4 PHASES OF RETIREMENT
Only 20-25% of retirees ever reach Phase 4, as Jonathan Chevreau explains.
After a successful career preparing others for retirement, Riley Moynes made the plunge himself in his early 60s, retiring to a golf community in Florida. The financial side of retirement was not a problem: in 1988 he had founded a financial planning firm, Moynes Securities Ltd. that merged with Equion Securities Ltd. and was ultimately sold to Assante Wealth Management, bought by C.I. Investments at the turn of the century.
But after a few years of experiencing what he calls “Vacation Time,” Moynes felt compelled to move on to the next phase of the rest of his life. He “retired” from active involvement in his business on Jan. 1, 2006 and enjoyed his leisure for roughly five years. Ultimately, however, he concluded that “Vacation Time” was merely the first of four distinct phases of retirement, which he summarizes in a concise little book titled just that: The Four Phases of Retirement, subtitled (with a nod to the perennial bestseller on pregnancy) What to Expect When You’re Retiring.
At first, recent retirees revel in their new-found freedom from the shackles of employment or owning their own businesses, indulging in the lack of deadline pressure and adapting their schedules to the needs of others.
Indeed, some retirees never get past Phase 1 but for many, including Moynes himself, Vacation Time starts to pale after a few years. Gradually, Phase 2 descends, which Moynes colourfully dubs as a “plunge into the abyss of insignificance.” Phase Two brings home the reality of five “unavoidable losses”: structure, identity, relationships, a sense of purpose and a sense of power. For Moynes, Phase 2 lasted about a year.
This hit home the week I read the book because we had a house guest named Caroline, who retired at age 60 to travel the world. It being a short read, I lent her my copy of Moyne’s book and asked what she thought. She admitted that while she still had the travel bug, she was starting to come to terms with the symptoms described in Phase 2.
So what’s Phase 3? Moynes experienced this first hand between 2012 and 2013 when he plunged into several activities and ventures that were his personal response to the losses of Phase 2. He calls Phase 3 “Trial and Error.” He and those who reach that stage realize the sands of time are starting to slip rapidly through the hourglass of their lives: if you are to accomplish anything with what time remains, it had better be soon. The dominant question here is “How can I contribute?” You tentatively start a few ventures and eventually commit to one but are prepared to go back to the drawing board if it doesn’t work out.
If it does, you may reach the fourth and final stage of retirement, which Moynes dubs “Reinvent and Repurpose.” Moynes turns 74 in June but reinvented himself in 2014 as a self-published author and speaker. Not everyone reaches this stage, Moynes said in an email interview; indeed, if the experiments of Phase Three come to naught, sometimes the response is disappointment or depression and some may actually “regress” back to Phase One.
Nothing wrong with that. But if you do yearn to leave a legacy, Phase 4 is the place to do it.
After she read the book (at 56 pages it’s a quick read) I invited Caroline to email a few questions to Moynes. She wanted to know what percentage of the people in Phase 4 found maximum fulfilment in giving back.
Here’s Moynes’ response: “I don’t think many more than 20 to 25% of the population ever reach Phase 4.”
However, “I do believe strongly that those who get there are among the happiest people I’ve ever encountered.”
Moynes now gives workshops on Retirement (see www.thefourphases.com) and also published a companion book in 2017 titled The Ten Lessons: How you Too Can Squeeze All the “Juice” Out of Retirement (see www. thetenlessons.com).
Jonathan Chevreau is founder of the Financial Independence Hub and author of Findependence Day. He can be reached at jonathan@ findependencehub.com.