RETIREMENT. A scary little word for some, but for many, it’s something to look forward to. After decades of breaking bone and stretching muscle, even a good workhorse is entitled to a vacation.
But retirement seems to be the final leg. Not even a monthlong furlough or the seasonal summer shutdown. Some see it as a glass half-full: The worker’s reward after decades of nonstop hauling and fawning. For others however, it offers the spectacle of a half-empty goblet, the scissor of the Fates cutting down to size the little of what is left of a person’s usefulness.
Whether you think of retirement as an end or that chance at a new beginning, it pays to know what to do.
Sulking in a corner, of course, is out of the question. With the retirement pay you’d be getting, the chance at being an entrepreneur looms larger than when you were still a struggling employee. It would be wiser to take all chances at learning the business ropes, while you are still an employee. Attend workshops and seminars on how to establish a small- or medium-scale business. Take the time out to strike a conversation with young entrepreneurs. There’s a lot to learn out there. No mariner of note sets his sail without learning where he wants to go.
Business is all about finance. Thus, it pays to put to practice all you’ve learned through the years about managing your finances. Business people call and conduct themselves as “men in a hurry.” Don’t waste time as time, for want of a better cliché, is gold. Learn and practice what you’ve learned. Save up for the expected rainy day. Hold back from spending at least 10 percent to 20 percent of your allotted wages. This you can add to the retirement pay that you’ll be getting. A savings of this magnitude after 20 years of work can spell success for any who would try it. Remember one rule: Destiny favors the bold. It’s one thing to read about swimming; it’s quite another to jump into the water.
Retirement also offers more time to rethink one’s status in life and directions to be later pursued. Hence, sharing what you’ve learned in all your years as employee, and later as entrepreneur, to young hopefuls. Who knows? Perhaps one day, what you’ve always considered as a pain in the backside may help another achieve his success? Good always awaits the generous spirit, and not in the least, those who offer more than mere principled assistance.
Last, don’t slack off from doing the math. Years of retirement can be best secured by periodically studying where you are and your finances. You can do this on your own or perhaps, rent the services of a financial analyst. To further your goals even in retirement, always seek to expand.
Change is good. It keeps the business, as well as yourself, upbeat and in-the-know. The last thing you’d want is to be shrugged aside as a has-been.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano
1 comment
I recently found the site Retirement And Good Living which has many great guest posts by retirees and what they are doing during retirement. Many have redefined their lives in retirement and are now sailing full time, starting businesses based on hobbies, RVing, backpacking across the globe, volunteering with various organizations, retiring overseas and more. It gives you a good perspective of the possibilities.