Most people approaching retirement worry about whether they have enough money. It’s an entirely sensible concern. After all, retirement may last thirty years or more. The pay cheque stops, yet the bills continue. It would be very strange not to think about whether the numbers stack up.
The financial side of retirement is also relatively easy to talk about. We can calculate pension values, estimate future spending and model different scenarios. Whilst none of us possess a crystal ball, we can usually build a fairly good picture of what retirement might look like financially.
What is much harder to measure is what happens once the financial question has been answered.
Over the years I have noticed something interesting, the people who struggle most in retirement are not necessarily those with the smallest pension pots. Equally, the happiest retirees are not always the ones with the most money. More often than not, the difference comes down to something far less obvious.
Purpose
For most of our adult lives, work provides much more than income. It gives structure to our weeks. It gives us responsibilities, challenges and achievements. It surrounds us with people. It creates routine. It gives us somewhere to be on a Monday morning and often provides a significant part of our identity. Think about how often people ask, “What do you do?”
For forty years or more, most of us have an answer ready. We are a business owner, a teacher, an engineer, a doctor, a manager or an accountant. Whatever the profession, it quietly becomes part of how we see ourselves. We become accustomed to being needed, to solving problems and to having demands placed upon us.
Then one day, almost overnight, that chapter ends. The alarm clock stops ringing. The calendar becomes noticeably emptier. The phone rings a little less often. The inbox no longer fills up at quite the same pace.
At first, that freedom can feel wonderful. Most new retirees have a long list of things they have been meaning to do for years. There are holidays to take, gardens to sort, hobbies to revisit and grandchildren to spend time with. For a while, retirement feels exactly as advertised.
The Tuesday Morning Problem
Eventually many people encounter something I think of as the Tuesday morning problem. Not the exciting Tuesday morning when you’re at the airport heading off somewhere warm. An ordinary Tuesday morning in February.
The holiday has been and gone, the decorating project is finished and the grandchildren are at school. The novelty of doing absolutely nothing has started to wear off. Suddenly there is a large amount of empty space where work used to be.
That is often the point where people discover the biggest challenge of retirement isn’t financial at all.
It’s figuring out what comes next.
Retiring to Something
The happiest retirees I work with tend to have one thing in common. They retire to something, rather than simply retiring from something. The “something” itself is rarely important. For one person it might be volunteering. For another it might be golf, travelling, helping family, learning new skills or becoming involved in local organisations. I’ve met retired business owners who mentor younger entrepreneurs, former executives who sit on charity boards and people who have finally found time to pursue interests they had postponed for decades. The activity changes but the principle remains the same. They have something that creates meaning , and gives shape to their week and a reason to look forward to tomorrow.
Without that, retirement can feel surprisingly flat, even when there is no financial pressure whatsoever.
Perhaps this is one of retirement’s great ironies.
Many people spend decades looking forward to complete freedom, only to discover that unlimited freedom can sometimes feel uncomfortable. As human beings we generally like a certain amount of structure, goals or progress. We like feeling useful and we enjoy being part of something. Work naturally provides many of those things. When work disappears, they often need replacing.
What Are You Retiring To?
That is why I sometimes think there is a more important question than, “Can I afford to retire?”
A better question might be, “What am I retiring to?”
What will fill your days?
What will challenge you?
What will give you a sense of achievement?
What will make a random Tuesday feel worthwhile?
The answers need not be dramatic. In fact, they rarely are. Purpose often comes from surprisingly ordinary places. Family, friendships, hobbies, volunteering and community involvement feature far more often than luxury cruises or exotic adventures. Retirement isn’t really the end of the story. If anything, it is the beginning of a new chapter, one in which you finally have the freedom to decide how your time is spent.
The financial plan helps make that possible, it provides the foundation. But money alone does not determine whether retirement will be fulfilling.
Money can buy freedom.
Purpose is usually what gives that freedom meaning.
If you are approaching retirement, or know someone who is, don’t just ask whether the money is ready. Ask whether the person is. In many cases, that turns out to be the more important conversation.
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