planning and buy-in from others, but, after 3 and a half decades, I was ready to get off that “treadmill”.   A friend of mine once said to me to “Be Careful” about stepping off the career “treadmill” too quickly as we became so used to it – that we might find it hard to replace the things we liked about the “treadmill”.   Great advice.  Replacement became an important theme for me – as my personal assessment told me that my identity from my job was important to me (sound familiar?). Not surprised – as many of my friends/colleagues experience the exact same thing.   Perhaps, my greatest lesson here came from a relative who at age 62 “retired” after a long career as a blue collar worker.   He would sit on the porch of his house (yes there were porches where I grew up!), read papers and putter around.  But, when I visited him, I noticed that he was unsettled.  It wasn’t until he took a part time job working in a non-profit environment that he became happier.  He needed to replace what he missed about work and chose to do something that he had not done before.   Hmmm….

I understood that my thinking about retirement needed an adjustment and that  I had a lot of things to work on including where work “fit” into my life – but not just any work – productive and fulfilling work that I would enjoy.   I learned how to be patient and to try things and probably most important – to enjoy the journey.

My Lessons along the Retirement/Life path

  • Stop and assess where you are from various perspectives – not just one or two. Think about your purpose, your time, your financial situation, what energizes you, what makes you “tick”.
  • Open your mind to understanding more about yourself and what is important to you and your closest relationships.
  • Realize that getting off the career “treadmill” is an adjustment – much bigger for some people. Spend time on that!
  • Think of retirement differently– it’s our life we are talking about.
  • Surround yourself with positive people as much as you can.
  • Be a “sponge” – talk to people going through the same thing you are. Seek guidance if you need to.
  • Be flexible – (I have to remind myself of that at least every few hours)
  • Adjust as you Learn – but continue to Learn!

What is your current thinking about what retirement transition means for you?

 

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