Are you really prepared for retirement?

A FEW weeks ago, one of my colleagues retired after working in Providend for almost two decades.

Just before he left the company’s chat group, he wrote his farewell message to all of us. It hit me that one day, not too long from now, I too, will be sending a similar message and leave my company’s chat group.

I wonder how it would feel like and whether I would get used to retiring from my firm especially when I am the founder. I also wonder whether I will look forward to living my retirement years.

I had a similar feeling in 2021. It was my last day serving my National Service in the army and when I entered the room for a meeting, I saw a name holder on the table where I was supposed to be seated. On it was written “LTC (Ret) Christopher Tan”.

I remembered having an uneasy feeling. I could not get used to the word “retired”.

Many of us plan financially for our retirement. We think about when we will retire and consider the kind of lifestyle we will live and estimate the expenses we may incur to fund this lifestyle. We then top up our Central Provident Fund (CPF) and buy financial products to save and invest towards this eventual day.

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In the financial services industry, retirement planning is a big business. Product after product is launched to meet the financial needs of consumers to achieve their retirement goals. But while many of us may be financially ready for retirement, we may not be mentally ready when the eventual day comes.

Tony Hixon, a US-based financial adviser, shared a sad story about his late mother.

Pam Hixon went to Tony when she turned 60 years old. She was eager to retire but wanted to know whether she would be financially ready. So, Tony did what any good financial planner would do. He took some time to crunch the numbers and then gave his mother the go-ahead.

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Tony shared that like many people, his mum had built up an ideal scenario in her mind. She imagined long days or relaxing, filling her hours with her favourite hobbies and activities and spending more time with her loved ones.

But, unfortunately, his mum did not have a detailed plan for her post-work lifestyle. As her retirement approached, she became less excited and more anxious even though Tony assured her that her nest-egg was sufficient.

Pam was a registered nurse, who after working hard for decades was promoted to hospice director, and she found fulfilment in her work. Her job was her source of strength. But as the organisation went through computerisation, she found herself spending less time doing what she loved (caring for patients and building relationships with their families). Finally, she was so burnt out that she needed to retire. So, in the autumn of 2010, she retired.

Sadly, after retiring, Pam did not know how to fill her time. She had spent decades serving people, and when her primary outlet to serve and help others was taken away, she no longer felt needed. To make matters worse, her husband was still working and that resulted in her being alone at home most of the time. Over time, she lost purpose and hope and went into depression. About six months later, she committed suicide.

I am sure there are many more such untold tragedies out there. How, then, can we better prepare ourselves for retirement that goes beyond the financial angle?

I have shared many times that we should make life decisions before financial decisions. In this regard, asking yourself what is the good life that you want to live in retirement is the kind of decision you need to first make.

Richard Leider and David Shapiro, authors of the book Repacking Your Bags, define the good life as “living at the place you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work, on purpose”.

So, years before you enter the phase of your life called “retirement”, spend some time thinking, researching and planning the country, city, or the part of Singapore you want to live in and the type of house you want to stay in, so that you can be with the people you love and you can do the kind of “work” that you want to do in this stage of life.

The next step is to do what we call in the army a “dry run”, which is a kind of rehearsal where the environment is as realistic as possible. So, when an opportunity arises, take a sabbatical or a career break and live as close as possible to the life that you are planning for in retirement.

Stay in the country or city that you want to. If that is not possible, even in Singapore, do the “work” that you planned to do in retirement and live your daily life according to your retirement plan. This will let you know whether your retirement plan works and if not, make necessary tweaks to it now.

I am 54 years old this year and have officially entered the stage of life of a pre-retiree. Even as I prepare for the day when I will finally retire from financial services, I am considering some possible places that I can retire in.

I am also going for more holidays with my wife.

Since a decade ago, I knew that when I stopped my work in wealth advisory, I would want to be a life coach to the underdogs and to those who are down and out. Over the years, I have undergone a lot of training to become a certified coach.

In recent months, I have even started learning how to build my own website/blog so that I can post my reflections. The more I do these things, the more I look forward to the day when I can finally hand over the leadership of my firm to my successor and live out the next phase of my life with purpose.

The writer is chief executive officer of Providend, South-east Asia’s first fee-only comprehensive wealth advisory firm