Retire & Keep Working
Posted by Gail | Filed under Retirement Planning
I’ve never been able to figure out what people do with themselves when they retire other than grow old and sick. I know there are people who are happily retired because I hear about them anecdotally, but I’ve never met one. Most of the people that I’ve met who are retired are biding time.
Now comes a study out of the U.S., which finds that retirees who continue to work after they’ve officially retired end up with fewer major diseases and can function better on a day-to-day basis than those who stop working completely. This holds true regardless of the person’s health before retirement.
Reported in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, Mo Wang, PhD, of the University of Maryland and his fellow researchers looked at the National Health and Retirement Study, which is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging.
People who continued to work in a field that was related to their previous careers reported better mental health than those who fully retired. For people who changed jobs, the mental health improvements were not there, perhaps because adapting to different work brings its own stress.
While people like to focus on the financial aspect of retirement – will I have enough money? – this is only a part of the equation and it makes sense to look at the big picture, not just at the dollars. When I wrote The Retirement Answer Book almost 15 years ago, one of the chapters focused on “To Retire or Not to Retire” and discussed issues such as how to know if you’re ready to retire, how big a part work plays in your self-image and how to restyle your life, if the idea of just stopping on a dime seems weird to you.
Here are some questions you can ask to help you determine if you’ll quit working cold turkey, or ease your way into the rocking chair:
- Are you in a financial position to maintain your lifestyle and achieve what you want for your retirement?
- How important is your work to you? Does your work provide status and identity? Are you mentally ready to change from a work lifestyle to a full-stop retirement lifestyle?
- Do you depend on your work environment for the majority of your social contacts? How ill you replace these when you retire?
- Do you need something external to structure your time?
- What types of interests do you have outside work? Are these interest involving and fulfilling? Can you expend the time you spend in these interests? Do your plans include your partner’s interest?
- How do you currently spend your leisure time? Do you become restless on weekends or during holidays? Will you be able to use your time in a way that will make you happy during retirement?
- Is your current home appropriate for retirement? Do you plan to stay in your community? If you plan to move, are you familiar with the new community?
If you don’t take the time to answer these questions you may find yourself in the a similar spot to D who wrote me to say:
I am in a quandry and need an objective viewpoint ASAP. Turning 60 in November, last year I sold my home and mostly everything I owned to divest myself of things and make my move from Calgary to Kitchener, Ontario a little easier. Since then I have stayed with family and then rented from a landlady who was being foreclosed on when she rented to me. Her utilities were being disconnected because she didn’t pay them. …I moved here because I have family, think I disillusioned myself, my family have their own lives, my friends are out west, some are retiring elsewhere. I know I have more buying power for a residence here versus Calgary, I just feel stuck. I would have to ship my possessions back to Calgary and would divest myself of the furniture I have currently. Debating whether to move back to Calgary and try to find a job and a home. The home prices are high there and they seem to rising steadily here in southwestern Ontario. I have considered renting, checking on line, the rents seem very high in Calgary and they are high here as well. Trying to be objective when you have to make all the decisions without assistance is difficult. Currently, I don’t have a place to stay and am paying a hotel bill.
D, it’s not unusual for people who are retiring to try and move closer to family, only to find that, as you say, “they have a life of their own.” I think this is one of the biggest illusions about retirement. I think it would compound the problem if you were to buy now before you decided where you actually want to live. You seem to still be vacillating between Kitchner and Calgary. And if you sink your assets into property, that doesn’t leave you with a lot of “spending” money. Your pension is small, and even if you get the max from CPP/OAS, if you take it early there will be a penalty. While your first renting experience hasn’t been a good one, I would suggest that if you can find a shared accommodation that works for you — you rent and get a room-mate or you find someone who needs a roommate — this would reduce your housing costs substantially. Or you could choose a different part of the country completely. Is there anywhere else in the country you’ve always wished you could try on? This would be the time to do it. As for the stuff, if you have to stick it in storage for a few months while you figure out where you want to root yourself next, that will be cheaper than shipping it around with you as you figure out what you want to do. There’s no point in heading back to Calgary if your friends are all in the process of cashing out and moving elsewhere, so don’t leap to that as your first option. Take it slow. This is a big decision.
You have a lot to think about. The first thing to do is find a place to live that doesn’t charge hotel rates. You need to be able to think without worrying over the clock ticking and your money evaporating.
Remember that I’ll be at the Indigo Books in the Manulife Centre on Bloor Street this Wednesday night from 7-9 p.m. See you there!
This week’s poll is on kids’ and allowances. Go vote!
January 26, 2010 at 8:01 am
It is frustrating at points, from the end of someone who is trying to get into employment. Currently, 1/3 of our supply teacher list in my district is made up of retired teachers. They have closed the list, and so graduates of the 2009 educational programs at respective Ontario universities have been left jobless in their field of choice. The “chosen” retired are also taking up Long Term Occasional positions, leaving myself and other newbies to the teaching profession scrabling to find work to live off of.
