Wearing out vs. rusting out

It’s been said that the two most dangerous days in your life are the day you are born – and the day you retire.

The first is understandable: modern medicine has made childbirth a lot safer, but a lot of things still have to go right to bring a healthy newborn into the world.

But what’s so dangerous about retiring?

It turns out that retirement is a stressful undertaking for many people, especially if their job is a key part of their identity: a surgeon, for example, who makes life-or-death decisions every day. Actors, professional athletes, and corporate executives typically face a tougher transition into retirement than office workers and hourly employees.

If work is your reason for getting up in the morning – indispensable though you may be – discovering that the sun comes up and the world keeps turning without your input can be quite a shock.

And let’s not forget about the financial aspects of retirement. You’ve spent a lifetime saving money, hoping it will be enough. You discovered the brilliant simplicity of dollar-cost averaging and used it to build wealth. But they didn’t tell you that the rules change in retirement and that dollar-cost averaging doesn’t work nearly as well in reverse. You know how to make money grow; in retirement you must learn how to money last.

It’s no wonder that according to recent studies, people are 40% more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke during their first year of retirement than those who remain on the job.

How do you keep retirement from being a hazard to your health?

• For starters, if you’re not financially or emotionally ready to retire, don’t do it! There’s no magic age at which it “makes sense” to retire. If work gives you joy and purpose, there’s no reason you have to stop.
• Don’t think of retiring from something – make sure you retire to Our retired clients tell us it’s a lot easier to rust out than it is to wear out.
• Change your mindset about retirement. I like this advice from author Marika Stone: “Retire the word ‘retire’ from your vocabulary. Look it up: it means to ‘withdraw’ or ‘retreat.’ Words can shape reality, and it’s time for this one to go. Doesn’t ‘renaissance’ or ‘graduation’ or ‘transition’ better describe your post-career life?”
• If you like the idea that every day could be Saturday, start getting your ducks in a row. Put a retirement plan together with a qualified financial advisor.
• Get on the same page with your spouse or partner about where you will live and how you’ll spend your money.
• Before you leave the workforce, spend some time broadening your social network. Good friends are a precious resource, and you’ll find that you need them even more once you retire. And they’ll need you.

I tell clients about my older sister, Betty, who retired several years ago as a psychiatric hospital administrator. She freely admits to her type-A personality and confesses that her first year of retirement nearly drove her up the wall. What finally worked for her was buying a dime-store calendar and filling it up with things to do, places to go, friends to keep in touch with. She thrives on always having something to look forward to.

We all need a reason to get up in the morning. Find yours before you retire.