What should you expect when you retire?
What to expect in retirement is a common concern for people about to, or just beginning, their retirement.
Retirement is a significant life changing event.
It can be a relief to finish work but it can also be a daunting prospect.
Most pre-retirement planning advice concentrates on financial planning, but having a plan for the remainder of life should cover more than just money.
Money is important but living a happy and fulfilling retirement is not all dependant on the figures on your bank balance.
We’ll lead you through some of the things that you may experience in your retirement journey. By doing so we hope it enables you to have a wider perspective and help in your retirement journey.
Firstly the bad news – it might not be all plain sailing.
Don’t worry though, there can be a happy ending.
So, what can you expect when you retire? What will retirement be like?
There are five well documented phases to retirement that are typical for a lot of retirees.
What are the five stages of retirement?
Pre- retirement.
The honeymoon phase.
Disillusionment.
Re-orientation and finding yourself.
Stability.
Pre–retirement.
This is the period before retirement, the countdown so to speak.
In this period people typically plan their finances and look forward to lazy mornings, empty calendars and no alarm clocks!
The honeymoon phase.
The first few months or year or two are the honeymoon phase.
Typically people enjoy the release from work pressures, put their feet up and work through the list of all the things they looked forward to.
Disenchantment phase.
After the initial relief and enjoyment of retirement has passed it’s common to feel a little lost and lacking purpose.
Without work, and having worked through the initial bucket list, boredom and disillusionment can set in.
Re-orientation and finding yourself.
At this point retirees look for a new purpose in life, start discovering new hobbies, interests and a meaning in life.
It may be that in this stage a person tries a number of new hobbies or range of activities before settling on a few favourites.
Stability.
The final stage is where a new routine has been established and there is a sense of stability and meaning.
These five stages are widely used by retirement planners to understand the retirement process.
They form a basis on what people should expect when they retire.
Cleary everyone is different and some may experience retirement in a completely different way.
At OldAgeBlankPage we aim to highlight some of the positive aspects of retirement.
By highlighting a range of activities and ideas we hope to help people lead a full and satisfying retirement.
****The five stages were proposed by Robert Atchley in his book “A continuum of retirement; The Expanded Role” in 1989 and were based on his research on retirees.****
