Know Your Retirement Style
Many people who are still in the heavy-lifting stage of their careers may think to themselves, “I am too busy to retire.” Or they might think, “I can't retire, what would I do with myself?” Then, of course, there are those individuals who feel trapped in a job where the only way to cash out is by retiring, but not until an ungodly number of years have been served to become fully vested in a retirement plan. For these individuals, retirement looms as a much-anticipated relief from the grind of endless, unrewarding work. No matter what the nature of your particular work may be, how you transition out of it has a lot to do with your frame of mind.
Nancy Schlossberg is a psychologist who is retired from the faculty of the University of Maryland and who has authored a book titled
Continuers — They stay connected with past work experiences using established skills and interests, but in a new way.
Adventurers— They're ready to start something entirely new — acquire new skills, undertake new endeavors like going back to school or moving to a new climate.
Searchers— They'll spend some time experimenting with new options. They'll create a Plan A and if that doesn't work out, go to a Plan B.
Easy Gliders— They're happy to just “go with the flow” — enjoy unscheduled time, be with family and friends — or not.
Retreaters— They prefer taking a clean break away from past activities, and will withdraw if things don't go as planned.
Not surprisingly, more than one of these descriptors can apply at the same time. You can also find yourself moving from one to another. Imagine a woman named Carmella, who has worked for decades for a large retail chain and who retires at the mandatory age of sixty-five. Still full of energy and a love for helping the rushed shopping patron find just the right thing, she might decide to open a small boutique carrying her favorite lines. To her, this beats sitting on a beach. Carmella would be considered a “Continuer.”
If your retirement becomes forced upon you, don't take it personally. Try to understand external factors that came into play. Your position may have been eliminated due to a downturn in the economy. If your company merged with another, your position may have been duplicated in the other firm. Keep a positive perspective.
Consider a related hypothetical: a man named Jeremy who worked with Carmella and also retired at sixty-five. He, too, feels he has a lot to offer, but is not so sure he wants to remain in retail. Jeremy takes a break and does some volunteer work. After a while he finds himself drawn to the mission of the Salvation Army. He does not think standing ringing a bell at the holiday season for kettle donations is the best use of his skills and experience, however. He realizes that his many years in retail can be enormously helpful in running the Salvation Army thrift store geared to patrons who cannot afford to shop at the big department stores for their home goods. Unfortunately, Jeremy's offer to help manage the store is rebuffed. Not to be defeated, he approaches a food pantry in his town that is languishing and offers his experience and managerial skills there. This time he is welcomed warmly and has a chance to revitalize a sorely needed community service. Jeremy would be a Searcher because he considered options, maintaining control when one path didn't work out and finding another to pursue.
Do you see yourself as a Continuer or a Searcher? Are you just itching to get into something new as an Adventurer? Maybe you have been working as a software engineer and will be wrapping up that career five years from now. It seems that every vacation you have taken for decades now has involved hiking up mountains in the summer and skiing down them in the winter. Maybe you want to become certified for ski patrol, or become a guide along the Appalachian Mountain Trail. You will not even look back when you sign off on your last software assignment. You are heading into a whole new landscape while you are still in great health and physical condition to enjoy it. You are an Adventurer. Yet your sister may also be an Adventurer if she finishes her career as an investment banker and gets her real estate license to sell condos in the Lake Tahoe area. It's all about reinventing yourself into something entirely new.
Adult children can be both a helpful and a complicating factor when you transition into retirement. If you have plans to move away, they may feel you are abandoning them. If you have thoughts of remarrying, you may face resistance from them. You may need great internal fortitude to forge your new path in the face of protest from your offspring.
Easy Gliders are the people who keep the world from spinning right off its axis. Retreaters, on the other hand, need space to regroup; but then may need a helping hand to get reconnected with meaningful engagements. If you go into retreat mode, be gentle with those who may be bugging you — they are likely only trying to help. Work out a way to let them know when you are ready to re-emerge.