I do understand that when you love your job, and still do need some money, that it is important to continue to work; however, those that are considering retirement, you should really consider it closely… if you are choosing to go back to work in a heavily desired field – one with new faces graduating into it every year, you may be taking jobs from people that have no income, and no RRSP yet. Instead of retirement, consider part-time employment in your field, and then retirement; or hang on longer to your full-time positions. Try not to play the cat and mouse game of “I’m going to retire, but still continue to put in 5 days a week – using my pension AND getting a paycheck”… you are not contributing to my retirement at all, and taking all of your hard earned benefits too!
January 26, 2010 at 8:43 am
I think one’s degree of enjoyment in retirement has a great many variables, as the questions in the article point out. If you strongly identify with your job, you derive social and personal fulfillment from your job, and you have little else in your life, retirement will be difficult. But if your job is a way for you to get enough money to have a life without actually being your life, you’ll have fewer problems.
I’m not retired, but I’ve been looking forward to my retirement since grade 3 when I realized that I was going to be trapped, having to get out of bed early in the morning, for at least another 50 years. I clearly remember depression setting in when I realized I had to be in school until grade 13, then university, and after that, I still wasn’t “free”, I was just going to have to keep getting out of bed early to go to work for decades. God.
For me, the joy of being able to sleep in to whatever time I want without worrying about an alarm clock offsets the decrease in income, the reason for wearing nice clothes, and the pleasure of the company of the few people I socialize with at work.
It seems to me that the big questions of retirement are really the big questions of life that we can ignore or postpone because work gives us a built in purpose. Without work, we have to answer those questions alone: why are we here, how is our life meaningful, what are we accomplishing, what do we want to accomplish. Big questions, and worth staying in bed a little longer in the morning to think about.
January 26, 2010 at 8:54 am
As Tesla said, choosing to stay working in your field when you retire is a very sticky subject with newer teachers. Pretty much every single board in Ontario uses retired teachers as supply teachers which makes it extremely frustrating for those of us new to the profession. Most boards also want you to accumulate a certain amount of supply teaching days before you can apply for anything fulltime. It is kind of hard to do that when day-to-day supply work is being taken by retired teachers. Many teachers retire as soon as they can, collect their pension and then max out their allowed supply days to maximize how much money they can earn with the added bonus of no marking/planning. Many know they can do this, and they do. I also find it absolutely hilarious that newer teachers are told to ‘volunteer’ to get recognized.
Anyways. I also read an article in the Ottawa Citizen yesterday about how public govt. workers will basically not be retiring early anymore. Why? Because it is taking people so long to get into fulltime work that by the time they hit that ‘early retirement’/85 Factor they are already 65. The average age of a new employee in Govt is over 30! Teaching is also very much on that road as well given the 3-5 year wait to get a fulltime job.
What are people doing from 24 to 30?
January 26, 2010 at 9:15 am
I can’t fathom ending my career at some arbitrary age, like 65. I figure that by that point I’ll gradually shift my practice to be more flexible, work part time and do other stuff the rest of the time. I know lots of people in my field who are still doing something related at age 70 and up, and since they love what they do (as I do) they don’t begrudge it, they enjoy it. I’m still saving lots so I can have a say in how much I want to work, and what kind of work I want to do, but I can’t fathom stopping completely in another 30 or so years.
To the frustrated teachers, I feel lots of sympathy-a good friend of mine is in a similar position, on the supply list for years and longing for a class of his own. I just wonder how you’d feel on the other end of your career though. You paint the retirees as greedy and selfish, and I don’t know many teachers have those two qualities.
January 26, 2010 at 9:28 am
Sorry Gail,
I really think this is just Baby Boomer craziness. These are the same people who carry all their vacation days over from year to year and check their BlackBerrys in the middle of the night. I think the next Gen… X, I guess, won’t have any problem finding enjoyable activities during retirement that don’t include punching in anywhere, “consulting”, or taking jobs (and food) out of the mouths of young folks.
I really think folks that can’t live without a job should do some soul searching and reconnect with who they are. You had an identity before you started working….what was it?
I for one, will travel when I can and if that’s not in the budget I have no problem going for walks, volunteering at the church, cooking, eating and watching daytime TV…none of these activities will start before 9 am
January 26, 2010 at 10:06 am
Hi Gail,
A note about your poll…I couldn’t vote, because I don’t have kids. Maybe next time you might put in an option to select that. It would, at least, give you an idea of how many of your regular readers do or do not have children, which in turn gives you an idea of the audience you’re writing for. Just an idea.
January 26, 2010 at 10:14 am
Retirement is different for everyone. Retirement will occur at different times.
It all depends on the person you were, who you are now, and who you wish to be. Of course, how financially prepared you are plays a big part as well.
I know many people who can’t wait to retire. I know many people who don’t ever want to retire. The reasons are as unique as they are. My late mother was so busy in her retirement, she wondered how she ever found time to work. My dad, on the other hand, is a more time-structured person. He tries to keep himself busy with small trips, and outings.
Lynn, this is not baby-boomer craziness. It has been going on for generations. The ‘young’ have always tried to squeeze out the ‘old’. One can’t force their perceptions or opinions upon others. But they try.
Personally, I am in no big hurry to retire. But… it is not because of my occupation. Quite frankly, it bites. I certainly won’t be doing it for another 20 years. I do see myself transitioning back into a less stressful occupation. I do see myself doing more things for me. I have lots of hobbies. Hopefully I will be able to find a happy medium. Of course, it will be a life that hubby is happy with too.
