Think about how to retain a sense of purpose in retirement

Most advice about retirement planning focuses on how to save enough money to replace your paycheck.

But work provides us with a lot more than income. Many of us get a sense of meaning, accomplishment and even identity from what we do. Work also provides social connections and a structure for our days. Losing all that can be disorienting, which is why experts – including some who have already retired – recommend thinking about how you will replace those aspects of work.

“Most adults don’t want a life of pure leisure,” certified financial planner Barbara O’Neill writes in her book “Flipping a Switch: Your Guide to Happiness and Financial Security in Later Life.”

Envision a typical day. Retirement often starts with a flurry of activity as people travel, visit family and indulge in favorite pastimes. But retirement experts recommend envisioning a more

htypical day after you’ve checked off some of your bucket list activities. How will you spend each hour, starting from the time you wake up? Who will you spend time with? How will you respond when someone asks “What do you do?”

O’Neill, for example, doesn’t use the word “retired” to describe herself. Instead, she explains that she left Rutgers University after 41 years as a professor and now owns Money Talk Financial Planning Seminars and Publications, where she writes and speaks about personal finance topics.

Live purposefully. Without workimposed structure, some people start to drift, with one day blurring into the next. Setting goals and taking steps to achieve them can help restore a sense of purpose and achievement, O’Neill says.

Achieving specific, measurable goals can help people redefine their concept of productivity, which is important to many people’s sense of self-worth, O’Neill says. Goals also can help offset a tendency to put things off.

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