Voice of New Retirement

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Voice of New Retirement is a report from Aviva and one of its key findings is just how happy retired people are. Well I'm living proof so I can certainly agree with that one. In fact retirement is so good that 62% find it better than they expected (or perhaps they just had low expectations!).

The report suggests that happiness and fulfilment peak in later life and that those who are retired find greater contentment with their finances, health, diet, exercise and time spent with their family. Yes, I think that this blog can bear witness to all of that too.

So there has to be a downside before everyone hands in their notice and joins the great retirement bandwagon and I'm sorry but the report addresses this as well. It's preparation or rather a lack of it. Alarmingly 27% of people nearing retirement have done nothing to prepare for it, financially or otherwise. Now that is distressing, those people are going to let themselves down in a really big way if they too can't enjoy their own golden era.

I was just thinking the other day that what I really love about retirement is the freedom it gives me to live each day as I choose (to be frank it was an idea that dawned on me when I elected to lie in bed until after 11am, but hey a happy retiree needs her thinking time). Lo this report confirms that retirement is invariably seen as a liberating experience where the number of retired people who feel in complete control of their lives is more than double the number of those who are still working. Fulfilment is high in retirement and at its lowest in our forties, although those approaching retirement have a boost of optimism as they presumably feel the time to achieve life's ambitions is approaching. However those who get the most enjoyment from retirement seem, according to the report, to be those who have planned for it, not just financially but also with their bucket lists or other plans. The report makes it clear that as well as financial planning, would-be retirees need to consider plans for their lifestyle, their needs and their goals.

I certainly haven't found the transition into retirement difficult but as regular readers of this blog will know I did plan for it and please, if you haven't yet started, you must do so now or you could miss out on a great big chunk of later life happiness.


Comments

Royce Shook said…
Great advice, planning for your retirement is so important, otherwise you may face a very tough transition. Once you have made the transition, I agree that retirement can be the best time of your life.
22 March 2016 at 16:22
Jane said…
I had a 5 year plan for retirement which worked well financially but didn't work so well in predicting life events that changed what I had planned to do and where I had planned to live. But...as they say the unplanned bits of life can often be the best bits!
28 March 2016 at 19:31
Tracy Altieri said…
My retirement has been every bit as wonderful as I had anticipated! I am eager to slow down a bit!
30 March 2016 at 15:05
Caree Risover said…
It is good to know that other people can relate to this survey too and great that in our own ways we are all enjoying retirement
1 April 2016 at 22:15
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