Do take time to really think about your retirement and what it may entail before you make any drastic decisions. Don’t rush into anything. I’m sure ‘D’ wishes they had thought more about the move from Calgary to Kitchener.
January 26, 2010 at 10:24 am
It is my goal to not be as work driven by the time I hit retirement. I certainly agree with the poster who said this was a generational issue. My generation watched our parents (the boomers) get ridiculously attached to working, and have little balance in their lives. If you look at the previous generation, people volunteered and looked after their communities far more in their spare time. Retired folks were still valued for the unpaid work they contributed to society, including but not limited to childcare, work with the homeless and needy, work in healthcare… all those “jobs” that we rely on people to do but have not social programs to necessarily cover. The fact that our society has become that much more materialistic and consumptionist is causing people who, in a previous generation have retired quite comfortably, to feel as if they don’t have enough money to survive without working. I still cannot believe the number of people who upgrade this and that simply because they need the latest and greatest. Just yesterday someone told me they were selling 5 black kitchen appliances that were 2 years old because they upgraded to stainless steel. Why on earth is it necessary to replace 2 year old appliances because of their colour? Seriously I am baffled by how people do this.
As far as the teaching profession goes, there are so many problems in my opinion with how our unions and contracts are laid out. I was one of the lucky ones to get into the profession right after graduating, but I see tons of people who just leave because it’s not worth the financial hardship to continue living in poverty while waiting on the sub list for years on end. Unfortunately until our entire country begins to push our governments for more quality education funding, the dollars are stretched between the hands of those in power, and most of them are of the baby boomer generation. It is hard to even explain this position, because it comes down to values and beliefs. We should remember that many boomers in teaching were women who actually had to leave the profession for a number of years to raise their own children. Back in those days they did not have a year of mat leave. This left many, many women at a disadvantage in their pensions because there may be a 5 or 10 year contribution gap they are trying to make up by subbing. Just something to think about. At least we have made some strides in our mat leave benefits!
January 26, 2010 at 10:29 am
Personally, I am seriously looking forward to retirement. I MISS my hubby so much because he works Mon-Fri, then I work Sat-Sun. We’ve chosen this schedule of work to avoid putting our children in daycare, as we both work long hours on the days we work. Some days we sit back and dream of the day when neither one of us has to get up and go to work for 12-14 hrs – when we can laze in bed till 9am every day, then get up and sip our coffees while reading the morning paper, chatting about this and that, with not a care in the world about the time of day it happens to be. Maybe we won’t live as long as the next couple who continue to work? I don’t know, but I’m quite certain that we will love not working and being able to do all the things we can’t do today because there just isn’t enough time or energy in a day.
January 26, 2010 at 10:33 am
Telsa and Rebecca, I’m in the same boat looking for work as a teacher. I’m volunteering and it is very frustrating to be volunteering during the day and taking any job on the weekend and evenings just to get by.
Gail, if you haven’t met a true happily retired person, you need to meet my mom. She retired from teaching a few years ago and never looked back. She is also busier now than ever before with volunteer work, getting together with her other retired friends, taking trips to various warm locations, reading books, having a social life, and taking care of her father. I think the only thing that would make her happier would be to have grandchildren, but if you read the above paragraph it will explain why we cannot afford to give her any.
January 26, 2010 at 10:37 am
I’m dreaming of retiring to the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, living on a small hobby farm with chickens and maybe a goat! But not too rural – I’m a social butterfly! I’m soon to be 35 so this retirement dream isn’t anytime soon.
I’m not worried about it. I plan for it financially, but in terms of what I will do, I’m more concerned about enjoying today. A lot can happen between 35 & 65.
I’m working on a plan to purchase property in the area we would like to be, to help this dream become reality.
Gail, in your poll, I think another category would have been beneficial – My children are too young for an allowance.
My son is 4. He occassionally gets some money for his piggy bank, but other than that I’d prefer to put money for him in his RESP. When he begins to have a need for cashflow, I’ll reassess the money.
January 26, 2010 at 10:39 am
I guess I’m currently living a modern retirement. I’m a supply teacher ( by choice- I gave up full time teaching) I also teach distance education from home. These two give me the flexibility to spend time with my kids. I plan on continuing with these two jobs for as long as I can. Word of advice to the beginning teacher- Follow the jobs- I was in a similar position in the early 90’s. I ended up teaching in Japan for 3 years, lived in a fly-in community in Northern Saskatchewan for one year, lived in a farming community in Southern Sask for one year, then near North Battleford for 5 … before finally settling where I am now. If you are willing to relocate the jobs are there.
January 26, 2010 at 10:48 am
@psychsarah – At the end of my career as teacher I very much intend on retiring and honestly doing something else. I think it will be quite refreshing to take on some new challenges rather than doing the same ol’ thing. Unfortunately, in terms of teachers being greedy, I do know many teachers who take on supply work for the Fall, get enough money to go on travelling, and then return in the spring, to get money for summer vacation. I would like money to pay my bills and get started on my adult life. People have to understand that the younger teachers do get upset at situations like this.
