If you love doing your day job, reaching retirement age can be more challenging than you ever imagined. Most people think that retirement is all about spending sunny mornings at a golf course, sleeping extra hours, and traveling. While it all sounds good, slipping into a life full of leisure is not easy. Plus, you might face challenges which you may not have seen coming. Here are the five biggest challenges which you need to be prepared for:
You And Your Partner Do Not Enjoy Spending Time Together 24/7
Everybody gets super excited about retirement as they think they would have ample time to live life in their own ways. However, when they finally reach home, they suddenly discover that they can’t even stand their partner with whom they have been married to for maybe a few decades. Psychologists have named this Retired Husband Syndrome as they have found that women partners often get stressed out when their husbands finally reach the age of retirement. This happens because they are used to going in completely different directions for years, and when they suddenly start staring at each other’s face for hours together, they get stressed out.
You Don’t Have Any Idea What To Do In Your Free Time
If somebody has a lot of free time with no particular goal or purpose, they might end up being bored and unhappy. Relationship troubles after retirement often stem from this sense of purposelessness. The people who actually find happiness after retirement perfectly know what they wish to do post-retirement. You can consider consulting a therapist before your retirement to ensure sufficient emotional backing for yourself. Most people do not think about the emotional effects of retirement while signing their retirement papers because, all our lives, we’ve had a pre-conceived notion that retirement is fun and gratifying. Also, it’s important to bear in mind that your hobbies and activities won’t really fill full eight hours a day. You will definitely miss that daily interaction with your colleagues.
You Don’t Have Sufficient Money
If you are in good health, you might want to go places and try out new things after your retirement. However, if you do not have enough money to fulfill your wanderlust goals, you might become depressed too soon. Travelling is expensive, and if you really want to explore other continents, you need enough funds to fulfill your desires. When you cannot stay in decent vacation homes or cannot afford the airfare to and fro your favorite holiday destination, you get confined to your home which can be painfully depressing as it might make you feel too cooped up and trapped in one place. Add to it the medical expenses and the financial emergencies, and you will understand why having a substantial retirement fund is so necessary. If you are still planning your retirement, consult a personal finance expert to plan things ahead.
You Didn’t Realize That Your Work Is A Big Part Of Your Identity
Most working people do not realize that their identities are wrapped up in the jobs they have, and once they are free from their professional obligations, they don’t have anything to fill that void. This is when disappointment and depression set in. People who are serious about their hobbies and have solid post-retirement goals usually enjoy a more fulfilling retired life. However, you are bound to miss the human interaction and the inherent challenges of your job for the first few days after your retirement.
You Are Clueless About Your Assets And Social Security Benefits
Most working Americans collect their social security benefits much before they reach their retirement age. When they finally reach that age, they don’t have any more benefits left to maintain their post-retirement lifestyle. For example, if you retired at 65 and live till 86 years of age, you will have to sustain on your retirement savings for the remaining 20 years. That’s two decades! Most people do not have any idea how to plan their retirement savings, social security benefits which they are normally entitled to, and their other assets. This creates a big problem for some retirees.
If you are not sure about how to max out your retirement savings or what to do after retirement, do not hesitate to take help from experts in respective fields. You can even get retirement tips and advice online and get help from within your community.