Reinventing Yourself for Retirement
Retirement means reinventing yourself. Your daily life changes. The people surrounding you every day may change. You might sell your house and move but even if you stay in the same house and in the same town, life changes. We downsized, sold our house and moved to Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Big changes – even though we had our Keys house in place and had spent a lot of time here.
They are good changes – great changes! But it’s a constant thought process. I’ve come up with these considerations for us – and maybe for anyone getting ready to retire.
Where is my family?
This is huge for us. Most people want to stay close to family. I can’t go too long without spending time with my sons and we love to gather. If this isn’t a consideration for you, well, the world is your oyster! Move anywhere! If you want to stay close to parents, children or grandchildren, decide how close. If it’s too early for you to base a decision on your children’s location – if they aren’t in a place to “stay put” – you may need to revisit this part of your decision down the road. Maybe they are willing to come to you. You may decide to move aging parents close to you. If you’re staying in your current house, this of course doesn’t apply to you but moving is always an option. You almost have to consider it even if you ultimately decide against it.
What is my lifestyle?
Love being outside 12 months a year but hate the cold? Or maybe you want to snow ski as much as possible? Can’t live without the four seasons? Just want a huge house because you are a homebody? We love the water and our boating lifestyle. My guys all fish and we love to paddle board and kayak. We like to visit the cold but never want to live in it. I like to see the leaves turn but not enough to rake them up. We are Floridians – my husband is a sixth generation Floridian and I’ve lived in Florida 34 years. We love the Keys. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But that’s just one consideration. It’s complicated.
What can’t I live without?
If it’s shopping, forget the Keys or any tropical island. No malls and our weekend retail involves a lot of garage sales. We DO have a Publix in Islamorada now though and it’s awesome! I doubt we will ever have a Trader Joe’s or Total Wine. (Day trip to Miami!) Can you leave your church? Your doctors? Your hairdresser? Are you willing and able to start over in your new life? How about your social clubs? Can you make these changes? And do the right replacements exist where you’re moving? If you’re creating a new life, it needs to start as perfect as possible because we know “stuff happens”. . . !
Can I make new friends easily?
This is important regardless where you end up because other friends will move and work friends may slide away from your life. I mean it’s always good to make new friends, but it becomes clear very quickly in retirement or in a new place. If you don’t want your life to change – certainly don’t move from your current situation. Even then, be ready for some changes. Things rarely stay the same. That doesn’t mean better or worse – just different. It’s all what you make it.
What makes me happy?
This is what it all boils down to. Maybe you’re the ones who take the leap of faith and make it all work regardless. You just want to live in a certain place. Maybe you’re a planner and have to have everything in place for this new stage of life. Or you’re like us and you’re somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. We often re-evaluate and change our minds. Sometimes we change them back again. Sometimes we actually make changes. It’s a process and it can change any time we want it to change.
What about my friends?
It’s simple. We still love you. Come visit! And remember to include us in your lives. Our feelings about you haven’t changed. We still care about what is happening in your lives. Leaving friends was a tough part of our decision-making but we know many of you are in the middle of making your own decisions about this next phase of life. It’s exciting, scary and confusing. I really thought I would “know it all” by the time I was 60. I was so wrong.
Of course there are financial considerations for retirement, but this isn’t a financial blog so I’m assuming you can handle that. There’s a lot to consider. One last reminder: retirement isn’t always one forever decision. This isn’t one lump sum of years that we have to commit to – we need to evolve and change in our retirement years.
So enjoy your retirement and grow along with it. You’ve earned it!