@Jennifer. Yes our unions and contracts have so much to do with this situation. So does the scary words ‘declining enrollment’. In terms of mat leave, we still have to contribute for our year off in mat leave right? Either we do an extra year or pay into our pensions? I’m not too sure on how all this works. How does it differ when female teachers today take a year off or two off (I’m finding that the EI mat leave year followed by a 1 year unpaid leave is becoming common).
January 26, 2010 at 10:55 am
I ma so far away from retirement (over 30 years) that I know my opinion will change by the time I need to make a decision so I don’t really have a specific belief one way or the other.
I wonder how many people do any sort of trial run before retiring, mother-in-law worked out an arrangement with her employers to take an extended leave so that she has an idea of what not working is like. My MIL is taking a year off starting in the Spring and is traveling, taking art courses and otherwise getting a better idea of her retirement self.
For the people above who are complaining about people not leaving work completely holding up their careers, do you really think that after 30+ years of working steadily that you could just up and stop without missing it or worrying that you would live longer than the amount of money you have saved?
January 26, 2010 at 11:04 am
Wow! This is a conversation topic that I needed to read about. I am 47 years old and had read that you should get mentally and financially ready to retire 10 years before you can retire. My husband and I graduated in 1981-1982 during the recession. Those were hard time for us since jobs were very difficult to find in those years. We never gave up, we started at the bottom of the seniority list and kept going. Today we are financially stable.
There are two points to my story: First one is I truly believe that if you can retire with a pension, you should let the new generation work and go find something else to occupy your time. The new generation also has to understand that they have to start at the bottom of the seniority list even if that means substituing for a few years. This will only make you live within your means and when the tough times comes back again (which they always do) you will be ready.
Second one is I have 7 years to work and will retire with a pension but I have no idea how I will occupy my time. I have been thinking about it for the last 3 years and I am strill struggling with it for the simple fact that this is what I did for the last 29 years. When you raise a family, work full time, take care of a house and all of sudden the family is gone, the house doesn’t get dirty as much and you can’t really connect with the person you were 30 years ago because I am no longer the same person and do not want to be that person.
Bottom line I have not decided what I will do when I retire but one think that I do know is that I will be listening to my peers and will learn from their experiences.
Thank you
Anne
January 26, 2010 at 11:08 am
Hello everyone,
I am reading these comments, as I do most times, however I have never felt the need to comment before until today. I am also a young teacher. I was fortunate enough to get a full time job, right out of the faculty (I graduated two years ago). Keep in mind however, that I took a job that required a three hour daily commute and it was a job that was definately not my first choice. I know so many new teachers who complain about retired teachers taking all the jobs, yet they are not willing to take extra steps/courses, or apply to more than one board (I applied to 5). If I didn’t have a job by now, I would be enrolled in any university French course I could find just to get a job! We all know french teachers are in HIGH demand. I am sick of young teachers complaining about the retired teachers who have put in years of hard work. Think about it, when these teachers retire, that opens a permanent position. So instead of complaining about them taking the LTO’s, you should be thanking them for opening a permanent, if they didn’t retire, there wouldn’t be one! In a fair amount of cases, I am sure that some teachers can only retire knowing they are able to do supply/LTO’s. I just hope that these new teachers stop complaining before they ruin it for themselves on the other end of their career.
January 26, 2010 at 11:10 am
My mother was a teacher. I saw her take courses in the summer, every year to improve her skills. I saw her be surplus for 10 years when we moved. I saw her volunteer in schools to get known to the teachers and principals. Guess who they called to sub, and for a full time position when it came up? I also saw her waitress when the jobs weren’t there. I’m not sure why teachers these days think that they can walk into a position in their chosen field out of university. Is it because it is a government position and they think it is owed to them? How many people walking out of university get a job in their chosen profession in the first year? 2 years? 5 years? I paid my dues, I waitressed at night. Sometimes you need to volunteer in different fields to get known. I was into my 30’s when I finally got “the job”. That is the way it is in the real world. I’m not sure why teaching should be any different.
Some people don’t know what to do with themselves after retirement, it’s true, sometimes it kills them. To say “who were you before your job”, well I have had jobs since I was 14, I guess in my retirement I should be a child who likes to jump off dams.
It is a very big decision about what to do when the time comes. I’m 23 years off, but I already have a feeling that I will work part time. Just to give structure to my days. I like that kind of thing. It may not be for money though.
January 26, 2010 at 11:15 am
New Teacher – very well put.
Find out where the jobs are, isn’t that what everyone else has to do?
January 26, 2010 at 11:17 am
@Anne. Volunteering is seriously awesome. I volunteer teach an after-school course with a team of teachers and we have about 6 or 7 volunteers who are having a great time (half of them are non-parents too). Believe me a person’s schedule can become quite busy with doing other things rather than your typical 40hr a week job.
I also have no issues doing supply work for a few years. Alot of us are totally ok with that. The issue is that we are not getting enough calls. It is really hard to start a career when you are continuously pushed out (I’m not even going to start on what it took to even get on the supply list). I’m not ‘living within my means’. I’m in pure survival mode and trying my best to pay OSAP, save a little and pay for my gas. I actually cannot pay for anything else.
@Lily. I worry everyday that I will not get called and I won’t be able to pay my student loans. I worry that this will never end.
January 26, 2010 at 11:30 am
This topic is near to my heart. I actually rang in the new year this year with the statement – this is the decade i will retire! I work in municipal government. I have a great job and will enjoy a very good pension (that I also contributed to). However, as with a lot of work places ours has become very stressful. Many of my co-workers are retiring because they can’t stand the work environment. they are prepared to go out and get a min. wage job to supplement their income to save their sanity. It is unfortunate because a lot of experience and knowledge is being chased out the door. I am very much looking forward and have been planning to be able to retire when I turn 55. I am 48 and have quite a few friends who have retired and most have found many enjoyable and productive ways to put in their time. My experience (through them) is that there is a period of settling in that has to occur. One of my friends said that she went to the mall every day for a month to get out of the house before she figured out some better ways to spend her time. My husband on the other hand really enjoys his job in the auto sector. He too will have a good pension but will not retire as long as he is doing a job he enjoys. His social circle is at work and he doesn’t have many hobbies except golf and that will be very expensive every day. i will likely be retired and he will be going out to work and we plan to have him take some small leaves from work to allow us a bit of travelling.
I understand the frustration of trying to get into your careers. This is a bad time in Southwestern Ontario. As a previous poster said, public service employers are relying on temps making it impossible to get in full time and they are contracting out high wage jobs to much lower private sector employers. I first came into the job market in 1980 and it was tough then too. Hopefully in the next couple of years things will start to turn around.
January 26, 2010 at 11:35 am
Why can I never find the polls? Can anyone tell me where they are posted?
January 26, 2010 at 11:45 am
Sara – my mom is the same except that I have a son she spends a lot of time with. She (and my dad) is the reason why I have been able to work a job with weird hours and commute out of province. They travel for months at a time and have been all over the US and Canada. I was worried she would have too much energy but she finds things to do.
I am Gen Why and we were told that the boomers were all retiring and that jobs like teaching were in desperate need if we did not learn them. So I can understand the other posters comments. My mom did fully retire from teaching but I know ones that havent.
I think I would be fine doing either, working a little or not. I used to volunteer quite a lot and think taking university courses for free would be fun. There is a world to explore out there when you no longer have the 9-5 grind..or 2-11 or 9-9…
January 26, 2010 at 12:46 pm
To all the new teachers who can’t find work – do you do tutoring? I have a 9 yr old son who could really use a tutor – I’d even consider pulling him from school one afternoon a week for a one-on-one tutoring session with a qualified teacher. I’m sure I’m not the only one out there that has this type of need, yet, when I look around, there are no ads from teachers offering tutoring during or after school hours… at least not where I live. The only one I found was booked up solid and couldn’t fit us in.
January 26, 2010 at 1:11 pm
My mom retired at 55 from nursing, and like another poster mentioned, she doesn’t know where she found the time to go to work! Every day I am hearing about her gardening, quilting, books, visits with friends, etc. She certainly never sounds bored. My dad has been very gradually transitioning into retirement. He’s run his own renovation and cabinet making business (he’s the only employee and the only boss!) for decades, and I don’t think he will ever fully stop working. He’d get bored. He’ll be 60 this year, and is happily doing shorter hours and smaller jobs, with a week or two off whenever he feels like it. I really do think it is a case of whatever works for you.
Personally, I’ll probably work longer in life than my mom. I’ve spent longer in education, for one thing, and am only truly embarking on my career now, at 30. I feel I have many productive years ahead of me, and academia has pretty reasonable terms when it comes to maternity leave. I’ve recently had experience of what it might be like to be retired, and haven’t enjoyed it much, frankly. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I found myself unemployed for 3 months, in a new city (re-locating for the new job to let husband find work). This last month, my husband’s been at work all day, and I’ve been left to my own devices. At least I’ve had a new city to explore, but it’s been very lonely having moved away from my previous social circle.
January 26, 2010 at 1:11 pm
When my grandparents retired they led lives that were so full and busy that it’s a wonder they found time to work before. If I needed an obscure textbook for one of my courses I could ask one of them to go out on a 2 week expedition to find it and they loved it.
I like the structure of a job and I while I find almost all of my fulfillment in raising and caring for my family (and extended family), there is a component of self-fulfillment that I can only get from something external. So I know that when retirement age comes, I will keep working.
I worked at a call center once until school started and one of my coworkers was a former vice-president from Xerox. He didn’t need the money but he needed to be busy and liked to talk to people. It was nice for him to be so detached from any office politics that were going on in some teams.
January 26, 2010 at 1:34 pm
My late father was so busy after he retired, he wondered how he ever found time to work and he was still very productive right up until a stroke felled him in his late 80’s. My mother stopped working in her late 30’s to stay at home with the family, so as a housewife, never really got to retire. They were never bored or lacked something to do and I never got the impression that they were “biding their time.”
I love my job, and it is good for me because in dealing with the public, it forces me out of my natural inclination to be an introvert. However my social life is not connected to my job. Also, I have so many interests and projects that work keeps me from doing that retirement can’t come soon enough!
Being productive and interested in learning/doing is important to me so I am toying with the idea of working perhaps one or two days a week just to keep some structure in my life or taking courses that have always interested me. All my older friends who have retired love it but then again all of them have varied interests and a social network apart from what their jobs were.
