Make retirement work for you
Giving up work brings its own set of challenges – financial and emotional. Here’s how to make this time of life work for you
FOR 26 years Pat Goosen walked the corridors of Buffalo Flats Primary School in East London, Eastern Cape, as the school’s principal, providing leadership and guidance to the institution’s hundreds of pupils. Then in the late ’90s, when the education sector was going through major changes and his future seemed uncertain, he decided to take early retirement when he reached 55. He looked forward to being able to spend his time as he wished but it wasn’t long before nagging
doubts set in.
Would he be bored? What would he do with his time? Was this the end of the road for him?
Pat (now 69) needn’t have worried. His early retirement turned out to be the start of a new and fulfilling chapter in his life. “I have no regrets because I continued to find fulfilment in my passion for education and sport in various ways,” he says.
He started working as a consultant for a development programme, training teachers at Eastern Cape schools – particularly those with low pass rates.
He’s also involved with an NGO called ABC Connects, which runs integration programmes to get school staff and the community working together, and the Madiba Sunrise Cerebral Palsy Disabled Home.
“Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than seeing the appreciation of all the people we’ve had the privilege to empower,” he says. It’s also rewarding to be able to ease the workload of others, he adds.
Retirement for Pat has meant anything but slowing down. In fact he’s travelled more for work since his retirement in 2003 than he did when he was employed full time.
He commutes from East London to Gauteng every week to do training in school administration and management for the Gauteng department of education.
He’s also been able to pursue his hobby of photography and has enjoyed being able to spend more time with his family, who’ve been “extremely supportive”.
Retirement has been a rewarding time for economist Ulrich Joubert (71) too. He’s been retired for more than three years but still has an office at his Johannesburg home and occasionally works as a consultant and a commentator on the economy. He’s also still an adviser at Stellenbosch University’s bureau for economic research.
“As long as I have access to the internet I can continue to make a contribution,” Ulrich says.
His dad, a teacher who still worked part time at the age of 76, is his inspiration, Ulrich says. He recalls asking his dad why he still worked in his seventies and getting the reply, “Do you know what it feels like not to be needed?”
RETIREMENT is one of the major life changes and like every transition it can be a challenging time. It can also be unsettling for a variety of reasons. Perhaps while you were working you dreamt about retirement, looking for-
ward to the day you’d get out of the daily grind and have the freedom to spend your time as you wish. But when it finally happens it’s not what you expected. Suddenly having so much time on your hands leaves you feeling as if you’ve lost your purpose – or you’re just plain bored.
Or maybe retirement is looming because you’re approaching 60 but you don’t feel ready for it – either emotionally or financially.
It’s normal for new or soon-to-be retirees to feel unsettled. Here are some things to consider when you’re making the transition from fulltime employment to retirement.
When you don’t feel ready emotionally
Not everybody retires by choice. It might be that you’ve reached retirement age and so have to retire even though you still want to work. Or perhaps you’re forced to take early retirement because of restructuring by your employer.
Whatever the reason, you don’t feel ready to lose the sense of satisfaction and purpose you derive from work. The good news is you don’t have to. All you need to do is change your perspective.
Take the skills you have and adapt them for this new stage of your life. The satisfaction you derived from your contribution at work needn’t be lost – you just need to find other ways to make this contribution.
Look back on your life and reflect on what you’re proud of, advises Gertie Pretorius, a part-time professor with the University of Johannesburg’s department of psychology.
Think about which skills you can carry over to retirement – for instance, if you were a teacher or a manager you have valuable training skills that could be useful in your community.
Talk to people in your field so you keep on top of what’s happening – you might come across opportunities to use your skills in different ways.
When you’re not ready financially
Whether you retire by choice or not, having enough money to live comfortably is a major consideration. People are living longer so your retirement fund needs to last longer.
If you know you’ll need to keep working for a few years be realistic about your expectations.
You most likely won’t be able to earn the kind of money you were used to and finding work might not be easy in spite of your skills and experience since you’re competing with people half your age.
Ensuring a good life post-retirement requires careful thought and planning, says Danie van den Berg, a financial adviser from Somerset West, Western Cape.
See a financial adviser for help with managing your finances for this stage of your life – things such as working out a monthly budget and the best kind of investments.
Van den Berg advises making the most of this stage even if you need to work part time to supplement your income. “You’ll have less stress and more time as you’re not exposed to the daily grind of working – use it well,” he says.
When it’s not what you thought it would be
Even if you do retire by choice, you might find retirement isn’t what you expected.
After feeling as if you’re on holiday for the first month or so the reality of not re- turning to work sets in and it’s not uncommon for this to come with feelings of anxiety or depression.
Going from working full time to not having somewhere you have to be every day sounds fantastic – but don’t be surprised if you end up feeling bored and unproductive.
It’s easier to enjoy the freedom of retirement when it’s structured and constructive, Pretorius says. Having structure to your week will help so stick to a routine.
You might have fantasised about sleeping in but it’s better to get up at the same time every day and go to bed at roughly the same time every night.
“This prevents a feeling of meaninglessness,” says Centurion- based psychologist Hermann Liebenberg.
Doing something productive with some of your time will give you a sense of purpose. Don’t only think about this once you’re retired, says Barry Smith, co-author of the book The Next Step: Planning The Road Through Retirement.
You should draw up a list well before retirement of things you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the time for. EXTRA SOURCES: INVESTOPEDIA.COM, FORBES.COM, WASHINGTONPOST.COM, RETIREHAPPY.CA