Speaker 1: Did you know that over forty percent of retirees feel
unprepared for life after work. That's a staggering number, But
don't worry. Let's explore how you can avoid this common
pitfall and make sure you're not left feeling lost in
your retirement. Hi, everyone, Welcome back to the channel I'm
worrying Debranski. This is life Starts at Retirement. I produce
a retirement lifestyle video every Saturday at noon, and in
today's video, we'll talk about some essential tips and strategies
to ensure that your retirement is not just enjoyable, but
absolutely remarkable. Whether you're just starting to think about retirement
or you're already there, this video is packed with insights
that will help you thrive now. As we step into retirement,
although we may have dreamed of it and wanted it
and wished for it, as we step into it, many
of us face a whole new set of challenges that
we just didn't see coming. Seems like when we're working,
we have a clear path of where you're going, but
once that chapter closes, oftentimes many of us can feel
like we have a black blank slate, no direction, no purpose,
no reason to get up in the morning, and yeah,
even sometimes feelings of boredom. You know, although we dream
and we say we want to wake up every morning
without that morning rush to get to work, it sounds
wonderful until you realize many times you don't know what
to do yourself with yourself and all of that free time,
and it really can lead to a sense of dissatisfaction
and some unfulfillment. So how do we tackle these feelings
and reshape our retirement experience. Let's look at six suggestions
to make your retirement remarkable. First off, let's talk a
little bit about the financial side. Now, I'm not a
financial planner, this is not financial advice, but honestly, what
helped me was just making sure my finances were in order,
no matter how big or how small. But just knowing
that my finances were in order helped me to sleep nights. Now,
I was a worrier and I was the one always
on a retirement calculator checking out how much we had,
how much we needed, and how much more we had
to put in, and it was driving me crazy. But
just making sure my finances were in order. To me,
it meant understanding how much I had, how much we
had to live on each and every month, how much
debt I had, how much our expenses were, how much
income we get from all of our income sources. Really
just learning that whole entire picture, that's the way or
that way you know how much you can live on.
And I was really surprised once I got that whole
picture together and we figured it all out, I was
really surprised at how much at peace I was with this.
As I said, I was the worrier. I thought I'd
be up nights all the time. But once I understood
what our whole picture was and how much monthly we have,
I sleep nights like crazy. It doesn't bother me at all,
and it gives it has given me a real sense
of peace. Number two, many people find that they lose
some of their social connections when they retire. So you
had this social aspect at work, and then all of
a sudden, that's gone. And as much as we want
to stay in contact with them on a regular basis,
they're at work now, you are not. They have a
different lifestyle than yours now, And so there may be
some people that you'll stay in contact with and be
good friends for anever and ever, but typically you lose
that social connection. But I believe that staying connected to
friends and family is crucial. And in fact, Harvard has
done an ongoing happiness survey that they've had for eighty years,
and they found that the biggest obstacle to happiness for
retirees is not replacing the social connections that they've enjoyed
at work. Those who seem to fare best in retirement,
according to Harvard, find ways to keep up with or
connect with new social connections new people. Making connections at
work really was kind of easy. You go for lunch,
you go for coffee with someone in your department, you
share all your vacation stories, you talk about your kids.
But after you retire, it seems to take a little
bit more of an effort. So many people have find
that you have less in common, like I said, with
your friends from work, and you'll have a different schedule,
so you're just in a different stage of life. So
I believe it's a great idea to expand your circle
of friends. Look for areas of common ground with people
who are retired. You could take a class and a
subject that you enjoy. You could join a group doing
something you always wanted to try. You could start a
book club, literally anything to keep those social interactions alive. Now.
Number three, take care of your health. I know this
seems self evident, but I can't stress it enough. Too
many friends and relatives in my age group and I'm
sixty one are in poor health, it seems lately, and
myself included to a degree. And in the last few months,
we've had six friends or family members that have passed away.
And I know we're at that age where that's found
to happen, but wow, it's really thrown me for a
loop and made me think twice about it. So the
moral of that part is take care of your health.
And the older I get, the more I value my
good health and the more I strive to maintain it.
And it's all well and good to have plans for
a happy retirement, but if your health isn't healthy, then
oftentimes your retirement unhealthy as well. And remember not just
your physical health, but your mental health. Take care of both.
Number four, write a will and get your legal documents
in order. Now I realized this video is all about
enjoying your retirement, but we'll having a will make you happy. Well, honestly,
I think it'll help if it means knowing again that
you can sleep better knowing all of your affairs are
in order, that helps. So we recently updated our will
and it was surprisingly easy. If we went to a lawyer,
they asked us a bunch of questions. It really made
us think about we wanted, what we wanted to do
with our estate, and once again it just put our
mind at ease and everything is now in order. Hopefully
our kids won't have to use it for years, but
if they do, it's there. Number five. Be prepared for
the ups and downs of retirement. Now there may be
time where you'll feel lonely after you retire. There may
be times where you really feel a little bit lost
and out of sorts. That is completely completely normal. In fact,
there are typically four stages of retirement. The first one
is whoa, this is it. It's where you're excited. It's
finally here. You've waited for this. You're going to do
whatever you want, whenever you want. This stage often lasts
anywhere from three months to a year even two. Where
you begin to enter The next stage is is this
h where you really begin to wonder if that's all
there is? You kind of feel lost. Then maybe lonely,
you don't have a purpose or a reason to get
up in the morning. And once you recognize that stage,
time to take matters into your own hands and work
hard at stage three. So this stage is what I
call find what you love. And here's a bunch of
ways that you can find what you love. But this
is sort of the easy way that I've adopted. Just
ask yourself a series of questions to discover what you
might want to do with this stage of your life.
Questions like, what did I always want to do when
I was younger? What do I miss about work? What
if I always wanted to try? What do I love?
What makes me happy? What makes me sing and dance?
And then the hard part do them? Put yourself out
there and do them. And then finally stage four, love
what you find. So where you find a few items
and things that you like that give you a reason
to get up in the morning and that gives you purpose.
Maybe you found a class or two, Maybe you volunteer,
maybe you've got a part time job because you just
wanted to do something different that's wonderful, whatever it is.
Hopefully you'll go through a stage where you love what
you find and Oftentimes you'll move back and forth between
stages two, three, and four throughout your entire retirement, perfectly normal.
Now I have a video about the four stages, and
I'll post it in the comment section, but this one
just be prepared for ups and downs and last number six,
make peace and move on. I have seen countless numbers
of people, especially in the first five years, literally mourn
for the life they left behind. And they didn't see
that coming. They were so excited to retire, and all
of a sudden, they have no identity, they have no purpose.
When you meet someone, they go, hey, what do you do? Nothing,
I'm retired. That's a hard thing for some people to say,
so make peace and move on. Retirement is one of
the three or four biggest changes that a person goes
through in their life. So of course it could be difficult,
and of course it could be emotional. Work hard at
letting go of your working days and focus on working
on your retirement. Except that you've done all you can
in that job, focus on your next challenge. You've still
got lots to a and lots of life to make remarkable.
So to wrap things up, remember it's all about finding
that sweet spot where you feel fulfilled and excited about
your days ahead. If you found this video how old,
please leave a comment with your thoughts. I'd love to
hear how you plan to make your retirement remarkable. Don't
forget to check out my other videos for more retirements
and advice, and please consider joining our Facebook group over
forty thousand members Facebook dot com slash group slash Life
starts at Retirement. Thanks for watching, I'll see you in
the next video.