When faced with the reality of impending retirement, most Baby Boomers would rather sit in a dentist’s chair than face the inevitable.
Oh, we all rationalize the decision to retire (time to let the new ones have a chance, my skill sets are getting a bit rusty, the awareness of things I wanted to do in my life but never had the time) but when the rubber meets the road, we cringe. How could I get up in the morning not having anything to do? What do I do if I can’t stop in Starbucks to pick up my double latte with skim milk and say hi to everyone? What about the people I don’t know but see every day on the commute home? Will they care if I’m not there?
It’s pretty scary to give up the routine that sustained us for the majority of our lives. Sure, we may have changed it up a bit when we took on a new position in a different city or moved to another location for the benefit of a promotion, but we soon got it into a rhythm and began to feel good about the certainty of that routine.
And when we got sick or hurt and couldn’t go to work, even to take a vacation, it was so reassuring to know that the Starbucks barista and the newspaper guy all lit up when you came back to work. Normalcy was good.
Now, not so normal. Retirement is the abandonment of all that certainty. And it’s replaced with a wide-open, I-have-no-idea-what-to-do panic. This is where so many Baby Boomers decide it is time to find another job, sometimes not in their current field, but something that keeps them in the routine of life. Something that takes away that scary feeling of having nothing to do with their day.
Planning for retirement is a process that should include how you spend your days as well as how you spend your money. For help in making your retirement years as wonderful as your working years, reach out to us before you jump back by default into the world of work.
