So, you think you want to retire
In the next couple of growth stories, I am going to talk about retirement and today specifically challenging you to think through if you are ready.
Perhaps you are tired of the corporate treadmill or are bored with a job that you mastered long ago. Maybe you no longer feel fulfilled with a 9 to 5 job and desire to do the things you never had time for. You are ready for a new chapter in your life, but does this mean you are ready to retire? The reasons to consider retirement may be different for different people. In addition to the items already noted, you may have experienced another life transition such as the death of a close friend or spouse or perhaps the need to assist a loved one.
In my case, I decided to retire after a long, successful career in healthcare and higher education finance. I felt there was nothing left for me to do, and I was tired of the monotony that the life of a CFO brings. Budgets, audits, projections, insurance renewals, etc. But I am young and knew I needed something to do in retirement.
But are you ready to retire? Some big questions need to be considered before you make that decision. First and foremost, do you have the financial wherewithal to retire? If you have not yet consulted a financial planning professional, now would be the time to do that.
Have you encountered limitations in continuing with your job? Is the work pace more than you can continue with? When you were younger, you might have enjoyed and relished the fast pace of your job but now you find you don’t have the same level of stamina. As you have aged, are you finding the physical demands of the job too much to continue? Maybe your job requires a lot of physical activity and the accumulation of which has taken a toll on your body.
Are you unable or unwilling to accept that technology has changed the way you do your job? This is a big one. Many of us started our careers when we did not use computers daily. In our younger years and even as we progressed in our careers, we embraced the increased productivity that computerized systems brought us. However, the thought of another system conversion might be more than you can handle at this point.
Has your job changed such that you are unwilling or unable to learn new aspects of the job? In addition to technological changes, maybe you are being asked to do new projects or tasks that you don’t have an interest in. Maybe your job has not changed but you no longer have interest in meeting the demands of your job.
For you, it might be one or all of these factors that are playing into your desire to retire. If you are pondering retirement, give these questions some good thought.