ER Eddie
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,792
I wonder if anyone else has had the experience of realizing that their planning for retirement was taking the fun out of retirement?
Here's what I mean. I'm sure everyone has read that the people who are happiest in retirement are those who plan for it. So, planning is good. I'm a planner by nature, a rather organized and analytical person, so I dove in. I prepared.
And prepared ... and prepared. I analyzed my financial situation multiple times. I repeatedly looked at the issue of how I would occupy my time. I analyzed where I should live, from a variety of different angles. I thought about multiple different lifestyle options. I won't go into the details of all analyses, because I'd bore you. Suffice to say, I prepared for retirement ... a lot.
A week ago, it occurred to me that all this analysis and preparation was taking a lot of the fun out of it.
When I think about retirement, which is about 45 weeks away, what I most love about the idea is the freedom of it, combined with the idea that this is a time in your life to re-explore who you are, what really matters to you, to rest and then go deep again and find what you want to do next. To explore. To discover.
But all of that is something you make up or find out along the way. It is not something that you plan and arrange in advance. If you do, you've taken the exploration and discovery out of it.
All my planning and list-making and analysis were helpful -- don't get me wrong, I'm not saying "Don't prepare," especially from the financial angle -- but at a certain point, all the planning started to drain the life out of my sense of retirement, to constrict and restrict my view of the future. Others may feel differently, but for me, that sense that things are wide open, that there are multiple roads you can take and a sense of mystery about what lies around the next bend ... that's all a very important part of what I hope my retirement years to be.
It was an odd thing, to realize that my retirement planning was actually draining the life out of my retirement, robbing it of its sense of adventure and exploration.
So, I have learned to put down the lists, the analyses, the multiple files and documents ... to stop over-planning for retirement. I am leaving well enough alone. The rest, I will make up along the way, once I get there.
Ever since I made that shift, I have felt a sense of joy again about anticipating retirement. Lesson learned: you can definitely over-plan for retirement, to the point where you drain the fun out of it.
Anyway, just thought I'd share.
Here's what I mean. I'm sure everyone has read that the people who are happiest in retirement are those who plan for it. So, planning is good. I'm a planner by nature, a rather organized and analytical person, so I dove in. I prepared.
And prepared ... and prepared. I analyzed my financial situation multiple times. I repeatedly looked at the issue of how I would occupy my time. I analyzed where I should live, from a variety of different angles. I thought about multiple different lifestyle options. I won't go into the details of all analyses, because I'd bore you. Suffice to say, I prepared for retirement ... a lot.
A week ago, it occurred to me that all this analysis and preparation was taking a lot of the fun out of it.
When I think about retirement, which is about 45 weeks away, what I most love about the idea is the freedom of it, combined with the idea that this is a time in your life to re-explore who you are, what really matters to you, to rest and then go deep again and find what you want to do next. To explore. To discover.
But all of that is something you make up or find out along the way. It is not something that you plan and arrange in advance. If you do, you've taken the exploration and discovery out of it.
All my planning and list-making and analysis were helpful -- don't get me wrong, I'm not saying "Don't prepare," especially from the financial angle -- but at a certain point, all the planning started to drain the life out of my sense of retirement, to constrict and restrict my view of the future. Others may feel differently, but for me, that sense that things are wide open, that there are multiple roads you can take and a sense of mystery about what lies around the next bend ... that's all a very important part of what I hope my retirement years to be.
It was an odd thing, to realize that my retirement planning was actually draining the life out of my retirement, robbing it of its sense of adventure and exploration.
So, I have learned to put down the lists, the analyses, the multiple files and documents ... to stop over-planning for retirement. I am leaving well enough alone. The rest, I will make up along the way, once I get there.
Ever since I made that shift, I have felt a sense of joy again about anticipating retirement. Lesson learned: you can definitely over-plan for retirement, to the point where you drain the fun out of it.
Anyway, just thought I'd share.