{"id":408900,"date":"2022-02-23T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/think-youre-ready-to-retire-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think\/"},"modified":"2022-02-23T14:25:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T11:25:00","slug":"think-youre-ready-to-retire-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/think-youre-ready-to-retire-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think\/","title":{"rendered":"#: Think you\u2019re ready to retire? It\u2019s not as simple as you might think"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3f7b0d42b68\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3f7b0d42b68\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/think-youre-ready-to-retire-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think\/#7_tips_for_a_smooth_landing\" >7 tips for a smooth landing<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/think-youre-ready-to-retire-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think\/#Harriet_Edleson\" >Harriet Edleson<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#: Think you\u2019re ready to retire? It\u2019s not as simple as you might think<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_tips_for_a_smooth_landing\"><\/span>\n  7 tips for a smooth landing<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\">\n<div class=\"article__side\">\n<div class=\"container--sticky not-active\">\n<div id=\"cx-next\" data-nosnippet>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000612702\" role=\"document\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-layout=\"\n                inline\" data-layout-mobile=\"\" class=\"\n          media-object\n          type-InsetArticleReader\n              \n              inline\n  article__inset\n          article__inset--type-InsetArticleReader\n              article__inset--inline\n  \"><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-object-article-reader\">\n<div class=\"audioplayer\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000612702\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Listen to Article\" tabindex=\"-1\" id=\"articlereader\" data-show-title=\"false\" data-theme=\"wsj-article-reader\" data-show-header=\"false\" data-show-subscribe=\"false\" data-ads-enabled=\"true\" data-save-publication=\"false\">\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       Leaving\u00a0a\u00a0full-time career isn\u2019t as easy as it sounds. Once you retire, especially if it\u2019s from a high\u2013powered career, the phone literally stops ringing (or the emails and texts stop pinging, as one retired CEO described it). People don\u2019t always realize how much of who they are is tied up with their work.<\/p>\n<p> Even if you can continue working as a consultant or part time, leaving full-time work can be challenging.<\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       <strong>Read: <\/strong>I left my job at age 65 and I don\u2019t want to retire \u2014 what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a mixed bag,\u201d says an attorney who retired from the federal government at 60, with the intention of setting up his own practice. Working on your own \u201chas its issues,\u201d he says, noting that the transition is different than if he had sought employment with a corporation or firm. \u201cIt\u2019s more difficult. It\u2019s an adjustment.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re home all the time. There weren\u2019t any deadlines. If I\u2019d left and gone to a company there would be different expectations,\u201d he says at 67. \u201cThere is not a deadline for setting up a practice. It\u2019s less stressful but harder to get motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like others who retire with a pension or more than adequate resources, finances are not the issue. It\u2019s: <em>What am I going to do with my time? What will be meaningful? Who will I interact with on a daily basis?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Experts says five things can be lost or changed when you leave the workplace:<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0identity<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0status<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0daily <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> connections<\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0structure<\/p>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0purpose<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, some people find the transition relatively smooth. For others, the path is bumpy and fraught with challenges of one sort of another. \u201cPeople are afraid to go outside their comfort zones,\u201d says Joe Casey, an executive coach in Princeton, N.J., who also became a retirement coach seven years ago. \u201cThey get stuck in a rut. They\u2019re afraid. That ends up holding them back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is particularly true for high achievers, although some high-level executives have the advantage of a glide path to serving on corporate or nonprofit boards because they are known in a particular field for their previous contributions.<\/p>\n<p>For those who struggle with the transition, the challenge can be allowing yourself to be a beginner. If you decide to venture into a different type of work or even a hobby such as playing a musical instrument, a learning curve is part of it. \u201cYou have to be willing to be bad at first before you get good at something,\u201d Casey says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read:<\/strong> Need more money in retirement? Try a part-time job<\/p>\n<p>For some, not having a detailed plan for what they intend to do when they leave their career job, the void can become a chasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome drift,\u201d Casey says. \u201cEveryday becomes Saturday. It ruins Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The key to success is to plan ahead, to think about what you\u2019d like to be doing when you no longer have a full-time career position. Many plan for financial security before and during their retirement years, but don\u2019t give much thought to how they will spend their time.<\/p>\n<p>While considering when to retire, he would brush the decision aside, saying to himself and his wife of more than 40 years, \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about it. I don\u2019t want to think about it.