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5 Tips On HowStructure Can Help Your Retirement Transition

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by Denis Wuestman

If you are thinking of retiring from full time work and are not sure what it will be like, you are in for one certain thing– an adjustment. Two main things I hear from people who have transitioned are: 1) dealing with a change in their identity from worker to retiree and, 2) that their days are less structured and they are not sure if they like that or not. In the short term these may not feel like big issues but once you have spent some time in retirement, not preparing for these changes can lead to a source of unrest. In this article, I will focus on the structure challenge and how it can help your transition to retirement.

Why Structure?

There is a lot to look forward to in retirement. However, for those that have been used to the structure of a work life, it can feel like jumping off a treadmill without slowing down. Our working lives are very much characterized by a definite pattern to our days, nights and weekends. It provides us direction for when to eat, work, play and sleep. Structure was a great friend when we worked, so why not in retirement? The key is to not abandon structure but to incorporate it into our retirement life.

Symptoms of Retirement Drift

Having potentially spent decades at a work life, we have clearly created a cadence to our lives. When you retire without a plan as to how you will deal with a change to that cadence, you may experience retirement drift. Drifting can be characterized by doing things that just fill time or that lack real satisfaction. Here are two such indications of drift that I have either experienced personally or have seen in others:

• Watching the Clock – How much do you notice the ticking of the clock when you are busy working at something you like? Probably not much. Quite the opposite if you are not busy on meaningful activities. It can feel like a bit of a drag and it is not unusual for one to feel guilty or anxious about how the day is going. Funny how you may look forward to the proverbial 5PM – quitting time – so you can actually give yourself permission to relax. But you are retired, you should feel good about how you spend your time and the clock shouldn’t make you feel guilty. How long will it take before you no longer think of a quitting time?

• Every Day is Saturday – For many, Saturdays are a time for hanging out, doing chores, going out for dinner, sleeping in or staying up later than normal. A well-deserved change-up from the pace of the week. Now, what happens if every day becomes Saturday? Perhaps you are ready for that, but beware of bad habits related to your diet and sleep patterns. Also, Saturdays tend to be a day to play or socialize with others. Will you be able to do that during the week? Many people anticipating retirement flock to retirement communities that offer social activities so that most days can feel like a Saturday. That’s fine if that is what you like, but what happens if that lifestyle is not for you?

Tips to Try

How do you deal with or avoid drift? Awareness is job one! Before you retire you may want to start thinking about your expectations as to what your retirement life will be like. If you are already in retirement – it’s not too late to take stock of where you are today and make some adjustments. Here are some tips that may be helpful in either case:

1. Give yourself a break. Any adjustment takes time, patience and being flexible about trying some new things. While you are going through this journey remember to do fun things. You deserve it. Think back to all the years you worked – now be thankful that you are at this next stage and think positive. Give yourself permission to enjoy. Be grateful!

2. Set some GOALS. To help with this I suggest the following approach:
a. First – let’s define what a goal should look like. Using this simple acronym popularized in business management – simply think SMART. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound.
b. Start with thinking about the next month ahead of you. What would you like to accomplish or start doing when it comes to the main aspects of your life? This will likely include considerations about Health, Self, Working (if you choose), Friends and Family.

3. Get STARTED. Select 1 or 2 things to put some real actions behind with a commitment as to when you will do them. The key here is to get moving. This can help greatly with clock watching. Get busy!

4. Share these Goals and Actions with someone you trust. Make a commitment to yourself and to them.

5. Celebrate your actions and accomplishments. However you choose to celebrate, this is a great way to keep encouraging yourself.

Recognize that you are building a new structure for your time and, like anything worthwhile and new, it can take time. Keep notes and share your stories with others. Having goals and making strides towards accomplishing them will give you a mental boost as well as start you on your way towards a structure for your days/weeks and months. Finally, don’t forget to be kind to yourself. It’s your choice – but these simple tips can help you dodge the drift.

