Are you furnishing your rut?

Some of the busiest people I know are retired. Some of the most ‘stuck in a rut’ people I know are also retired. What’s the difference between them?

The busy people have been busy, purposeful and interested throughout their lives. They look forward, seek solutions, understand what they can offer and look for opportunities to contribute.

The people who are stuck in a rut have spent their lives either unhappy with their lot in life or have defined themselves by their work so deeply that they can’t see how to make the transition.

Preparing for retirement is a journey in and of itself that starts many years before the final date arrives. The financial requirements of retirement are vastly different from what they were when our parents and grandparents retired. Jobs are different, too. Previous generations typically worked at the same job throughout their entire career but now it’s not uncommon to follow several career paths and have roughly 15 jobs in their lifetime. That can make retirement planning challenging. According to Sunlife Canada, 62% of working Canadians don’t have a written retirement plan and counting on Canada Pension may leave people stressed when the retirement day arrives.

Of course, there are other practical concerns including where one will live, is downsizing appropriate, how spread out is the family, what friends share common interests, can we afford to travel now that we have all of this time and the elephant in the room – can spouses and partners really transition successfully from spending evenings and weekends together to spending 24/7 together?