As to family, none of them live nearby and I have no plans on moving to their area. What would be the point? I’d be miserable in that part of Canada and I know it. Family is a wonderful thing, but location and friends/social networks are important too. I know of many cases where people uprooted themselves late in life to be near family and either regretted it or ended up moving back and suffering a loss in so doing. If I were to move it would be in the same area, just with less yard to maintain.
So I guess I’d say, it’s good to ask yourself the questions that Gail posed well before retirement arrives. Know yourself, know your requirements and fit your retirement as much as possible to that.
January 26, 2010 at 1:34 pm
In regards to this line: “retirees who continue to work after they’ve officially retired end up with fewer major diseases and can function better on a day-to-day basis than those who stop working completely ” I wonder, couldn’t it be true that those who keep working do so because they have fewer major diseases and are higher functioning? But then I find this line confusing: “This holds true regardless of the person’s health before retirement.” – Does this mean that those who had major health problems but kept working saw improved health?
January 26, 2010 at 1:37 pm
I’m all about retiring – I think. I have a monetary number in mind and that’s what I’m aiming towards. This is a good article for me…what exactly do I want my retirement to look like?
Frankly, I have no idea. I don’t have kids, or a spouse or even a boyfriend for that matter. What I do know is that financial security will allow me to do whatever I choose, even if it means continuing working or going to school or volunteering my time.
Sara, I admire your mother! It sounds like she got it right. Here’s to all of us becoming financially free!
January 26, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Next poll:
1) teaching profession
2) financial services profession
3) other
There are so many things I would like to do and learn that I need to make sure I have enough $ for retirement to enjoy them without financial guilt. Looking forward to sleeping in though…
January 26, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one, Gail
I just started working full-time about a year ago after completing a graduate degree. I love my job and my husband loves his (he is a teacher). We both chose professions that we are passionate about. If we have to go to work everyday we should feel that our work is meaningful and valuable – and we do. But ultimately, we work to afford a comfortable life for ourselves and our family. If money were no object, I would not work another day. There are plenty of ways to find fulfillment, to contribute and to connect outside the context of the workplace. Get involved with your community or church, volunteer your time, invest in your family, travel, etc. I can think of a hundred ways to spend my time if I wasn’t working – If I didn’t have to work, I would volunteer with an agency to go to Haiti right now.
I feel so fortunate that my husband and I are both working, and that we have secure jobs with strong pension plans. I consider it a true blessing that we will have the luxury to retire one day, as so many people do not even have this option. We both look forward to this time down the road, and I can only hope that we will both be in good health to be able to enjoy it.
January 26, 2010 at 2:34 pm
@Rose, go to the top of the page. Click on Gail’s blog then scroll down and on the right hand side you’ll find the poll.
January 26, 2010 at 4:26 pm
One of the partners in our firm is 92 years old, another is 94. The 92 yo comes into work every day, M-F, and he’s still sharp and incredible at what he does. Although his computer skills are limited, his experience in our field in incredible. We often trade off and I help him with computer based work and he helps me with policy work that is beyond my experience. He says the reason he is still so healthy and with it, is because he chose not to fully retire. So there is definitely some truth in the quoted study.
Personally, I think I would like to follow my dad’s lead when it comes to retirement. He’s very specialised in his field and in the last 2 years, instead of taking early retirement, he’s been taking contract consulting work all over the world. He gets to do work he enjoys, with the option of coming home regularily, plus he gets to travel to exotic locations, and my mom can join him when ever she wants. Most importantly his compensation is project based so his income is the same as before.
January 26, 2010 at 4:26 pm
To branch off a bit from your post Gail, some older men in my life have set a shining example of what it means to work through retirement. Both my Father and a previous employer retired around 55… for a year or two! While they could afford to keep them selves going in pursuit of the leisurely lifestyle, they chose new jobs putting their skills to the test. Not content with knowing they had worked for many years and earned a fantastic reputation, they sought new, terrifying employment opportunities… and thrived!
I personally am thrilled and have benefited from sharing in their work ethic. As a 27ish woman with a new baby and a burgeoning career they’ve shown me you can have it all and live to tell about it.
I think if those close to retirement age approached retirement with the air of sharing their skills and knowledge, we could all have a greater understanding of work and life.
Thanks for the great post Gail!
January 26, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Personally I haven’t asked myself what I’ll be doing around retirement age. That is a question I need to start to explore. I currently think I’ll have more then enough to retire and I currently don’t want to be doing this job forever so I think I’ll have to take some time to explore this question
regards,
Jason
January 26, 2010 at 6:21 pm
For me retirement has a different meaning. In my job – military – I could retire next year (if I wanted to) at age 39 and start drawing my pension the next day. Of course the pension wouldn’t be much after only working 20 years and I’m a single mum with a mortgage, so it’s not really an option for me… but it sure would be nice
Anyway, I have a grand plan which includes taking university courses part time and working towards my degree. Once I have my degree in about 6 years I’ll be able to retire – from the military – and using a 25 year pension plus working in my new field part time I’ll be set.
