Why retirement is not just an end, but rather a new beginning

Retirement is somewhat of a watershed moment in your life. When you finish that final day of work on Friday, it might also mark the end of your career entirely, as you wake up on Monday with no emails to answer or clients to contact for the first time in perhaps 40 years.

If this is one of your main concerns for later life then you’re not alone. In fact, as reported by the Centre for Ageing Better, a 2017 YouGov survey of 1,000 people anticipating retiring in the next five years found the elements of retirement that worried pre-retirees most were:

• Managing their money (41%)
• Feeling bored (33%)
• Missing their social connections from work (32%)
• Losing their purpose (24%)
• Being lonely (17%).

Perhaps even more significantly, 1 in 5 adults who had retired in the previous five years said they had found the transition difficult.

You may well share some of these concerns. Yet, while retirement might mark the end of your working life, it’s also the start of a brand-new and exciting chapter.

It can be useful to reframe your retirement in this way, so you can enthusiastically look towards later life, rather than feeling morose about leaving work behind you for good.

Read on to find out why retirement is actually a new beginning.

Retirement is an opportunity to do the things you’ve always wanted

Many people derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from their careers. Your identity can easily become entwined with your occupation, and work can provide a clear structure for your time that gives you a sense of purpose.

These concerns can feel all-consuming when you retire, because you’re losing all these aspects that you’ve enjoyed throughout your working life.

Yet, it’s important not to look at work with rose-tinted glasses, and remember that there are major drawbacks to having your nose at the grindstone all the time.

Alongside deadlines and stress, your working pattern will undoubtedly have infringed on your life at some point. It might have prevented you from going to family events you wanted to attend, or having enough time to travel or see places you always wanted.

Retirement is the opportunity to put this right. Now that you’re not beholden to your work, you can complete all the activities you didn’t have time for. You can finally explore the things that bring you joy and happiness, with no time constraints.

So, while retirement might be the end of your working life, it is also the start of a new one in which you can decide exactly how you want to spend your time.

Working out your goals for the future can help you feel excited for retirement

Understandably, while this opportunity is exciting, it can also be overwhelming to have complete free licence to do everything you might not have been able to during your career. There are so many options, and it can be tricky to know where to start.

This is why it can be so useful to work out your goals for the future before you reach retirement. Even if it’s just a list made on some scrap paper in the evenings after work, setting time to figure out your goals for later life can be a hugely valuable exercise.

This will be entirely personal to you, and could include targets such as:

• Travelling and seeing countries around the world
• Spending time with family and friends
• Financially supporting your loved ones with their targets.

Setting goals can offer you a focus and something to look forward to in later life, which could help to alleviate those feelings of uncertainty and worry that you have about giving up work. It can offer you a new purpose and sense of identity, giving you something to aim for.

It can also help you organise your wealth so that you’re able to achieve what you want. Indeed, having an idea of what sort of goals you have and how you plan to fill your time in retirement can give you a target for how much you’ll need to achieve your dream lifestyle.

You can then organise your wealth accordingly, and assess whether you need to make any changes so that you can hit those targets.

Financial planning can help you enjoy this new chapter with confidence

As you approach retirement, it can be sensible to speak to a financial planner. That’s because financial planning is all about setting goals first, and then organising your wealth around them.

At Britannic Place, we’ve helped many retirees organise their wealth so that they’re able to reach their goals in later life.

We’ll start by asking you about your goals for your retirement, and what you want your lifestyle to look like. Then, we’ll assist you in organising your wealth so that you’re able to achieve your ambitions.

We can also support you throughout the transition from work to retirement, helping you look forward to later life with excitement and confidence.

If you’d like to find out what we can do for you, please email info@britannicplace.co.uk or call 01905 419890.

Please note

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.