Until I attended this retirement planning workshop facilitated by Engineer Solomon Chikan, I had always viewed retirement as a season of rest from work. The training was organized by my organization as part of its tool for staff empowerment. My perception about retirement changed completely after the workshop and I now look forward to it with so much excitement. I will be sharing my takeaways at the workshop, while hoping that it will add value to your life as well.
Learning objectives of the workshop:
- To educate people on how to live life
- Retirement is compulsory for everyone, hence the need to prepare for it.
- To have people wear smiles upon retirement
What is Retirement?
Retirement is a transition from one phase of life to another. It is a known fact that life happens in phases. As such, retirement could be said to be an event that occurs throughout the journey of life.
Retirement is about coming to the end of a phase and transitioning to another phase.
Retirement and Work
Every human being came to this world as a solution provider. Safe to say therefore, that man was created to work. Every human being is a solution to a specific human problem.
Following the above assertion therefore, we can conclude that retirement is not necessarily the end of work.
WORK is an opportunity to fulfil one’s purpose on earth. The type of job you will do at retirement may change, but you will not stop working.
Work is synonymous to CREATING VALUE
Retirement could be the end of a job, but not the end of work. Retirement is God’s strategy to enable man live a fulfilling life.
What you need to know about retirement
Retirement comes with some uncertainties, as such, one must arrive fit to whether through the phase.
Most people dread retirement because of the wrong perception they have about it. Most people arrive this phase unprepared. This explains why some people become sick, frustrated, depressed and die eventually within a short period after retirement.
Stages of retirement
- Ending
- Neutral
- New beginning
Ending Stage:
The period when a person is emotionally disengaged, no longer excited about a place or job. This stage is classified into 3 phases:
- Disengage – Entails that a person makes deliberate effort to disconnect emotionally from the job
- Dis-identify – Entails that a person dissociates from any entitlements, rank, office, position, culture, etc associated with the job
- Re-orientate – Entails that a person acknowledges and accept the new reality
Neutral Stage:
This is expected to be a short period where a person decides what to the next. Unfortunately, some people end up here. How prepared you are will determine how fast you will leave this phase.
New Beginning Stage:
As the name implies, a person starts a new life during this phase. New job, new business, etc.
Preparing for retirement
Preparing for retirement is not a one-off event; rather, it takes a lifetime of planning.
Key Learning Points:
- Like death, retirement must happen
- Start preparing for retirement from the first date of employment
- Save a certain amount of your salary, consistently for retirement phase
- You cannot transition to a new beginning while holding unto the past
- Let go of entitlements, positions, office, rank, salary, etc.
- Your position should not define your identity
- Your life should be defined by the value you are creating
- Some people find it difficult to reintegrate with the society because they hold unto the past (office)
- You must let go of the old to embrace the new phase
- You must arrive the new beginning phase of retirement with the capacity to solve a problem
- While you are still working, make self-improvement a priority. Keep developing/upgrading your skills
- You must not wait until your organization retires (know when you are emotionally disengaged, not excited about the job any more)
- Prepare and plan for the neutral phase of retirement
I hope you gained something relevant in this article. I acknowledge the facilitator, Engineer Solomon Chikan for his commitment to empowering and transforming lives. Retirement is a transition to another phase of life.
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Stephen Adetolu is a Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach, Speaker and Trainer. He is passionate about helping individuals unlock their potentials so that they can become valuable, earn more money and lead a meaningful, abundant and fulfilling life