HOW NOT TO RETIRE<\/p>\n
I have been comptemplating retirement for a long while and my concept of retirement has been
\nconstantly evolving as I look around , \u201clisten to my body\u201d and observing retirees.
\n.
\nI have seen many friends and neighbours who became so bored that they have become a nuisance to their spouse and children and to others!
\nA few of them have solved the problem by going back to work. They were able to do so because they have a skill\/expertise that is still in demand. The rest live aimlessly or are waiting to die \u2013 a very sad situation, indeed.
\nThere is no right or wrong but I have come out with some thoughts for sharing.<\/p>\n
4 Pre-Conditions for Retirement<\/p>\n
You should retire only when you fulfil these 4 pre-conditions:
\n1.\tYour children are financially independent (e.g. they got jobs),
\n2.\tYou have zero liability (all your borrowings are paid up),
\n3.\tYou have enough savings to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life,
\nAND most importantly,
\n4.\tYou know what you would be doing during your retirement.
\nDO NOT retire till you meet ALL 4 Pre-Conditions. And of course you should not retire if you enjoy working and are getting paid well for it!
\nThe problem cases I know of are those who failed to meet Pre-Condition #4.
\nWhen asked, \u201cWhat would you be doing during your retirement?\u201d some replied, \u201cI will travel\/cruise and see the World\u201d. They did that, some for 3 months and then ran out of ideas. The golfers replied, \u201cI can golf every day.\u201d Most could not because they are no longer fit to play well enough to enjoy the game. Those who could, need to overcome another hurdle – they need to the find the \u201ckakis\u201d to play with them.
\nIt\u2019s the same with mahjong, bridge, badminton, trekking and karaoke \u2013 you need \u201ckakis\u201d! Most could not find others who share their favourite game and playing\/singing alone is no fun.
\nThus if you are into group sports or games, you must form your groups BEFORE you retire. You need to identify your \u201ckakis\u201d, play with them and discover whether they \u201cclick\u201d with you.
\nThe less sporty \u201ccan read all the books bought over the years\u201d. I know of one guy who fell asleep after a few pages and ended up napping most of the time! He discovered that he did not like to read after all. We do change and we may not enjoy the hobbies we had.<\/p>\n
Routine Activities To Fill Your Week
\nFor most people, your routine work activities are planned for you or dictated by others and circumstances. When you retire, you wake up to a new routine \u2013 one that you yourself have to establish as nobody else would do it for you!
\nThe routine to establish should keep your body, mind and spirit \u201csharpened\u201d. A good routine would comprise:
\na)\tOne weekly physical sport \u2013 you need to keep fit to enjoy your retirement. If you are the non-sporty type, you should fire your maid and clean your home without mechanical aids. Dancing and baby sitting are good alternatives.
\nb)\tOne weekly mind stimulating activity \u2013 e.g. writing, studying for a degree, acquiring a new skill, solving problems or puzzles, learn or teach something. You need to stimulate your mind to stay alive because the day you stop using your brain is the day you start to die.
\nc)\tOne weekly social activity \u2013 choose one involving lots of friends\/neighbours. Get yourself accepted as a member to at least 3 interests groups. Unless you prefer to be alone, you do need friends more than ever as you get older and less fit to pursue your sport.
\nd)\tOne weekly community service activity \u2013 you need to give to appreciate what you have taken in this life. It\u2019s good to leave some kind of legacy.
\nWith 4 weekly activities, you got 4 days out of 7 covered. The remaining 3 days should be devoted to family related activities. In this way, you maintain a balance between amusing yourself and your family members. Any spare time should remain \u201cspare\u201d so that you can capitalise on opportunities that come your way like responding to an unexpected request to do a job or to take advantage of cheap fares to see places or to visit an exhibition.<\/p>\n
Mind stimulating activities
\nMost judges live to a ripe old age. They use their brains a lot to decide on cases.
\nMind stimulating activities are hard to identify. They require your will to do something useful with the rest of your life, a mindset change and the discipline to carry it through. Find new field to learn or new hobbies.<\/p>\n
Your Bucket List
\nDespite your busy routine, you will at times be bored. Then it\u2019s time to turn to your Bucket List.
\nYour bucket list contains a list of things to do before you kick the bucket. They are not routine and are usually one off activities. You need them to have something to look forward to. These include anniversaries, trips (and pilgrimages), visits to friends and relations abroad, re-doing your home, attending conferences (related to your hobbies), acquiring a new set of expertise. 4 such activities that are spaced our quarterly would be ideal. <\/p>\n
Retirement Is A Serious Business
\nIf you can afford to retire and want to, do prepare to live to your fullest. You need to be fit to enjoy it \u2013 therefore get into shape now. You do not want to get up on a Monday and wonder what to do each week, therefore identify your set of weekly routine activities now and try them out to confirm that they are the activities that you will be looking forward to doing each week, week after week. You bucket list of \u201crewards\u201d or \u201cprojects\u201d or \u201cchallenges\u201d is needed to help you break away from the routine thereby make live worth living. Start listing what you fancy and refine it as you chug along in your retirement. <\/p>\n
I hope the above help for those who are planning of retiring. I am looking forwards to my retirement to embark on my various personal projects.<\/p>\n
Leon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOW NOT TO RETIRE I have been comptemplating retirement for a long while and my concept of retirement has been constantly evolving as I look around , \u201clisten to my body\u201d and observing retirees. . I have seen many friends and neighbours who became so bored that they have become a nuisance to their spouse … Continue reading “How Not To Retire”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7534,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,29,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-29","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15976,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15973\/revisions\/15976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverhairsclub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}