Interesting TEDx talk on the 4 Phases of Retirement

cfw1994

Just come across this interesting 13-minute take on retirement 👍
(apologies if this has been posted before)

The majority of threads here focus on finances, & whilst that is clearly very important, perhaps not enough time/thought is spent on the other elements of retirement 🤷‍♂️

His topics cover vacation, loss, trial & error, then reinvent & rewire 💪

Might be worth a listen for an interesting take on things 👀

I should perhaps add that don’t feel I am following those steps exactly: 4½ years in, I don’t particularly feel I’ve felt any loss (🫣), but I am certainly blending the other three phases to keep squeezing the most we can out of our time 🍻

MetaPhysical

A good video and great points made.

BridgetTheCat

Hmm. It would be nice to have a‘vacation’ phase early on but I think many people (especially women?) find themselves caring for elderly parents in the early years of their retirement. 

cfw1994

BridgetTheCat said:

Hmm. It would be nice to have a‘vacation’ phase early on but I think many people (especially women?) find themselves caring for elderly parents in the early years of their retirement. 

This can certainly be true….& the first part of my retirement involved a couple of years with ‘heavy’ caring responsibilities.  

To be honest, I saw that as a bonus - the time we spend with the elderly relative in their last years was not time wasted, albeit sometimes tough.  

eastcorkram

I finished work last Christmas. Health kind of ruined the first four months or so, which in a way, delayed the start of retirement. I'm definitely still in stage one, (without actual vacations), but in my head, I can clearly see stage two incoming rapidly! 

He said that for most people, stage one lasts about a year. He didn't talk about how long stage two and three can last for though. 

cfw1994

eastcorkram said:

I finished work last Christmas. Health kind of ruined the first four months or so, which in a way, delayed the start of retirement. I'm definitely still in stage one, (without actual vacations), but in my head, I can clearly see stage two incoming rapidly! 

He said that for most people, stage one lasts about a year. He didn't talk about how long stage two and three can last for though. 

I do feel everyone is different.  Some of us have a wide group of friends, some are loners.  Some were defined by their work, some not.  Some have lots of hobbies, some none.  Families can be large to non-existent.

I don't see the phases are being defined by particular timescales, but I do believe in the Go-Go, Slow-Go and No-Go years ahead.  Plenty of links on that - here, for just one example.

We are in our early 60s, & I see the next 10-15 years as "go-go" - that could be vacations, as the Ted fella talks, but also stages 3 & 4.  Health permitting, of course - & doing our best to keep that in check with sporting activities.
Quite determined not to worry about the "loss" phase - I keep in touch with a wide number of former colleagues (who were friends) to help avoid that, & I was very clear to never be defined by a title or my work.

Good luck with your retirement - may stage 2 be brief, & 3-4 be long and healthier!

GB_Smithy_1968

Great share, I really like that framing. I've been thinking more and more about this. Retirement gets talked about as a number far more often than a phase of life, and those human bits you mention are usually where the real work is.

If you’re in the mood for another short listen, there’s also a thoughtful TEDx talk on retirement planning called "Do you have enough saved for retirement?". It looks less at products and more at purpose, identity, and what a “good life” actually looks like once work steps back. It sits quite nicely alongside the ideas you’ve outlined here.

And I smiled at your last line. That blending and experimenting phase often feels far more realistic than neat, linear stages. We all seem to end up finding our own rhythm in the end 🍻

Yorkie1

GB_Smithy_1968 said:

Great share, I really like that framing. I've been thinking more and more about this. Retirement gets talked about as a number far more often than a phase of life, and those human bits you mention are usually where the real work is.

If you’re in the mood for another short listen, there’s also a thoughtful TEDx talk on retirement planning called "Do you have enough saved for retirement?". It looks less at products and more at purpose, identity, and what a “good life” actually looks like once work steps back. It sits quite nicely alongside the ideas you’ve outlined here.

And I smiled at your last line. That blending and experimenting phase often feels far more realistic than neat, linear stages. We all seem to end up finding our own rhythm in the end 🍻

Would that be this one? 

zagubov

This reminds me of something I read back in the 80s. The people behind Club Med  proposed a retirement programme called  Skills for Sunlight exchange, where retired Europeans with skills would retire in warmer developing countries where they would help local communities by passing on thier skills and expertise.

They got some way in developing a deal between Morocco and France but I don't know what happened after that (I think it couldn't be expanded easily because the retirees would be potential hostages/terrorist targets in many countries).

ali_bear

zagubov said:

This reminds me of something I read back in the 80s. The people behind Club Med  proposed a retirement programme called  Skills for Sunlight exchange, where retired Europeans with skills would retire in warmer developing countries where they would help local communities by passing on thier skills and expertise.
:

Sounds ghastly. 

MarzipanCrumble

Everybody who retires needs to factor in death of any partner, because this will absolutely change your outlook and, maybe, your financial position.