Retirement is dead, or at least in the original sense of sitting on the porch in a rocking chair is.
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Today, retirement is portrayed by many as the point in time to dream of. People save their entire life, they work hard and sacrifice time with family and give up friends, all in order to reach this magical but completely arbitrary milestone. However, when the time comes, it amazes me how often they haven’t asked themselves even the most basic questions: What is next? What will I actually do in retirement? Who will I be? And possibly most important: who am I going to do it with? Especially when you consider retirement is often cited as a leading contributor to the increasing number of gray divorces – divorces occurring over age 50.
Having to rebuild personal relationships, losing professional networks, and no longer having the identity of a business owner, executive, surgeon, athlete or other profession can be discomforting. Some retirees find the core of their very identity is lost, especially when they haven’t built strong personal networks and have been solely reliant on their professional identity.
Study after study show that many who retire in the traditional sense often disengage from what actually brings them joy. And that disengagement can lead to failing health, depression and cognitive issues – all potentially causing an eventual decrease in both health span and how individuals rate their quality of life.
But what are your options if your current career isn’t your forever career? And what if you are already retired! The answer is simple – don’t retire! Engage and enter what I call your Era of Choice.
Some of the most vibrant and long-lived individuals don’t retire at any age. Instead, they engage and continually reinvent themselves. For you it might be volunteering, reengaging in an occupation you may have left, starting a new career, developing new social networks, or finding activities outside of work environments. The key is to be engaged with life and be in the position to make the choices to live the life you desire. For example, I have no personal plans to ever retire. In my Era of Choice I will stay engaged outside of work through a combination of focusing on friends and family, continuing my education, travel, writing, and mentoring the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.
The shift in mindset is not to retire, but to have enough financial independence to create your personal Era of Choice – when you are fully in the financial driver’s seat. That is, your lifestyle no longer depends on your career or business. If you elect to earn less, or even earn nothing, you could still live the life you desire.
In this framework, your goal should not be …….
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-shook/2021/11/29/the-death-of-retirement/