 

Retiring Early? Consider 4 Work Benefits You May Miss

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by Denis Wuestman

Perhaps, you are starting to think about retiring early from your career. You likely have reached an inflection point where satisfaction with your current work is diminishing, or you simply want to do other things, or it just feels like it’s time. Like any major transition, an early retirement decision is something that requires thought, time commitment and planning.

Beyond the Numbers

When considering early retirement, focus is usually on “running the numbers”. Everyone that I know who has elected an early exit has certainly done the math. They seek to understand their financial readiness considering possible variations and “what ifs”. Once they have settled on their financial preparedness, they usually think they are done.   Well, that certainly is a critical step to take but I would suggest that you need to also prepare for what you may miss from your work life. We can learn some lessons from people that have already retired as to why they continue to perform some kind of work in retirement.   When asking them, they point to remaining socially active and/or doing something challenging among the non-financial reasons.  For them, work served other purposes beyond just the paycheck.

In making any kind of transition, we all wish we had a crystal ball, as to what the other side is going to look like. In lieu of that, we can create what we want our next phase to be, provided we understand our personal “gaps”.   When it comes to leaving work, it is healthy to think about the following non-financial benefits that work provided us over the decades:

  • Social Interaction
  • Status
  • Structure
  • Sense of Purpose

How we value each one of these (what is most important to us) will not only help us ensure a more successful transition but can also help us design/choose what we do next with our lives. Recognizing potential “gaps” in these areas, before we retire, can save us a lot of angst after we retire.

Where Might You Have a Gap?

Social Interaction – We may have already established a great group of work friends that are fun to talk with and just be around. These are people that we easily connect with. What happens when they are no longer present?   Will we miss the talks and interactions? How important is this to our overall happiness? Numerous studies point to the positive impact social relatedness has on our health. This becomes more important when we retire, as we don’t have our jobs fulfilling this for us any longer.

Status – It is not uncommon for people to derive their personal identity from work. Just think how often you may have received the question when talking to someone: “So what do you do?” We have gotten comfortable in providing the answer – after all, it’s an easy one. But does that mean – what we do, is who we are?  Think about how important your work identity is to you, and, how you will replace that in your retirement years.

Structure – Work has been the source of our internal clock for a long time. It has dictated when we get up, sleep, eat and take time to relax. It’s likely most of us won’t miss the control work has had on our schedules – or will we?   Think about unstructured days that go for long periods of time. How important is having a structure in your retirement life? Sure, it will likely be less demanding than work, but if you’re a person that can easily drift without structure you may miss it more than you think.   Having a structure or routine complete with meaningful activities can provide the right rhythm to your retirement life.

Sense of Purpose – For many, work provided a sense of purpose or value in the form of challenges and accomplishments.   We likely experienced good/positive feelings for a “job well done”. If we were lucky enough, most days we actually looked forward to “doing our work” and can proudly point to our successes. Once we retire, where will you point your personal value “compass”? What will be most important for you to achieve? What will the next challenge(s) be that will energize you?

For those taking an early retirement, paying attention to these key benefits from work is especially important, in not only the adjustment to retirement itself but in helping you choose the right kind of work activity you may want to continue within your next “phase” of life. One individual that I worked with on this topic used these elements to help him choose the type of part-time work he would do next. Having isolated the need for social interaction and status, he made those priorities for his next “act”. Luckily he was able to work as a trainer/mentor to other professionals in his current field of work, thus fulfilling his continued need for social interaction and status.

It is important to remember that you should be retiring TO something, not FROM something.   Awareness of the personal importance you assign to these key work benefits, and how you close any “gaps” with them, may make your path forward clearer and easier to achieve!

 

Listen to our early retirement planning podcast – and balance your retirement planning

The Soft Side of Retirement

The Transition to Early Retirement Requires Planning Also

 

 

Time for a Retirement “Leisure Audit”?

