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The golden years - the time we get to leave work life and office politics behind. From Freedom 55 to The Wealthy Barber, much has been said about financial strategies on the road to retirement.
It’s something we’re taught to work towards our entire life: save your money, pay yourself first, contribute to your RRSP, pay down your debt and get a good pension, then you’ll enjoy the good life! All wise strategies; in fact they’re great strategies at any time of your life. But will they guarantee a fulfilling, happy retirement? According to a number of recent studies, not necessarily. More and more research is being done on the psychological impacts of retirement and the well being of people in their retirement years.
For those nearing retirement, many have spent years in a single or related career path with one or two employers. Friends have been made, networks created and an identity built around the person we were at work. It can be difficult to separate our retired selves from the person we were at work. In a 2012 study, In The Journal of Happiness Studies by Elizabeth Mokyr Horner, PhD, of the University of California Berkley, it was found that retirees often experience a “sugar rush” of well being and satisfaction right after they retire, followed soon by a significant decline in those feelings. This occurred regardless of when people retired.
For some, the transition is smooth: they become focused on their hobbies, spend time with their friends and continue to be close to their families and work colleagues. For others though, it can be a time of anxiety, depression and feelings of debilitating loss. According to Robert Delamontagne, PHD, the author of the 2011 book, The Retiring Mind: How to make the Psychological Transition to Retirement, “People can go through hell when they retire and they will never say a word about it, often because they are embarrassed, the cultural norm for retirement is that you are living the good life.”
Research has found that for some, working or volunteering in retirement will prevent depression as well as dementia and hypertension. Psychologist Jacqueline B. James, PhD, of the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, has found that only those people who are truly engaged in their post-retirement activities will realize the psychological benefits.
For many of us, the level of engagement we experience is directly related to the amount of control we have over our lives decisions. When we’re forced to compromise and accept things that are different than what we really want, our level of happiness and fulfillment declines significantly.
The solution is to spend more time before retirement getting to know the things that will make us happy, and understanding what we need in life to remain engaged. Too often, retirement planning has been all about financial planning. While the financial details are critical, social and psychological needs are just as important to a good retirement.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
