When is the best time to plant a tree?

 There is a saying which goes like this:

When is the best time to plant a tree?

The answer is. The best time is twenty years ago.

Which leads us to another question. When is the best time to decide what you are going to do when retired?

The answer is basically the same. Start planning the retirement phase of your life a long time before you enter retirement.

Hopefully retirement happens to everybody. Hopefully everyone enters this phase of their life.  When working I put money into my super fund in order to minimise tax. I never thought about it. I saw a lot of patients who were retired. They all said they were busier than ever.

I entered retirement suddenly and without thinking about it.

In 2016 most days were pretty normal. Including a Wednesday in October.  I followed my normal routine. I went to work in my dental practice; in the evening I played tennis; then I went home and went to bed. A pretty normal day.

I woke up two weeks later lying on my back in a bed in the RHH.

I immediately thought, “I am doing nothing. The work will be piling up. I’d better get back to work.” 

I was then told. “You aren’t going back to work. You are now retired.”

In the next few weeks my wife spent a lot of time visiting her now retired husband. One day she showed me a piece of paper and asked me to sign it. This I did.

The next day she said, “You have now sold your dental practice.”

When I found myself retired everybody treated me differently. They no longer treated me as a dentist. They treated me as retired.

I started reading about retirement. The articles were always the same. Discussed money. Articles written by funds trying to get you to put money into their fund. Articles written by government workers telling people to prepare for retirement by preparing financially.

I never saw an article about retirement written by someone who was actually retired. That is the way they are treated. You are old and incapable of. We will tell you what to do.

Retirement is more than buying a retirement house on the coast. Away from your present problems. An idyllic spot to enjoy your retirement.

Think about what you are going to do in your retirement. It involves more than doing your hobby fulltime. It involves more than doing more than playing more golf, doing more joinery, joining a book club.

Retirement involves your social network. Some people disappear. Some of your social network will remain. What remains will change.  You will find everybody in your social network is now different. You don’t need to get a new partner. They are there next to you.

Being healthy and fit cannot be suddenly turned on the minute you retire. You can’t do anything unless you are healthy enough. Somethings cannot be avoided. Some cancers or trauma. But a lot of cardiac and pulmonary maladies can be lessened by your lifestyle when working.

Start thinking about being a fit and healthy retiree now.

I can now say, “I am retired.” Not proudly, sorta of softly. I am thinking like a retired person, not an infirm person forced by medical issues to stop working. What does that mean?

 

 

After continually hearing the word retired I decided I don’t want to be called retired and treated the way everybody treats retired people.

I have listened to the word retired and the way it was used.  The word retired is always followed by another word saying what you used to do.  It ignores the future. It ignores what you do and where you are going. It says the best years are behind you; Your life is finished. Sit there quietly and don’t annoy anyone.

The word retired looks backwards and contains the word tired.  It tells retired people to sit quietly. Don’t make a fuss. Take these tablets. They’ll make you feel better. Be careful crossing the road.

For me the word retirement means freedom.

Traditionally the word freedom has meant Bob Dylan; Easy Rider; guitars, backpacking; jeans and boots. With the soundtrack playing Janis Joplin singing “Me and Bobby McGee.”  

Well, I’ve been both young and old and being retired is the freest I have even been. When I was young, I never felt as free as now. When wearing jeans and tie-die t-shirts I was always aware of things I had to achieve or do. I had to pass another exam; get a job; buy a house; go to parent teacher interviews.

Freedom belongs to us baby boomers; grey nomads; tracksuits; running shoes; campervans; mobile homes; and deck chairs. The soundtrack is ACDC, John Farnham; Jimmy Barnes; Golden Oldies or Hits and Memories. 

We are the free people. We are footloose and fancy free. We are the people who can do anything we want.