 To your second half transition
Positive Aging - your attitude to working
Let’s face it: your willingness to move out of the workforce or reduce the number of hours you work is worrying employers and the government.
Every day the media broadcasts the skills shortage and numbers of experienced people who are moving out of their workplaces and out of the professions. For example, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has recently called for newly retired medical personnel to return. It seems there are not enough experienced clinicians available to teach medical graduates wanting to specialise as surgeons, obstetricians and cardiologists.
In all industries and professions, a part-time return to work may resolve a problem for recent retirees – from operating at the top of their profession or industry to suddenly stop work may have been traumatic. Even if refresher training were required, an older workforce available to mentor less experienced people effectively adds to their development.
What are your work options for transitioning to retirement?
Bogan and Davies suggest that life is a work in progress, a continuing experience, and as part of your journey you’re charging towards new challenges and delights. What if this journey is about work or about a transition from work?
Do you want to keep working, to continue to contribute to your workplace and work with your clients and customers? Working for you may be about maintaining your health and well-being. You may work to stay connected in your community and stay visible.
During the 1970s, a medical doctor developed a commercial electronic device for blind people. Over time, as product improvements and lower cost components were developed the product is now selling internationally. The doctor, now in his 80s, attributes his ‘new’ success to keeping an active mind and body in good working order to sustain the effort required to have his device adopted world-wide.
Are you experiencing pressure to retire?
You have options to do what you want to do. As described in the opening paragraphs, you may be encouraged to work, given your experience and ability to mentor and contribute to others in the workforce.
For some people, the pressure to retire say in ten or fifteen years brings worries now about how they will cope. What if you forget that you have to retire, that retirement itself is only an option for your future? As you get older you may have to accept that you are getting slower and walk at a slower pace than before. That’s OK; you still have much to contribute.
Take the example of a tradesman in his early 50s, with a second wife and four young children, no assets and no savings. Perhaps a situation that appears to be as bad as it gets. The worry of retirement within the next 10 years or so was clouding his view of the future. With advice, he took a different view of his future. He hired younger tradespeople to do the heavy work while he concentrated on managing, supervising and bringing in new business. He built a business he could continue to work in well past the expected retirement age. He considered he would never retire.
How can you continue to stay in work, on your own terms?
A positive attitude to growing older reflects a determination or decision not to retire and a real will to continue working. The financial security of a continuing income and independence keeps you connected to the workplace and to your community.
Consider the example of a widow, a teacher with two dependent children. She was in her 50s and facing an enforced retirement at 60. She worked out quickly that a government pension would not be sufficient to lead the life she wanted. She owned her own home with a large garden. With cuttings and seedlings she started a Saturday morning stall at the local market. Her reputation grew with her sales and provision of good advice about other people’s gardens has led to a best selling gardening book. Retirement from teaching came and went unnoticed.
What are your plans to keep working or transition and work fewer hours?
Are you ready to think about the life you want as you grow older? Do you expect that work will play an important part? What are your options and do you know where to start? What if help were available?
Contact us for a complimentary consultation to think about your options as you transition to the next stage. We work with you to discover what you want for your life. It will be the best 30 minutes you spend to get started on developing your plans to stay connected and well.
Sign up for our 52 weekly tips about your transition. The tips provide regular reminders of what you can do to make your transition inspirational and practical.
Reference
Bogan, D and Davies, K 2008, Avoid Retirement and Stay Alive, McGraw-Hill, New York.
© 2009 Helene Strawbridge, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Second Half Success material in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read: By Helene Strawbridge of Second Half Success. Please visit Helene’s web site at www.secondhalfsuccess.com.au for additional articles and resources. (Make sure the link is live if placed in an newsletter or in a web site.)
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