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by Denis Wuestman

Retirement is like life itself- it’s full of surprises. You may find yourself thinking, “I wish I knew then what I know now”.   If we had a dime for all the “could haves/ would haves/ should haves” in our life…well, you know the story. Did you enter retirement life with a plan or are you just winging it when it comes to how you will spend your leisure time? Are you risking having multiple “could haves/would haves/should haves” during this part of your life?

Taking an “audit” of your leisure life up to this point may be worth it.

More than Just TV

Some interesting facts may stir your creative juices as to how you ensure that you control and make the most of your leisure time. It may or may not be shocking to you, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics[i], watching TV is the #1 “leisure” activity for people age 65-74 (4.1 hours a day) versus 2.73 hours a day for all those over 15 years of age.   Admittedly there is a lot of variety available to us via the TV and it has morphed into a true entertainment medium due to all the technology enhancements over the decades. (Which show are you “binge watching” now?)

There is much more to your leisure life in retirement. This is truly a time to take up activities that stimulate your mind and body and create a good balance for a fulfilling retirement life. It’s not too late! You will have a lot more time to invest in leisure activities – perhaps putting that time into the proper “buckets” can make a difference.

Key Elements of Leisure

Let’s see where you are today with regards to your retirement leisure “scorecard”. In the book “The New Retirement” by Richard Johnson, PhD[ii] he defines leisure among 6 key elements, which can help one maintain a healthy balance in our retirement lives. Johnson reminds us that we must regularly “vacate” our lives to remain focused on it! Creating meaningful activities in each of these areas can help us stay fresh in mind, body and spirit. The 6 areas are:

  • Social interaction
  • Spectator appreciation
  • Creative expression
  • Intellectual stimulation
  • Physical activity
  • Solitude

Did you ever think that leisure had so many parts?   Isn’t it just “doing what we want to do, when we want to do it”? Perhaps, but what happens if those moments put you in front of the TV for days on end? Maybe OK for some but I would argue that this could potentially lead to boredom, an unhealthy lifestyle or listlessness. In thinking about these 6 elements, it is rather easy to create a more fulfilling leisure plan for yourself and/or your life partner.

Your Leisure Audit

Now it’s time for your personal “leisure audit”. Start with charting how much of your “leisure time” each day (not working/volunteering) goes to each of the above buckets? Do this for a week or two to get a good sample. Now ask yourself these questions?

  • Are you doing too much of one thing and not enough of another?
  • Which of these are most important to you?
  • Are you satisfied with where you are today?
  • What do you want to change?
  • What will you do differently tomorrow or this week to start that change?
  • What will help you “stick to it”?

Leisure is one of the fun parts of being retired and more of it is a well-deserved reward after decades of “less leisure time”. Unlike those times, when leisure was a break from work, our retirement leisure can really make a difference in how well we enjoy our time in retirement. Consider a balance of meaningful activities across these 6 areas of leisure – and eliminate the “could haves, the would haves and the should haves” in your retirement life. Get started today!

 

 

Listen to our retirement lifestyle podcast.

 

 

[i] Bureau of Labor Statistics Time spent in leisure and sports activities for the civilian population by selected characteristics, averages per day, 2016 annual averages (Table 11A)

[ii] Johnson, Richard P. PhD. (2001), The New Retirement: Discovering Your Dream. Career Partners International

Denis can be reached at denisw@retirementwisdom.com

Are You Ready for the Gig Economy in Retirement?

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By Joe Casey

Retirement is clearly changing. For many, it includes part-time work or a second career in the gig economy. For decades in the U.S., it was commonly seen as a period of leisure following a long career. But today, work is playing a larger role in retirement. And it’s for a variety of reasons, some driven by economics and some by the pursuit of satisfaction – or a mix of both. There’s a strong desire for options that provide more flexibility, reduced hours and a gradual transition to an exit from work at some point – a way to scale back from the grind, but stay engaged, too.

However, policies which were well-intended in an earlier era, now limit work options for retirees. And these legal complexities and are also contributing to a major shift in the nature of the employment relationship, with pros and cons for retirees. Significant trends are changing how both employees and employers think about retirement – and specifically working during retirement. Retirement has evolved from a one-time, permanent event to a gradual process, that in itself, contains multiple phases.