So in a way I”m doing what Gail suggests, just differently. Of course I’ll only be 44 at that point and I don’t really want to spend the next 40 years doing the same thing, but it’s definately a step in the right direction
One thing I find funny about several posts: many people are mentioning that they would love to sleep in once they retire, but it’s a fact that the older we get, the less sleep we need. So by the time you reach that magical age for retirement it’s possible your eyes will be popping open at 6am like most of the older people I know. Sorry to rain on your parades, but I giggled each time I read it!
January 26, 2010 at 7:08 pm
ROTFL about the sleeping-in comment – I wake up every day at 6:30am regardless, so that’s not an issue for me. I do like having a lazy morning with tea and toast and reading in bed though, so I do look forward to working only part time when I get to be over 60. My retirement savings are in good shape and I still have 20 more years to work, I’m sure by then I’ll have some ideas about what I’ll want to do. Both my parents retired early at the age of 58 and are still very busy with volunteer work, travel and personal projects 15 years later, so I’m not too worried.
January 26, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Once when I went to visit my grandfather he said his back was acting up but he couldn’t get in to see his chiropractor because the fellow had retired. My grandpa couldn’t believe that a man who was at the top of his profession and who had so many patients who depended on his expertise to help them would leave them all high and dry. I had to delicately point out that the doctor in question was 93 and had just been in a car accident and probably wanted to spend his convalescence with his family!
January 26, 2010 at 8:34 pm
That study really surprises me because everyone in my family went into retirement with a whoop of relief and never looked back. My mother counted the days to retirement for 40 years and spends her days reading, her evenings socialising, and never gets up before 9am. My father plays in a Jazz band. My grandfather wrote books. My grandmother traveled the world. My stepfather does politics. My aunt gardens. Twenty years to go, if my financial plans pan out.
And yes, sleeping in. My natural bed-time is 4 am. Every evening I cannot sleep and every morning I’m a zombie running on coffee. With reduced need of sleep I might be fully awake by nine. Sounds brillant.
Of course, all that assumes that I keep my health and my job for 20 more years.
January 26, 2010 at 9:18 pm
I know plenty of very happy, retired people, my father and his wife are at the top of that list. They have a grand ole time, persuing their hobbies, and because of frugal living, travelling 3 or 4 times a year. I am aiming on retiring around 60 years of age…20 years from now. Realistically I think it will be 65, but you never know.
@Melaniesd – we actually picked the age of 4 to start giving our children allowance. They don’t get much…we give each of our children 1/2 their age in allowance (the 4-year-old gets 2 loonies), of that they must put 1/2 of it in their unopenable (lol, is that a word?) piggy banks and half they can spend how they want. When those are full we’ll open a bank account with the money and it goes towards their education. We also have their monthly RESP contributions. I don’t know about all 4 year olds, but our kids have been capable of understanding it and save up their loonies to purchase something that they want. They all love their birthdays because that’s when they get an extra 50cents a week…lol.
January 26, 2010 at 11:36 pm
I am a new teacher. I have been supplying for a year and a half. I have taken two AQ courses ($900 each), several sign language courses, several summer courses through the school boards, volunteered and worked in many various programs relating to children. I have yet to even be interviewed for an LTO, I apply to them all. It is difficult to continue to take courses when you have very little income coming in.
Last year I applied to and followed up on approximately 8 school boards. They are just not hiring. Especially if you do not currently live in their city, or have done a placement within their board. It is a very hard profession to get into. I can empathize with other new teachers who are frustrated by the declining enrollment and increasing number of retired teachers who come back to supply teach.
It is frustrating when you see a retired teacher’s timesheet filled with a full week’s worth of work when you have only had one day. I think that when I retire I will not find it difficult to keep busy. There is volunteering, seeing friends, family, vacationing, hobbies, etc.
Most places do not offer part-time work anymore once you retire. Teaching is different in the regard. I do think it is unfortunate for new teachers. Retired teachers have it good.
January 27, 2010 at 12:07 am
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January 27, 2010 at 12:25 am
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January 27, 2010 at 9:41 am
My husband & I are mid-thirties and I want to buy a condo or townhouse downtown to rent out until we retire, then use it to live in. Is this trying to plan too far ahead? What if we don’t want to live in this city? What if we end up wanting to stay in our house? We do own our current house & it should be paid off in 5 years or so. I thought it might be a better plan to just keep it and rent it out when we retire instead of selling & buying at that time.
I love thinking about retiring and I wish I could retire now. I don’t think I would stop working but at least I would stop *having* to work!
January 27, 2010 at 10:11 am
@Anna V,
.
I could have written some of what you’ve said. I am on track with my retirement plan and think on it often, but don’t have a true vision of what it will look like (yet). I always thought I would do the ‘cold turkey’ and stop working completely, but the more I ponder it, I would either: consider working less (I currently work 4 days/wk) and/or volunteering, taking courses of interest, more travel and . . . I don’t define myself by my job so don’t consider myself someone who ‘needs’ to work until the end. My late grandfather was someone who thought he would die if he didn’t work. He finished working about 3 years before he died – he was one of those folks who needed to be busy and mentally checked out when he stopped working. I believe just having a plan means that I get to choose, which I consider “Freedom 55”
January 27, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I can’t wait till I retire!!!!!
I don’t think I will have any issue with not working. I plan on doing travelling, spending more time on my hobbies, volunteering and maybe working one or two days a week …. maybe!!
