Your First Job in Retirement: It Has Nothing to Do With Money
Category: Retirement Planning
Most people spend decades planning how to retire financially. Surprisingly few spend even an afternoon planning what they’ll actually do once they get there.
That’s a mistake. Your first job in retirement isn’t managing your investments—that’s important, but not job #1.
What’s Your Most Important Job in Retirement?
So just what is Job #1? The answer is a lot simpler than you might think. Your most important job is to figure out how you want to spend your time in retirement. Much of your future happiness flows from that decision.
Retirement can last a long time
Retirement presents a gigantic life change – one worth planning for. The choices you make – or don’t make – will impact your life for decades. The average person retiring today at age 65 can expect to live another 20 years – slightly less for men and a bit more for women.
How Will You Spend Your Time?
Before you retire, you should have a reasonably clear picture of how you want to spend your days.Simply carting your stuff out of the office without an action plan is a recipe for unhappiness.
Most people have some vague answers on how they want to spend their time in retirement. Travel, playing golf or pickleball, volunteering, or just plain relaxing are on many people’s lists. Someone else might hope to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. For others it might be to focus on their hobbies or start a business. The point is this: your most important job is to decide what you want to focus on.
Why Your Retirement Plan Will Change Over Time
Figuring out Job #1 is not a one-time task. Your health, interests, finances, and energy will all change over time. In the early retirement years most people want to be active. As the years pass, some of those activities may become more difficult or no longer possible. In the final stretch, particularly for those who will live well into their 90s, physical and health limitations will present a new set of challenges, including ones to the budget.
Job #2: Build the Life You’ve Chosen
Once you’ve identified your priorities, the next step is figuring out how to make them happen. That not only involves financial issues, but also development, personal, and family factors.
The Financial Side
After deciding what kind of retirement you want, Your financial plan should support your retirement goals—not define them. If not, what needs to change? Knowing those goals and preparing for them well in advance of retirement becomes key. That means developing a realistic retirement budget that matches your expected expenses over the many years and phases of your retirement – from early retirement to your final years.
Staying Healthy
If your dream retirement includes hiking, golf, skiing, or chasing grandchildren around the yard, staying healthy becomes part of your retirement plan. Your body is one of your most valuable retirement assets.
Social Relationships are Key to a Happy Retirement
Retirement also requires planning for relationships. Your work friends may disappear almost overnight. Building new friendships through clubs, volunteering, sports, faith communities, or hobbies is just as important as building your investment portfolio.
An Exercise
If you’re within a few years of retirement, try this exercise. Write down the five things you most want your retirement to include. Then ask yourself whether your time, your finances, and your health are aligned to make those things possible. If they aren’t, there’s still time to make changes.
Bottom Line: Retirement Needs Purpose, Not Just Money
For decades your job answered one important question: “What do you do?” Retirement removes that identity almost overnight. Replacing it with something meaningful is one of retirement’s biggest challenges. Purpose gives structure to your days, motivation to stay engaged, and a reason to look forward to tomorrow.
On a personal note
When I retired twenty years ago, my answer to Job #1 was easy. I wanted to build TopRetirements.com while traveling and continuing to play the sports I love.
Today, as TopRetirements enters its final chapter, I find myself facing Job #1 all over again. That’s another lesson retirement has taught me: you don’t solve this question once. Every few years life changes, and your answer changes with it.
Fortunately, that’s one of retirement’s greatest gifts—the freedom to redesign your life more than once.
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