Age, Money, Events.
Those are the three things that influence the personal decision to retire, according to a colleague of mine in the financial services industry. After 30 years of working with clients, age, money and events served as the catalyst for her clients' next chapters.
And even then, the decision is waffled with uncertainty, fear, and timing.
There are good reasons for that uncertainty! This is a new chapter without much-prescribed planning - unlike work careers and goals, raising a family, going to school for a degree, etc. – But for new retirees surprises pop up. What I hear most, is being surprised at how much they miss their connection to work colleagues or being overwhelmed with so much free time. Another surprising shift is getting used to spending money rather than saving money. That puts the retiree square in the middle of “This is the Time You’ve Been Waiting and Saving for! This is it!” Yikes!
I want to remind you that retirement is a time of huge transition! It doesn’t matter your age, your money, or what is happening in your life – when you decide to retire you are putting a stake in the ground that says My Life Is Going To Be Different Now.
Our previous life chapters have been structured with developmental norms, responsibilities, benchmarks for success, etc. Retirement means… What? That is the beauty of this phase. Retirement means creating a new life for yourself. Now I am fully aware that in today’s economy, retirement is not a reality for many older people and that many will continue working because of their need for income, and, or stimulation. Retirement for many people means STILL taking care of grown-up kids, maybe grandkids or their elderly parents. Retirement is just another chapter in our lives but one with more free-form choices.
There are not a lot of SHOULDS in retirement language. In our teenage years, we had cultural norms to guide us. In school, the prescribed classwork and learning; in work life, career goals guided us; and as parents, our culture and traditions gave us guardrails. But now…for baby boomers – it is a wide-open field!
The Boomers are redefining retirement. Our life spans are redefining retirement. We think we know what it's going to be but we can’t know, because we haven’t been there before! Moving through any transition can be helped if you have a sense of mental fitness. Our age alone gives us a foundation of wisdom, borne of life experiences. But transitions of any kind bring destabilizing emotions as we try and find some solid ground.
I offer a Mental Fitness Boot Camp based on the framework of Positive Intelligence. PQ (Positive Intelligence) refers to the measure of an individual’s ability to approach challenging situations with a positive mindset. The Mental Fitness Boot Camp boot will develop your ability to focus on positive thoughts and emotions while managing the destabilization of new retirement. It will help overcome negative tendencies such as self-doubt, anxiety, and judgment. The coaching that comes with the boot camp is tailored toward the challenges found in early retirement. (PS - no that is not me in the picture! lol)
Click here if you are interested in the free webinar that will give you the details of the program.
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