\u201d He did make step-by-step financial decisions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started to plan for it all along in little increments. I was making those little changes all along, kind of not wanting it to h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet, a confluence of events helped him make his decision to retire in May 2019. Faced with Social Security retirement benefits at 70, plus requirement minimum distributions (RMDs), and pensions from previous jobs, his tax bill would have been too steep. \u201cIt was a tax issue for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI was at a crossroads anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He and his wife had planned to return to the southwest city where they\u2019d lived before moving to the Washington, D.C., area, but he misses going to an office, even with the commute. \u201cThat\u2019s a big loss for me,\u201d he says. \u201cWorking all the way to 72. I was not doing anything to \u2018save the world\u2019 anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read:<\/strong> I took Social Security at age 62 and now I regret it. Is there a way to increase my benefit?<\/p>\n<p>He would have preferred a phased retirement but it wasn\u2019t available. He also had hoped to secure work with the U.S. Census Bureau, either on a project basis or part time, but it hasn\u2019t materialized. So, he has signed up with flexjobs.com. In addition, he is studying for the project management professional certification exam, playing tennis at least once a week, and looking forward to taking more family <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>s in the future. During the pandemic, they\u2019ve only taken one driving trip.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019d like to visit more of the U.S. National Parks. \u201cFor me it would be \u2018no\u2019 to a cruise now.\u201d Driving to some parks or taking a train trip is on his mind but they haven\u2019t scheduled any trips yet. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot to look forward to,\u201d he says, when the world becomes safer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The road to retirement is different for everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loved my work. I was never going to stop,\u201d says Andrea, now 71. But a family illness meant retiring at 55. She had a pension so finances weren\u2019t a\u00a0problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most important thing to me has been to have a purpose,\u201d she says. For her, it has been pro bono work and volunteer work in her neighborhood. \u201cThat\u2019s what you do in your free time,\u201d she says. \u201cYou give back.\u201d Divorced and living alone, she recommends making friends \u201cbecause it\u2019s extremely important as you age not to be isolated. If you didn\u2019t have friends, you can still make friends now at this time in your life, if you look in the right places.\u201d For Andrea, that has meant joining a social club, a neighborhood organization, and reaching out to neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>Tips for a smooth landing:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Decompress.<\/strong>\u00a0Give yourself a few months to 18 months to explore or repair relationships until you\u2019re in \u201cneutral gear,\u201d says Andrew Robin, author of the\u00a0book,\u00a0<em>Tapas Life: A Rich and Rewarding Life After Your Long Career<\/em>. \u201cThen, you can start adding things.\u201d Do you want three things on your calendar a day or three activities a week? \u201cIt\u2019s like an anchor,\u201d he says. \u201cIt keeps you from being adrift.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inventory your interests.\u00a0<\/strong>Consider things that intrigue you but you\u2019ve never had time to pursue. Is it to learn a new language? Study a topic outside your career interest such as foreign affairs or <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Start small.\u00a0<\/strong>Rather than invest in the most expensive activity and equipment, for example, begin with a borrowed, rented or preowned bicycle. Have it checked for safety.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take a course.\u00a0<\/strong>Try a free course. Some are available at coursera.org or Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at various universities, which are offered for a limited time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stay active in professional organizations.\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s a way to remain connected to people in your field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Join a board.\u00a0<\/strong>This can be a way to connect with your immediate community and even make new friends. It creates purpose and adds structure to your life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alter your attitude.\u00a0<\/strong>Choose to do something \u201cjust for fun,\u201d Casey says.\u00a0It\u2019s not necessarily about a career change but enjoying yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Harriet Edleson is author of the book, \u201c12 Ways to Retire on Less: Planning an Affordable Future\u201d (Rowman &amp; Littlefield, May 2021). A former staff writer\/editor\/producer for AARP, she writes for The<em>\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0Real Estate section.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>    <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author  hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Harriet Edleson\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Harriet_Edleson\"><\/span>Harriet Edleson<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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It\u2019s not as simple as you might think&#8221; 7 tips for a smooth landing Leaving\u00a0a\u00a0full-time career isn\u2019t as easy as it sounds. Once you retire, especially if it\u2019s from a high\u2013powered career, the phone literally stops ringing (or the emails and texts stop pinging, as one retired CEO described&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":408901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-487649\/social","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}