Are You Coming Or Going?

If you are thinking about planning for retirement, you first need to ask yourself this question – are you retiring to something or are you retiring from something?

Because it’s these answers that will determine the direction you head next.

You might be saying… “I can’t wait to give up work and the daily grind that comes with it.”  It could be that you have worked for a company for several years and are simply tired of doing the same thing, day in and day out. Perhaps, you don’t like your job or it is uncertain. Or, worse, your health isn’t great.

Alternatively, thinking more positively… do you see retirement as looking forward to new things? Whether that be holidays, quality time with your partner, children, or grandchildren, or finally getting your hands on a project you have been eager to start. Do you look forward to a time when you will finally get a chance to do all the things you’ve wanted to see and do, that simply aren’t possible now?

Retirement is an individual journey—whether it’s an escape from your current life or a positive transition toward something new. It is all about understanding your motivations.

Retirement is a change in relationship. Sometimes you can be so focused on what you no longer want to do, that when you do retire you get up on the Monday morning and it’s just blank.

And you know what? The first couple of weeks, it’s great. It feels like a holiday. You can do what you want when you want. You enjoy the freedom of endless day trips and you can finally do the big shop on a Tuesday afternoon.

It’s just like having a couple of weeks off work. But in weeks three, four and five, you’ve got to fill it with something. If you haven’t put the time in beforehand to crystallise in your minds what this new life might look like, it can cause issues. You can struggle with it.

We see it time and time again that the transition becomes a rocky one. Sometimes, it can take six months, a year or even longer for somebody to truly settle and find out what retirement means to them.

 So, after successfully delivering thousands of happy Teesside retirements, trust us when we say it’s better to start thinking about what you are retiring TO sooner rather than later.

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Joslin Rhodes Pension & Retirement Planning – Real Advice, For Real People