During our working years, we are often time poor as we spend most of our time at work, and juggle many competing activities. Retirement will give you freedom to do what you have always wanted to do, such as traveling, learning a new skill just for its own sake, staying active, reading, and perhaps looking after grandchildren. To have a meaningful retirement, while many people prepare themselves financially, few people will think about, let alone prepare for, the non-financial changes that retirement will bring. My interest in Retirement Coaching is because I love life, and enjoy the challenge of working with clients in the transition space that retirement brings. I also have first hand experience of family members who have managed their retirement in 2 distinct ways. One way is to live from meal to meal with sleep in the middle. When we ask, “How was your day?” the response is “I made a salad”, or ‘” paid a bill.” Although he is happy, we are left to wonder if there is more to life. The other way is seeing the opportunity that retirement has brought the family to undertake voluntary work, enjoy sports, travel regularly, go out, and look after grandchildren.
The distinction between the two styles taps into the concept of the OLD and NEW RETIREMENT.
In Australia, there is no official retirement age, just a number of age points in our social security, superannuation and taxation systems that induce a “retirement mindset”. For instance, people can potentially:
- commence a Transition to Retirement pension at age 55
- take their superannuation as a lump sum or in pension form at age 60 tax free or
- be eligible for the government age pension at age 65 (moving to 67 in 2017)
As the average life expectancy for men and women is now above 80 years of age, retirees are potentially nearly facing as many years being “retired” as they have been in the workforce – but without the responsibilities and expectations prevalent in younger years, like building a career, raising children and paying off a mortgage.
Retirement may stretch 20, 25 or 30 years – longer than you may have first thought. So what does one “do” with all of these years that are fast approaching? To find out more about how Leah Shmerling and Crown Coaching & Training can help you with your Retirement planning, click here.