If I was to retire at 65 I have another 39 years of working. Oh wow, thats depressing!! No, we have a plan in place to retire in between 50 and 55. As long as there are no major huge gigantic hiccups along the way we should be able to achieve that.
Wow …. 39 years, really? I don’t know how people do it.
January 27, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Another teacher chiming in… I love my job, but I’m looking forward to retirement so I can have time to do all the other things I’m interested in. I already don’t have time for all of my hobbies, committees and other activities. For me, retirement will be a time to volunteer more, travel and pursue new projects. The travelling part is the reason I’m putting away extra money for retirement. I definitely don’t want to stay still.
January 31, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I’m Baaaaaaaaaaaaack~ Got storm stayed in London.
This particular subject here has been interesting. I see both sides regarding teaching.
My hubby retired in June. For years the board tried to get him to become a principal…years! He always declined. He would rather be with the children and not doing more administrative work. He has won the Prime Minister’s Award for ‘Excellence in Teaching’. The framed newspaper article and his picture are in view here as I type. His peers had them framed and presented to him.
He still volunteers on several committees, one of which is being on the executive for occasional teachers. He has been Vice-President in the past. He has discussed this very topic with many retired teachers and new grads. At a recent meeting his OT Executive agreed to allow the board to hire more occasional teachers because they demonstrated a need for them. Caps to the number of OT’s are important to ensure that those already on the list get adequate work.
Another is Science Fair. He’s been in charge and second in charge alternately for 29 years. Last year of the 4 students he took to Winnipeg from here – 3 won. One grade 7 student has even had her product marketed now by a company. He still will help with science fair and gets multiple calls every year from schools asking him to be a judge.
He receives emails from young teachers asking for ideas on programming and ways to teach a certain part of the curriculum. He volunteers in the schools.
His time working at EQAO in Toronto where he was the head of the grade 6 testing in Math for Ontario has made him a good resource to teachers. And yes, it is the ‘powers that be’ that decided that children had to be tested in grades 3 and 6 in Math and Writing – not the teachers. He worked hard while there to make sure everything was fair for the children.
Retired teachers choose to come back to teaching for many difference reasons.
This is a democracy. A teacher’s reason is personal and if they choose to return to work, they have that right. One very important reason believe it or not is most teachers really care about students and have spent a career helping and assisting students in the best way they can. It is not something that is easily thrown aside when they retire.
Yes, he is going to do his 20 days this year. He has earned the right. Until the Pension Board changes their policy. Young teachers have the right to petition the Pension Board for changes.
There are two schools in particular here that phone him to supply as two demanding classes have the younger supply teachers in tears. I do not lie.
Even though you don’t want to hear it, I say to the new grads get into the schools. Get known. A teacher passing in the hall seeing you will ask you to supply on such and such a day just because they see you.
I would rather the teacher’s colleges quit promoting their product and giving incoming students the idea the world is their oyster. Yes, there is declining enrolment and it is only going to get worse. The days of 10 children in a family are over.
Teaching isn’t the only profession that is hard to get into and declining in production.
The flip side of my coin is that our daughter has her Honours B.A., M.A., is ABD for her Ph.D. and her teaching certificate. She teaches at a college. She loves it. Have jobs come up? Yes…but they want the Ph.D. behind the name. To say ’she only’ has to write her thesis and defend it now is difficult. It would take perhaps 2 years with her working. She’s frustrated too.
Do I sound proud of my husband and his accomplishments? You bet I do!
As boomers we hear the frustration. I love the way things used to be in Japan. Their elders were revered for their knowledge and experience. My only question is, I wonder of those upset here now…will you step aside and go quietly into the night when you are at retirement age?
January 31, 2010 at 2:52 pm
I can’t imagine retiring. Not at all. I want to keep working for as long as possible, perhaps doing something completely unrelated to my current occupation.
With respect to retired teachers doing LTO’s and supply…
It is very difficult for new grads as well as seasoned supply teachers to earn enough money to support themselves as well as their families. Supply lists are often closed early due to number of supplies already on the list. There simply aren’t enough supply jobs to go around.
I think that those who are retired and want to continue giving to our ed system, do so through volunteering. If I’m not mistaken, retirees can teach ‘x’ number of days w/o penalty to their pensions…nice work if you can get it, huh?
February 7, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I can see that “a full-stop retirement lifestyle” would be unhealthy, but continuing to work is far from being the only alternative. We need some form of engagement; that is, sources of challenges that draw on and stretch our strengths and skills, provide a sense of accomplishment, and help us feel connected. Earlier posts provided lots of examples. I don’t want to eat the same food every day and similarly I want to use this wonderful opportunity to try out all kinds of activities and contributions.
April 11, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Not everyone comes to retirment in the same posiiton obviously, some live on only 1 income, others have a small pension because they haven’t been in the workforce all their lives. Whether one continues to work or not is a personal choice and may be dependent on financial need. Some would love to retire, but simply can’t afford it. Also, don’t forget that older workers have put in their dues as well, which may have involved short-term contractual work for a long time before they received something permanent, or alternate work while waiting for their senority on an on-call list builds. Simply, we can’t make assumptions.
July 2, 2010 at 10:34 am
Thank you for a great post