Lifestyle Adjustments in Your Future

Adjusting to a Retirement Lifestyle

If you are like most people contemplating life after your public school career, you may feel that your principal concern should focus primarily upon your future income and other financial matters. That is not an unreasonable concern, for it is only natural to be at least a little apprehensive about giving up the financial security afforded to you in your present employment and trading it for a retirement income that in all likelihood may be somewhat less than what you are presently earning. But, as important as such financial planning is, it is frequently the case that more mistakes are often made in the many other less tangible adjustments to a changing lifestyle in retirement than are made in financial planning and the selection of retirement options. It is a personal observation that most retirees are generally quite content with the financial choices they have made.

This may be due in part to the fact that the negative difference in income is often compensated for in a number of other ways. First of all, your real income, whether during your active years or in retirement, is only that which you actually “take home” and that which you are able to keep after you get it there. Unlike their effect on your pay check during your years of active employment, your pension check will not be reduced by deductions for social security, union dues, retirement, or local income taxes in Pennsylvania and a number of other states. In addition to that, federal income taxes may be taking a smaller bite since, in all likelihood, you will probably be in a lower income tax bracket. Examine your present payroll deductions and you may also find others that will not follow you into retirement.

But perhaps you may be one of those for whom the very thought of ending the career of a lifetime is fraught with anxiety and apprehension. The best remedy is to acknowledge to yourself that it is now time to sever the emotional ties that you may have had with your former employment and cultivate the attitude that the best is yet to come, for indeed it is.

In brief, cultivate the realistic attitude that you are not so much retiring from something, as you are retiring to something. For many that may involve looking forward to a new role that could be something you enjoy doing or something you have always wanted to do; such as the more active pursuit of a hobby, a second career, or entry into the broad field of volunteerism. But even then, such activities should be undertaken because they are something you want to do and not just merely as a means to keep busy. On the other hand, if any such productive activity is not in your retirement plan, do not feel guilty because you have chosen to embark upon one or more of the so-called idle pursuits that make you happy and bring you pleasure and satisfaction. For most of us that is the real glory in retirement. Barbara Deane in her excellent book Great Retirement – A Planning Guide states that, “Unless we learn to redefine ‘success,’ unless we learn to value being and not just doing, unless we truly believe that people are valuable even when they are not useful, we will be tempted after retirement to become depressed by our own ‘uselessness,’ or allow society to make us feel diminished because we’re no longer productive.”

To learn more about the many important aspects of changing lifestyles in retirement, make plans to attend one of the pre-retirement planning seminars conducted periodically in your area by PASR. Better yet, become a partner in promoting a better and happier retirement for yourself by becoming a member of PASR.