How To Make Your Money Last

When you retire, your place in the world suddenly changes. You have to build a new life, understand how you want to fill your time, and basically reinvent yourself. Everything around you and within you inevitably changes and forces you to adapt to a new reality. Retirement must be understood as a process, not an event. It is much longer and more complex than you might think, and this phase of your life deserves careful assessment and planning. Researcher Robert Atchley stipulates that there are five stages a person goes through after leaving work. The first phase is early retirement in which you still work, but you are aware that you will have to leave soon, and you begin to reflect on what will happen next.

The second phase could be classed as the honeymoon; this is when you get your first taste of freedom, and are happy to have left the stress of work behind you, and are impatient to do new things. People travel, spruce up their homes, and take long walks. Following this, a sort of cloud of disappointment tends to appear: the days begin to feel empty, and people often feel a little disoriented because they have lost their role, their job, and sometimes their purpose. There is the realisation, accompanied by a touch of anxiety, that your outgoings are higher than you thought. The penultimate step is reorientation. You feel ready to give your life some direction, and start to look for a project that interests you. You might try a few new things, and become aware that it's time to look at your life from a new perspective. The last phase of retirement is stability; you feel productive again, and achieve a good balance. Although not without its obstacles, a new adventure has just begun.