Retirement: Harsh Truth: Watch This Before Retiring
Happy New Year everyone!
I've been retired a little over 3 months as I write this. I'm not going to say those 3 months have been bad. They haven't. I enjoy the new flexibility and freedom. I enjoy not setting my alarm clock every single day (although I still do a few days a week, so I can call my mother at the same time I always have.) However I'll say that I feel like I've lost my rhythm, and I'm trying to find a new one. I'm not worrying about it. I've been staying busy. I know it will come in time. I expected some upheaval. "It's all good."
I'm not sure there's a perfect time of year to retire. I think retiring during the holiday part of the year doesn't give you the break you expect when you retire. Now that it's January, I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting a real break. I feel like I can start to focus on what I want retirement to be for me. It could be I just needed a few months to get here mentally - I don't know.
I thought this video was pretty insightful. I've told people the hardest part of retirement financial planning is predicting your future spending over a pretty long time horizon. I think you, and your partner if you have one, also need to think about what life in retirement is going to be like. What do you want to do? This video points out that there may be things about your job that you enjoy and want to continue to do. Maybe you just want to work less. Or maybe your skillset would let you do something you really want to do instead.
I know people who hated the last several years of their career. Retirement is freedom from that mess. I get that. But if that's not you, you should watch this video.