Website design By BotEap.comAs 73 million Baby Boomers retire en masse, at the rate of 10,000 a day, and adding more than a quarter of a million Americans each month through 2030, we enter a period of personal confusion and disorientation, if you look at it. knows the truth. We are a hard-working generation, and our careers have often defined us. And we have high expectations. So our concerns are valid.
Website design By BotEap.comAlthough we’ve made money through a lifetime of hard work, our savings have been affected by major crashes in the stock market, the banking industry, and the housing industry. Even if we saved enough, which many of us didn’t, we’ve seen those savings drop dramatically, and there’s little we can do about it.
Website design By BotEap.comBaby Boomers are also known to be a generous bunch. We have done well for our children, our parents, our communities, our churches. Many of us have felt the plight of adult children who have struggled to earn adequate income for themselves. And many of us have dealt with elderly parents who need significant financial and / or other help.
Website design By BotEap.comWe grew up in an era where making a meaningful contribution was paramount to a life well lived. We have always wanted to make a difference. From women’s rights to civil rights, world hunger and preserving the planet, we have always been there: marching, demonstrating, donating our funds and services. We are a generation that has always cared.
Website design By BotEap.comAnd now it is our turn to withdraw. Our parents retired under a very different paradigm, generally supported for the rest of their lives by pensions provided by their employers. Not so with us. Only one in four Boomers can expect significant income from an employer-provided pension.
Website design By BotEap.comAnd we know that we cannot expect retirement to be cheap. Statistics show that nearly half of retired households now spend more money, not less, in retirement. We also know that we are likely to live long enough. According to the Social Security Administration, one in four people age 65 today will live past 90, while one in 10 will live past 95.
Website design By BotEap.comSo if some of us associate feelings of panic with retirement, we have good reason. But there are positive factors that will make transformative differences in our favor. Use these five tips and considerations to help you turn your own retirement years into some of the best years of your life.
- Time is on your side.
- Reinvention is the new normal. Expect to have freedom and commitment as well.
- If you need more money to live the lifestyle you want, then earn more.
- Get help with your “transition.”
- Foster your pioneering spirit as a role model. Lead the way.
Website design By BotEap.comTime is on your side.
Website design By BotEap.comIf you have lived to age 65, you will have between 25 and 30 years or so to live. Therefore, you will have plenty of time to make your own retirement transition. This bounty of time can be leveraged to redirect and explore, gain self-awareness, and study the patterns and passions of your own unique and inimitable self in order to produce a retirement design that is optimal for you, mentally and socially. physically, financially and spiritually. Take advantage of the time to your advantage to give yourself a future that fully commits you and towards which you can and will apply yourself with vitality, enthusiasm and joy. Create a retirement that will be your opus, not just a condition where you will wander aimlessly.
Website design By BotEap.comAlthough, like Boomer, you are already part of the most educated and tech-savvy generation in our country’s history, you know there is much more to learn. With 25-30 years ahead of you, there is no need for you to rush into your third phase of life limited by what you already know how to do. Once you discover what you want to do and be next, you will have the luxury of having time to learn how to do it and do it well, to apply your new learning for many years and even to pass it on.
Website design By BotEap.comReinvention is the new normal. Expect to have freedom and commitment as well.
Website design By BotEap.com“Working” in retirement, with or without making money for it, can be a meaningful activity when it is in tune with your most sincere and naturally enthusiastic self. It is essential to understand that what we are talking about here is not simply more of the same. After retirement, motivation to work is based on a desire for continued purpose, productivity, stimulation, satisfaction, and social connection. Gone are the days of “I’ll do anything as long as it pays well.”
Website design By BotEap.comAlthough the majority of boomers plan to work in retirement (71%), that does not mean that we are willing to continue the same job. More than half of us (51%) plan to enter a different line of work in retirement. Since we seek a job that is stimulating and satisfying, we will be less willing to adapt to a job and more likely to find avenues of work that suit us.
Website design By BotEap.comThis translates into the need to reinvent yourself and then reinvent your work. Make decisions based on knowing your true self. As you are? (your type and temperament). What attracts you? (Your interests). What does it mean to you? (your values). And what can you do well? (your skills and talents).
Website design By BotEap.comThen, based on what you discover, reinvent your work. Most likely, you are not interested in continuing at the same pace and intensity level as in your previous work life. And you may not be willing to choose freedom over commitment, or the other way around, when you want and can have both. According to the 2013 Merrill Lynch Retirement Study, many boomers will seek flexible work arrangements, such as part-time work (39%), or back and forth between work and leisure periods (24%). Others will start businesses or companies, offer services, create, carry out, invent, advise, guide or advise.
Website design By BotEap.comIf you need more money to live the lifestyle you want, then earn more.
Website design By BotEap.comIn the past, the focus of retirement planning has been to save and invest money during the main working years so that you can live on passive income in retirement. To the extent that we have succeeded in this endeavor, or have the increasingly meager pension benefit provided by the employer, this passive income can provide a solid foundation after we retire. But this base income certainly does not define or limit our potential lifestyle. Retirement does not need to mark a switch to passive income only or the end of active income. It’s much better, and probably more realistic, to think about having a little of each!
Website design By BotEap.comWith the advent of computer-based work, locating and executing employment contracts can be accomplished without even leaving your home. The world can be your market for the services you offer, the arts or crafts you create, the books or courses you write. Once you redefine yourself and decide what your purpose will be from now on, you will have many options and scenarios to move forward.
Website design By BotEap.comIf your dream has been to travel in retirement and you don’t have enough money to do so, prepare to earn the travel money you need to fly to France and Italy for a month. If you want to buy books, or tickets to the Symphony season, or even a boat … work as many “concerts” as necessary to achieve your dreams. Don’t fall prey to the mindset that you will always be forced to live on a fixed income.
Website design By BotEap.com Get help with your “transition.”
Website design By BotEap.comRetirement and the considerable challenges of planning for this dramatic transition is not something you need to face or plan alone. While it may seem easy to figure out what you can do uniquely and even passionately during the years you have left, this will be a process, not an event.
Website design By BotEap.comAfter decades of having the job defining you, it’s not an easy task to turn this around so that you are the one defining the job. You will also be in charge of establishing your new work-lifestyle balance. Without a plan, you can lose valuable years of this high point in your life. These life and work redesigns become even more complex for couples, each of whom will have to create an individual vision and then, through a series of conversations, build a shared vision that takes into account what each one needs and wants.
Website design By BotEap.comDuring this essential transition period, allow yourself to seek the help you need to get it right. Although in the past most so-called Retirement Counselors have focused exclusively on financial matters, the emerging industry of Certified Retirement Coaches, Retirement Therapists, and Transition Counselors has become an excellent source of assistance, offering individual consultations, as well as group sessions. In addition, there are several helpful books on transitioning from retirement, particularly those that offer help with self-analysis and career change. Try searching for “life and work after retirement” to identify resources that will guide you through the transition process.
Website design By BotEap.comRetirement is a time of rediscovery, followed by essential decisions about what to do and be, achieve and contribute, for the rest of your life. It pays to put energy and time, as well as resources, into your own future.
Website design By BotEap.comFoster your pioneering spirit as a role model. Lead the way.
Website design By BotEap.comAs 73 million Baby Boomers redefine the retirement process, face, experience and outcomes, we will finally show future generations how it can be done creatively and well. This will provide them with essential models for their own lives in the years to come. And with 73 million boomers going through these changes in less than two decades, there will be much need and demand for more retirement coaches in the years to come. So, once you have your own successful retirement transition, you can choose to offer the necessary guidance to other Boomers.
