How Will ‘Work’ Fit into Your Retirement Plans?

For many Canadians, retirement means freedom from work. However, a growing number of people approaching the age of traditional retirement are looking for ways to stay in the workplace—even if it means starting a new career or taking on a part-time job. A Fidelity study in 2006 found that an equal number of Canadians intended to continue work after age 65 as the percentage of Canadians who intended to retire early.

It would be easy for the casual observer to say that people who continue to work when “they should be retired” are probably doing so because of their financial need. The Fidelity study found that the number one reason why older workers were choosing to stay in the workplace was “their need to stay involved in the world”.

As you think about this next phase of your life, what role might work play?

First, I think we have to define what work actually is for you rather than assuming that all work is an obligation that you would rather not have. In my view, work is anything that you do that lets you use your energy, experience and time either for personal satisfaction and self-actualization or to help someone else.

It doesn’t have to be full-time, and it certainly doesn’t have to be something that you don’t like to do. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be paid work if you don’t need the money in your retirement! The 2004 Canada Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating found that over 60% of Canadians expected to volunteer some of their time in retirement.

If you are currently working but looking at your retirement, let’s look at some of the roles that work might play in your life today. As you look at these roles that work plays, I want you to identify which ones fit your situation. In retirement you will want to take those positives and find ways to replicate them in your ‘new’ life.

Work is a source of ‘positive’ stress. We tend to think of all stress as being negative to our health, but in fact there is also that positive stress that actually contributes to our longevity. Work can provide excitement, anticipation, personal satisfaction and challenge. All of those will get your adrenalin going and create positive energy. In addition, the workplace can also satisfy your need to be needed, or to feel like you are valued and helpful. If you didn’t have those positives because you weren’t in the workplace, how will you get them in retirement?
Work provides you with an identity. Some studies suggest that this is more so for men than women, where men tend to define themselves by their jobs and can suffer a great sense of loss when they leave their careers. Interesting, is that this sense of loss can be masked by a sense of euphoria that comes in the first two years of retirement simply because some view retirement as the final victory in their work career. For most, there will likely come a time when they will miss their career or their profession if they have not found ways to build a new self-image as a retired person.
Work provides you with structure. Often at my workshops, people will tell me that the thing that they are looking forward to the most is not having any structure. That belies the fact that from the time you were in kindergarten, through your education and work careers you have always had structure. It is ingrained in most of us. While the lack of structure may sound like a huge positive, many successful retirees find ways of maintaining structure in their retirement. Work and fulfilling an obligation is a good way to accomplish this.
Work provides you with socialization. Social relationships are very important in retirement and can contribute to longevity. However, our retirement years are also the time when our social network shrinks—friends die, they move away, you get new interests etc. Many people derive great pleasure from their social network and interaction at work and find it difficult to replace this when they retire.
Work provides you with financial comfort. This may not be an issue for you that would require you to take on a job in retirement. For many, however, work will help ease an uncertain financial picture by providing lifestyle income or health benefits. Often, long-term financial comfort can be increased significantly simply by choosing to stay at work for a few more years. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that you do that if your current job is stressful or mind-numbing. However, if you can find ways to control the nature of the work that you do (job sharing, part-time work or shorter workdays or weeks etc), you may just be able to have your cake and eat it too while improving your long-term financial situation!
The ‘Paradox of Leisure’—leaving work for the right reasons

As I have said continually in this space, most Canadians are very clear on what they are retiring FROM, but not clear on what they are retiring TO. There are lots of good reasons to retire, but there are also some reasons that sound good but ultimately may have you regret your decision.

The lure of a thirty-year long weekend. You like your weekends and your vacations because they are a break from work. They are your chance to do the things that you like to do now that you don’t have to report to your job. That must mean that a life of perpetual leisure would be an even better situation right?
Here is the paradox of leisure. As a break from work, leisure and the freedom to do whatever you want is an important change of pace in your life. However, if you had leisure seven days a week for thirty years, where is your break from leisure? In fact, many successful retirees use ‘work’ as a way to gain even more enjoyment from their leisure.

“Because it is time”. It is time for what? To get old or to stop being involved? Retirement is about choice, your freedom to do what you want, when you want and how you want. There is no age restriction on this, though we commonly have the idea that once you get to sixty or so that you should think about retiring. My advice is that at this stage of your life you should think instead about CHOOSING.



At ScotiaMcLeod, we understand that wealth transcends money and represents the things in life that we would like to accomplish. As a Wealth Advisor, I work closely with my clients to help them create a clear vision of their retirement and then a financial strategy that is aligned with those goals. I think it would be beneficial for us to meet and discuss how we can work together to make sure you get the most out of this next stage of your life.