Have you ever thought of life after retirement?
Retirement planning is as difficult as choosing a life partner.
I know a couple of undecided retirees getting into serious health problems just because they did not know what to do after their retirement. In fact, in one of the worst cases I have known, one retiring employee died of heart attack when he was accompanied by his erstwhile colleagues to his residence on the day of his retirement after the parting party.
Retirement can be a period of frustration or fulfillment. Mandatory retirement means being condemned to a reduced state of existence. In the years on job a man becomes a member of a network of human relations. Retirement demolishes and denies this membership. Small wonder that the very thought of retirement is like an approaching avalanche in his life.
Some retirees escape this shock. They retire happily into active participation in well established interests. Their retirement frees them from certain unhappy environmental conditions in their career.
Most retirees are however neither of these two classes. For them no lately adopted hobbies or interests can possibly substitute for the happiness of achievement in a successful and respected career. Life goes on but the enthusiasm is no more there.
To many retired men such conventional pastimes as adding a wing to the house provide the entire stimulus they need. But these and similar time fillers offer no real challenges. They are likely to result in frustration rather than happiness. This is especially true when the individual has had a long history of aggressive activity.
The obvious answer to this predicament is for the retired individual to keep on working. For better or worse, ours is a work oriented society. One compelling reason for working is that it is beneficial to health.
It is proven that persons of 60 years of age and above have higher levels of intellectual capacity and their brains closely resemble brains of youngsters. Hence our retirees can think in terms of getting into another position upon retirement.
When a retired person applies for a position he should think and talk as a colleague with the management men whom he meets. He is now a mature person. He should direct his conversation toward the prospective employer’s problems. And he should defer any discussion on salary and let the prospective employer name the figure.
As a retired person from an industry one may know some executives personally. He should discuss with them his desires to be of service to the industry. He can explain to the executives that he enjoyed his years of service and further that he is not looking for any job, but would like, in an informal way, to be of service to the industry as a whole.
One cannot retire his experience; he must use it. If one can undertake a purposeful assignment, he will soon discover that he gains certain benefits. He will feel that he is not throwing overboard all that he learned in the past. He will feel himself as a worthy individual by being an unofficial member of an active group. He will feel happy in exchanging ideas with people he respect; and that will add purpose in his life.
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