Spring 2010

Filling Retirement Days
By James Siberski, MS, CMC
Aging Well
Vol. 3 No. 2 P. 5

Many older adults would agree with Oscar Wilde’s statement, “When I was young, I thought money was the most important thing in life; now that I’m old, I know it is.” We often assume that sufficient assets guarantee a successful retirement. However, there is more to retirement planning than just the financial aspect. My client, a 61-year-old widower who had originally contacted me for general health information, eventually phoned me to say he was planning to retire and wanted my thoughts on his decision. Walt stated he was in excellent shape financially since he had a generous defined-retirement plan, a balanced stock portfolio (despite the recession), and other sources of income.

He said he was ready to live the life of leisure he had always fondly envisioned. When I asked whether he had considered all the nonfinancial issues of retirement, he appeared baffled and asked, “Like what?”

Retirement is an important life phase and can be stressful. Although it’s very helpful, preretirement planning seems to focus on the financial issues while ignoring the associated psychosocial and physical ones. Walt decided that it would be advantageous to meet with me to discuss retirement. At our meeting, I used Robert Atchley’s seven phases of retirement to provide structure for our discussion on Walt’s planned retirement. Atchley proposed two preretirement phases: the remote and the near.

Walt was in the near phase since it would be a relatively short time until his retirement. I asked him what he hoped retirement would be like and exactly what he would do. I was trying to determine what, if any, fantasies he held about retirement as well as how realistic they may be since they would certainly affect his future success in acquiring a retirement role. He believed that he would spend time gardening and river fishing. He also intended to take an extended six-week vacation and was very excited about the trip.

This represents the honeymoon phase of retirement in which there is ample time available, an eagerness to have fun, and the opportunity to do things that had not previously been possible because of work constraints. While not every elder who assumes the retirement role goes though all the phases, many will experience some of them, perhaps even repeatedly.

Professionals need to realize that individuals like Walt will spend potentially 15 to 25 years in retirement. Since money did not appear to be an issue for him, I focused on how physical abilities, health, interests, and attitudes change over an extended period of time. I then asked how he thought he would spend his time. His response was, “What time?”

Careful Analysis
Attempting to illustrate my point, I suggested that Walt draw a circle and divide it into four equal sections. Each section would represent six hours that he could then subdivide. I also asked him to estimate the average time he was currently spending in major activities such as activities of daily living, working, leisure, sleeping, and socializing on both weekdays and weekends. Then I asked him to construct a similar circle representing his time in retirement.

I found that he currently had a fairly balanced day. I was especially pleased with the eight-hour allocation for sleep. The retirement circle, however, presented some issues that needed attention. While sleeping nine hours daily is OK, as we age, our sleep patterns change and tend to shorten. Gardening and fishing are outdoor summer activities that are not options in northeastern winters. His anticipated six hours of daily television viewing failed to exercise his mental capacities in a way similar to the demands of his occupation.

In addition, there was a problem with a three-hour period for which he had no plans. For Walt, this exercise pointed out some flaws in his retirement planning. This poor utilization of time can lead to what Atchley called retirement’s disenchantment phase. With no time balance in his retirement, Walt may feel worthless, bored, and even become depressed. Disenchantment is also caused by a honeymoon that crashes when an individual runs out of money, loses power and prestige, becomes ill, or has an unrealistic fantasy.

Essential Planning
The goal was to have Walt consider the results of the time circle and address the problem areas in his retirement planning. If his fantasy were unrealistic, at the proper time, I would assist him in developing a more realistic strategy, directing him to enter the phase of reorientation. Reorientation can also take place after an illness that alters an individual’s function, requiring adaptation to the new realities. In this case, I was trying to prevent disenchantment.

Another phase that retirees may encounter is the termination phase. In this phase, older adults can terminate the retirement role due to illness, death, or by assuming a new work role. Walt’s ultimate goal was to discover a stable phase of retirement where he is self-sufficient, his life is full but not hectic, and ample activities exist to fill his time.

Since I refrain from technical jargon and prefer a conversational style, Walt requested several meetings to review the information presented above, address problem areas, and set goals. Initially, he needed to get a complete physical examination because retirement need not affect elders’ health, but their health can indeed affect retirement. Since his circle of time had some holes, he needed to effectively reassess how he would spend his time.

I recommended that he enroll in a college-level gerontology course to begin better understanding the aging process and normal age-related changes. I also suggested that he consider developing some hobbies that are meaningful and purposeful for him. Community colleges offer courses that could meet this need. Remember that retirement offers opportunities for new roles, particularly in volunteer capacities, other than the previous occupational role.

Retirement provides autonomy to do things elders either could not do or did not have the time to do previously. Retirement is a forward-looking event and requires a plan. Originally, Walt thought that since he was financially secure, his retirement would naturally be successful. Ultimately, he learned that there is more to retirement than money. It is an active phase of life that elders must work at to achieve success. Our society has consistently emphasized getting people to retirement age rather than helping them enjoy their retirement. The idea is to not just retire from something but retire to something.

— James Siberski, MS, CMC, is coordinator of the Gerontology Education Center for Professional Development and assistant professor of gerontology at Misericordia University in Dallas, PA, and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Penn State University.