There are numerous considerations about how we will spend our retirement years.
One consideration is finances and whether to work in retirement. The January 27, 2014 issue of US News reported that “most retirees receive income from several sources.” If you don’t want to work on a full time or part time basis, have you considered working only part of the year or on a short term contract basis? The good news is that if you would like to supplement your retirement income with part time employment, many organizations are now seeking part time employees. Well-designed part time employment programs can reduce turnover, decrease the costs of hiring, and generally increase an organization’s profitability significantly. A 2012 survey conducted by Towers Watson found that organizations with high employee engagement were almost three times as effective as their competitors! Progressive organizations will be working toward increasing engagement by meeting employee expectations.
If your interest is not in paid employment, you may like to consider volunteering. According to “Your Retirement Quest: 10 Secrets for Creating and Living a Fulfilling Retirement,” only 27% of retirees do community service, less than 4% of retirees in the US invest more than four hours per week to helping others, and the happiest people on the planet are more “other centered.” This leaves plenty of opportunities to be explored in the future.
If you are considering volunteer work, you may want the opportunity to utilize skills that you have developed throughout your career or try something totally different. Whatever you decide, contact your local volunteer coordinator and follow up with the individual after you connect.
Many retirees today are reinventing the concept of retirement. Retirement may mean retiring from their life-long career/occupations while still contributing to their communities in some other way.
Whether employment or volunteering is in your future, it is important to remain busy contributing to something bigger than yourself. You have lots of options for a happy retirement. The key to a happy retirement is to make informed choices and plan your retirement in advance.
As with your employment years, in your retirement planning and living, if you focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want for your future, it makes a positive difference to your life. What’s next is dependent upon the informed choices that you make in your life now.
Wendy Robertson is a Human Resource Consultant who provides Career and Retirement Consulting in London, Ontario, Canada. For more information visit www.robertsonconsulting.ca