Category: Retire Slowly

  • Phased Retirement – Unscripted Days?

    When I talk with people about their retirement plans, it seems this is what many of them long for. Unscripted days. No crises to deal with, no unproductive meetings to attend, and no decisions to make or issues to resolve.  Their view is that of an ‘endless weekend’ to kick back and enjoy themselves. But be careful what you wish for!  Day…

  • Phased Retirement – Waiting for Someday

    My dad liked to save things. He wasn’t a hoarder or anything, but if he got a nice gift at work or home, say a nice shirt or a golf accessory, he’d put it away and save it.  While I sometimes wondered about it, I really didn’t think too much about it. I think he was just waiting for ‘someday’…

  • Phased Retirement: Longevity

    Most of my posts here are meant to illustrate some facet of approaching your retirement in a thoughtful way. Usually my theme revolves around a ‘phased approach’ to retiring, which I believe helps by easing the transition from work to retirement. Your ongoing health is obviously also a key factor in enjoying your retirement. So today I am relaying a…

  • Retirement: Carried by the Current

    Is that how your life feels?  Just like a leaf bobbing along on a river, you’re carried by the current wherever it may take you.  One day blends into another and you move from meeting to meeting or task to task depending on your situation? You can start to live a more purposeful life by designing your days and weeks.…

  • Retirement Resilience and Sisu

    In retirement you’ll likely encounter obstacles and adversity. Maybe it will be loneliness and how to fill your time? Maybe you’ll be concerned about finances or your health? We all face adversity, but we all also have an innate ability to overcome it. The author William James said that, “…we all seem to have a physical and mental ‘second wind’…

  • Phased Retirement: What are you Chasing?

    A recent Wall Street Journal article (1) delved into the interesting concept of why we’re so busy and what we’re each chasing that keeps us so frenetic.  According to one person’s opinion in the article, in Italy the professional class are chasing a better tan, showing where they’ve been on vacation, and portraying how much leisure time they have. In…

  • Retirement Plan = Career Plan

    As you think ahead and plan for your retirement or you begin a phased retirement, you could improve your preparation by looking back at how you planned and managed your career. Your career didn’t just happen.  It required thoughtful planning and careful consideration of moves to different roles or even different companies. As your career matured, your ideas and perspectives…

  • Phased Retirement: Boomerang Boomers

    The percentage of retirees who return to the workforce varies depending on the specific study, but it can be significant. For example, according to a 2020 survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, approximately 57% of American workers expect to continue working in some capacity after they retire. Another survey conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2018 found that…