Retire Young and Have Fun? 

We often spend time thinking about retirement without making concrete plans regarding our goals. Some research suggests that when thinking about future financial decisions, such as when to retire, people often think about the positive aspects of their future in a general, gist-based fashion (e.g. ‘I will travel’, ‘I will relax’) rather than focusing on the specifics (e.g., Where will I travel? With whom? How much money will that require?), and may downplay negative aspects (e.g., ‘I will not see my colleagues and work friends’, ‘My income will be fixed and restricted’).[i] Moreover, even if people consider potential negative aspects of future retirement, they might have a weaker response to this anticipated loss. As a consequence, some people may be at risk of viewing life after retirement through hazy, rose-colored glasses. People can have high levels of happiness in older age, but sometimes it is a challenge when retirement is on the horizon.

In fact, one in 10 retirees say they don’t enjoy retirement, and that number is likely growing. More retirees than ever say they are “not at all satisfied” with retirement, according to a study published this year from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The institute used data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, collected from 1998 to 2012, in which more than 20,000 people were interviewed every two years.[ii] Rob Pascale, a psychologist and the co-author of “The Retirement Maze,” notes that keeping up with old friends and making new ones in retirement is “extremely important” to one’s mental health in retirement. “Building up your ‘friends list’ can be extremely rewarding, because new people can open your mind to new experiences and broaden your horizons,” he says. “Try to keep most of your social interactions face to face, and don’t rely exclusively on telephone or email — these are not as emotionally beneficial as personal contact.”[iii]

Pascale surveyed more than 1,400 retirees and says fewer than three in 10 people planned for their personal activities, travel, and recreation time in retirement. And, he cautions, “without adequate planning, you have a lack of structure, and that can make you feel you have little personal control over your life.” That can make you less motivated to do interesting things in retirement, and then “things spiral downward from there: reluctance to act can lead to negative feelings about retirement, which in turn can lead to depression and a weakened emotional well-being.”[iv] He also recommends that retirees write out detailed and specific goals for their retirement, and a plan of action to make it a reality, and not just something forever on the horizon. So, for example, if you want to take a trip to Ireland or Italy, you should write that down with rough dates, an itinerary and figure out how you will pay for it (and perhaps who will watch your pets/get your mail/watch your house). That will make it happen.

Some theories of retirement[v] suggest that people have a remote pre-retirement phase, where—while still active in a job or career—one has vague ideas and fantasies about what retirement will entail, and then a more immediate pre-retirement phrase, in which one actually thinks about concrete plans. Once one separates from the workforce (a formal form of retirement), there is a “honeymoon phase” where one might go on a much-wanted trip and/or engage in activities that one could not do when fully employed. Often, this honeymoon phase is followed by a more emotional disenchantment phase, in which one realizes that retirement may lack structure or satisfaction, and one needs to find regular activities and make necessary adjustments that lead to a more stable day-to-day enjoyment of life. While one may still take on specials trips, family visits, grandparenting roles, or even new responsibilities (such as volunteer or part-time work), the pace is less frantic than when one was working full time, and one may then feel more settled into a retirement routine. Successful aging may be challenging when we need to make life decisions. While this is a model of how retirement may work for many, it doesn’t mean everyone goes through each stage, or follows these rules of retirement—in fact, retirement can involve reinventing stages as needed, sometimes for financial reasons, but often for greater life satisfaction.

For more on how to enjoy retirement, see "Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging."