Retirement Coaching, its benefits, with a case study. 64PLUS helps you transition to a fulfilling retirement.

What can a life in retirement look like?

Introduction

Do you think of retirement as relaxation at the beach? Is this the image of the retired life that you want? If so I want to challenge your beliefs.

For example:

Did you know that retirement can last for 10,000 days. That's a long time,

OK maybe you accept the arithmetic above, but still desire a retired life on the beach.

However what if you run out of things to do (you can also worry about running out of money, but that’s another matter).

I know it’s impossible to project forward like this, but can you accept that it’s a possibility?

If so, let me add two more potential problems:

What if you retired in order to reduce the stress in your life, how do you think it will pan out after the honeymoon period of retirement?

What if you suffer from relevance deprivation syndrome once you retire?

OK, so if you got this far I hope you will take a second look at my question:

Is this the image of the retired life that you want?

and have concluded that there could be more to retired life than you had thought. So what?

Retirement coaching

Well, I have an answer that may suit you. It’s probably unfamiliar. It’s called retirement coaching.

Retirement coaching is a cousin to financial planning, centred on finding the best outcome for you, after considering your circumstances.

I think the best way to go deeper is to look at a case study of one of my clients.

Case study

1.   Why retirement coaching?

Sue (*), a high level specialist doctor, came to me because of her fears around retirement, which came from two sources. During a stint of long-service leave some years ago she found herself at a loose end and didn’t cope well. Also she witnessed how her father failed to find meaning in retirement.

2.   What did her partner think?

In a joint session with her husband he expressed an opinion that he wants her to learn how to relax. He's also concerned about how they can work out a way of living together in retirement.

3.   What will she miss from work?

She will miss several aspects of her work life such as the energy at work, the daily banter, and her status.

4.   How Sue moved to uncover her meaning in retirement

In our joint search for her meaning in retirement we uncovered that she is a perfectionist with a deep-seated fear of failure.

This is a lesson I learned for myself. I am a student of language. My Italian is quite good but my Japanese is awful. Actually that doesn’t matter. Why not? Because my goal is not perfection, it’s to meet Japanese speakers and help them with their English. Besides, failure in retirement doesn’t have consequences, as you won’t get the sack!

5.   How was success achieved

As a retirement coach I spend 6 sessions with a client, each one hour in length. Towards the end of her 6 sessions, after we had covered many topics such as energy, procrastination, motivation, planning, emotions and many more, she formulated a plan for her retirement.

The plan consists of a portfolio of various activities that will suit her needs and ambitions for retirement, always bearing in mind that - as her own boss in retirement - she can afford to be flexible and make changes along the way.

Conclusion

A retirement coach can help you to locate your meaning in retirement. It takes six session but you learn a huge amount about yourself along the way. Please reach out to me on jon@64plus.com.au for more information.

(*) Not her real name.