Living Longer and Working Longer

Overall, people in the U.S. are living longer. According to The National Center for Health Statistics, the average additional life expectancy in the U.S., after reaching age 65 in 1950 was 12.8 years for men and 15.0 for women. By 2014, it had increased to 18.0 additional years for men and 20.5 for women. And they want to work longer, too. Surveys show that 70 to 80% of Americans want to work in their retirement, in some fashion.

The Jobs – They Are A-Changin’

The financial crisis of 2008 has accelerated a change in the nature of employment itself, particularly for older workers. A Bloomberg View piece by Justin Fox last year noted that since the financial crisis, many traditional full-time jobs have not returned, but some have been replaced by alternative work arrangements in the so-called “gig economy” by consultants, contractors and part-time workers, who are often employed by a third party. A recent study found that there has been such strong growth in this area in the U.S. economy that nearly “all of the net employment growth in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements” – and that growth in alternative work “has been sharpest for older workers, those 55 to 75 years old” (Katz and Krueger, 2016, p.7).

It’s good news that some progressive companies, and the Federal government, are implementing innovative flexible work arrangements for older workers, such as phased retirement, job sharing and retiree pools. But most older workers do not work for progressive companies, or for the government. And one study found that only as “31% of retirees who are working in retirement, do so with the same employer” (Rappaport, 2014b, p. 40). So most will need to build their own “bridge job” to retirement.

Simultaneously, organizations are showing strong demand for project-based work, which often aligns with the skills and experience of older workers, especially highly educated ones. This type of work fits with flexible arrangements and creates opportunities for older workers to build bridge jobs between the time they are eligible to retire and when they fully exit the workforce and/or are eligible for Medicare. Such arrangements also are more easily arranged informally or through third party employers, which sidesteps some of the legal and benefit plan roadblocks that concern companies. On the flip side, they usually come with reduced pay, a loss of the ability to continue to contribute to employer retirement plans and receive company medical (and other) benefits. The unclear fate of the Affordable Care Act adds uncertainty about how many who transition to this type of work will secure health care post COBRA coverage and before Medicare.

How You Can Take Charge – and Prepare

The reality is that more and more workers will need to take charge of their retirement transition and the role that work will play in their retirement. Just as the introduction of the 401k plan shifted financial responsibility, working in retirement today can be appealing, but it requires a great deal of initiative on the part of workers to ensure that they are well-prepared and competitive in the project-based economy. This newer “gig economy” provides opportunity, but downsides and challenges as well.

What can older workers who want or need to continue to work in retirement do to prepare?

  1. Stay Healthy. Building the right wellness and healthy lifestyle practices that can influence modifiable factors is the most critical step.
  2. Stay Current. The next most important area is keeping skill sets up to date and relevant to employers. That means a commitment to lifelong learning and taking advantage of neuroplasticity. It also means being open to new arenas where there is shifting demand and that may include retraining.
  3. Cultivate Strong Networks. Relationships and contacts play a crucial role, especially in the “gig economy.” For older workers that means investing time in building and maintaining their personal and professional networks. Since most of those working in retirement do so with new employers, older workers should attend to networks both within their organizations and externally.
  4. Engage Employers in Discussion. Organizations prefer certainty so that they can plan. Ted Beck recommends being transparent with employers about the desired end date when negotiating flexible work arrangements to reduce uncertainty for the employer.
  5. Plan Ahead. While the majority of people want to continue working, when their transition to retirement comes may not be up to them. For a variety of reasons, 49% of retirees surveyed retired years an average of 3 years earlier than they planned. It’s wise to have a back-up plan in place.

The best summary is the phrase “common sense is not common practice.” Thinking ahead, planning and preparing can give you a leg up and a viable “second act” in retirement.

