It is meant to be the stage of life that is happy, blissful and ultimately, relaxing.
Unfortunately, as the media keep reminding us, it seems to be much more difficult for the elderly to maintain such a lifestyle in their advancing years.
A lot of this stems from financial woes, which have changed considerably over the years. However, there are other reasons why retirement isn’t always a happy period of one’s life, and through today’s post we will take a look at some of the ways you can ensure that you don’t fall into such a category.
Unfortunately, it does come down to finances
Let’s start with a reality-check. One of the big reasons why people are struggling in retirement is because of finances.
Sometimes, this relates to your pension, but chances are you already know how much this is going to provide. It is instead the “nasty surprises” that can make your retirement anything-but relaxing. For example, funeral care costs, the cost of elderly care and more and eat into your savings and leave you struggling. At the same time, don’t believe that you won’t spend as much now you are retired – you will have more time on your hands and are just as likely to do so.
As such, make sure you plan for every financial eventuality before you decide to retire.
Stay stimulated
It doesn’t matter whether it’s from a physical or mental perspective, staying stimulated is paramount to a happy retirement. In relation to the former, make sure you are engaged in some sort of pastime. A lot of people actually return to some sort of part-time work just to stay “switched on”, although hobbies can also work a charm as well.
Jane Byrne, Project Manager at a Kildare nursing home, notes that, “Staying active is also really important, with one study showing that good health was the priority when it came to staying happy in retirement.”
Structure is important
Sure, in some ways retirement is all about moving away from structure from a work perspective. However, there is still a time and a place for schedules, but this time it’s about managing your free time.
Obviously, this is quite a big difference. Do you need to ensure that every hour of your day has some sort of event? Absolutely not. However, organizing your activities so you always have something going on can drastically reduce the chances of feeling depressed or lonely.
Talk to your partner
This final point might raise a few eyebrows, but let’s not forget that retirement is probably the first era of your life that you will be spending all of your free time with your partner. It means that it’s a pretty big step.
It’s here where you need to sit down and find out just how much time you want to spend with each other. Sure, on one hand you’ll be wanting to spend as much as possible, but on the other this is something that you haven’t done before and you both might want a little time alone or with friends.
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