Retirement

Table of Contents

Taking a new direction, leaving job and career for a new start. Retirement does not mean stopping living. You may want to pursue other forms of employment e.g. start a business part-time. This is a time of choosing a new lifestyle. Retirement – Definition does not necessarily include a job or career change.

Retirement in 2022 does not mean removing yourself from the public. Many people have created a plan that permits them to explore other life options. Some return to school and others explore a hobby. Some prefer the term “Lifestyle” change to retirement because they intend to remain active.

Changes

Often when an individual decides to “retire” this simply means making a change. A person can retire as a Nurse, go to college and start a new career as a Doctor. Retirement is not necessarily a permanent condition as mentioned. Some retire temporarily and then go to a new career.

Being employed for a lengthy period and then ending that employment to do something else is usually a temporary situation. Very few individuals do nothing at all after making a transition from a career to their new lifestyle. Most find other ways to become active, often with activities that take a great deal of time.

Retirement for many simply means that their source of income will change. From a paycheck every two weeks to some other form of payment such as a pension.

Financial

Everyone must have a source of sustenance. This must come from a career, job, investments, inheritance, family, etc. To make the lifestyle change more permanent, people usually do not consider themselves retired until their financial needs are met. For most, this requires years of saving and planning.

Planning for your lifestyle change requires diligence. Many people must sacrifice something to insure when they decide to make that major lifestyle move, they can afford it. Some must “retire” and then come out of “retirement” when their planning was not sufficient.

Having a job where you work for your income does not mean you are not “retired” in the traditional meaning. Some receive income for part-time work when at the same time they are receiving funds from Social Security.

Social Security

Just because you receive Social Security does not make you “retired”. Many people draw on Social Security and supplement their lifestyle changes with other income. This other income comes in the form of a job or investment income. Retirement – definition is not accepting Social Security.

Many draw a pension or military retirement causing some to call them retired. This is not a correct definition of a person who both draws a pension and works for income. Just as some will draw Social Security at 66-67 and be called retired, many others continue their career for many more years.

In April 2022, 49.7 million people aged 65 or older were receiving Social Security benefits. 9 of 10 people aged 65 or over were receiving benefits.

Location

Some live in “retirement communities”. Living in such a community requires only that you have achieved a specific age. There is no requirement that you are actually “retired” to live there. Some areas of the country such as the Mississippi Gulf Coast are host to many people who are considered “retired”. Some work every day having left their long-term employment or careers and started new ones on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Retirement is a state of mind rather than a physical place or if a person is working full or part-time. Each generation defines “retirement” differently. The baby boomer generation is defining it as a time to be active. A time to do what they could not while serving their career and raising a young family. The previous generation looked at retirement as a time to sit on the beach and sip umbrella drinks.