 

 

References

Beck, T. (2017, March 19). How to get your employer to let you retire gradually. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved at https://wsj.com

Cahill. K.E., Giandrea, M.D. & Quinn, J.F. (2015a). Retirement Patterns and the Macro economy, 1992–2010: The Prevalence and Determinants of Bridge Jobs, Phased Retirement, and Reentry Among Three Recent Cohorts of Older Americans. Gerontologist, 55(3): 384-

Fox, J. (2016, April 4). The gig economy is powered by old people. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-04-04/the-gig-economy-is-powered-by-old-people

Helman, R. Adams, N., Copeland, C. & VanDerhei, J. (2014, March). “The 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey: Confidence rebounds—for those with retirement plans,” EBRI Issue Brief, no. 397. Retrieved from https://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_397_Mar14.RCS.pdf

Johnson, R. W. (2011). Phased retirement and workplace flexibility for older adults: Opportunities and challenges. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and  Social Science, 638(1), 68-85.

Katz, L.F and Krueger, A.B. (2016). The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015 (Working Paper No. 22667). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w22667

Rappaport, A.M. (2014b). How Americans are managing postretirement risk and what employers should do to respond. Benefits Quarterly,30(4), 8-20.

 

 

Mindset – the Path to Growth in Retirement

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by Denis Wuestman

In helping organizations create better and more efficient work models, one thing that I help them focus on is the mindset shift that has to take place for changes to stick. While this sounds a little “soft” what I am referring to is the fundamental belief that there is always a better way to do your work AND, as a direct result, for people to grow and expand their knowledge and skills. If they think and “act” that way, then will succeed.

In the book “Mindset” by Carol S. Dweck, PhD [i] she identifies the benefits of having a “growth mindset”.   In short, people that cultivate this type of mindset (and they can do it!) will continue to get better at what they do.

In thinking about this and seeing it in practice with teams and managers, I continually remind them and myself of the need to have a real purpose for this mindset shift. In short, they have to feel strongly about what they want to accomplish. In my opinion, without this feeling and focus, the mindset shift will not get a real chance to succeed.

Retirement Attitude

So too can this be applied to the way we think about our retirement life. It is during this stage that our attitude and our purpose become important to having a happier and more successful retirement. The stronger the perception of what we expect of retirement life and, how we align our beliefs and attitudes, gives that expectation a real chance of becoming a reality and continuing our growth as a person.

Like in business, mindset shift takes work but can be very rewarding. I find five important elements to help this shift succeed:

  • The “shift” has to be important to you.
  • Take small steps – don’t try and “boil the ocean”. Build momentum.
  • Repetition is your friend – actions become more part of us if we make them habits by doing them over and over again.
  • Be patient. Remember, “if at first you don’t succeed…… “ By the way, you are always learning and growing.
  • Get a thinking partner!   This is where a good coach, whether in business or in retirement, can help you. A friend of mine gave me a gem of a saying : “Got a Gap – get a Partner”.

Partnering to Grow

If you think about your career or parts of your life – there are times when a good partner can make all the difference. When trying to make a mindset shift, whether in business or in retirement, a “Thinking Partner” can make all the difference.   A good coach supports your GROWTH by helping you do the following:

1) Take stock of where your today by looking at your current attitude towards retirement.

2) Identify what you want to achieve to help you close your “gaps”.

3) Set Goals by making this something reasonable and achievable for yourself.

4) Define Options (for example by helping you consider things you might have tried already but didn’t necessarily work out. You likely learned something that you might be able to use to help yourself).

5) Take Action!   While you clearly own your actions, a good coach can help you remove obstacles to taking actions, as long as the end game is important to you.   Without action – your goals are just dreams!

6) Check yourself. Monitor progress, make adjustments and keep going.

So – it is possible to achieve a positive attitude about retirement and grow in the process!   Provided it’s important to you to change: start small, repeat, be patient and look for a good “thinking partner” to help your journey!

What are your experiences and tips to help with your retirement mindset?

 

 

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[i] Dweck, Carol PhD. (2006,2016) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Ballantine Books