Can You Define Retirement?
Retirement means different things to each of us. In our experience, defining what retirement means to you is one of the most critical and most challenging things to do. In this article, we discuss the three most common definitions we see.
What does retirement even mean? It has myriad different definitions for all walks of life. Oxford defines it as “the action or fact of leaving one’s job and ceasing to work.”
But to say this oversimplifies the concept would be an understatement. Retirement means different things to each of us. In our experience working with people contemplating the biggest move in their adult lives—going from accumulation to consumption—defining what retirement means to you is one of the most critical and most challenging things to do.
Here are the three most common definitions we have come across—we hope they can help you:
1. Financial Autonomy
Some believe that one’s income is the retentive aspect that might keep a person at a firm or working a certain way. Once that retentive nature of the income goes away—in other words, once you’ve saved enough—one might argue that your job becomes less vital.
While this definition ignores the emotional or behavioral enjoyment one might achieve through work, it certainly illustrates that one’s paycheck or bonus or stock options might no longer carry the same weight.
2. Freedom
I just want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Sound familiar? We often hear from clients that their biggest joy in retirement is simply being on their own time. Perhaps it’s that attainment of flexibility that truly feels like retirement for someone.
They may still be working, but it’s in a consulting role or through boards and volunteering. Whatever the case, choosing to do what is most important to you is a nice place to be.
3. A New Chapter
Few people start out knowing what they want to be as a professional, become exactly that professional, and then retire. The statistics on how many jobs people will hold today compared to three generations ago are like night and day.
Maybe retirement for you means the ability to start a new career that is only focused on what you want to do. Maybe it involves taking a risk on yourself in starting a small business or working in a totally different field.
However, your new chapter might look, we think it’s important to focus on your plan and understand how to make that happen for you. This is our single most important job for you.
However you define retirement, we hope it’s something that allows you the ability to live your life just as you choose.
