about rowdy

My big retirement idea

4 minute read

My Big Idea is like what one retiree told me. He told me that nobody talks about how to feel in retirement. Not superannuation funds, financial planners, or anyone else in the retirement planning industry. Sure, they all talk about what to plan for in retirement. Money. Health. Family and friends.

But not how to feel in retirement. And especially not how to feel satisfied. That’s true, I thought. I worked in Australia’s $2.7 trillion superannuation industry for almost 15 years (superannuation being Australia’s version of 401Ks or the pension industry). I was a communications professional, so my job was to write brochures and web copy. Did I ever write about how to feel in retirement? Nope, not ever.

I never thought to write about being satisfied. It never occurred to me. Instead, all that occurred to me was writing about the Retirement Holy Grail of being relaxed and comfortable 24/7. On the golf course. Out fishing. In the caravan. And doing other stereotypical activities today’s newly retired folk probably saw their parents do. So I wrote about all that.

Then my Big Retirement Idea hit me like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs hit the earth:

Let’s talk about being emotionally satisfied in retirement

For example, let’s talk about how you can still feel useful in retirement, like you still matter, like you’re still connected and you belong, and like something will still happen in your day. And that’s why I’m a Retirement Coach. I want to expand the retirement planning conversation, to talk about how to satisfy our emotional desires in retirement, too—desires we can’t satisfy drinking cocktails by the pool or winning the meat raffle.

And desires that when truly satisfied get us to leap out of bed in the morning, and to feel content when our head hits the pillow at night.

that’s also why i wrote my book

My book is titled, You’ll Hate Retirement (Why You Will, And What You Can Do About It). Which, I admit, is subtle like a sledgehammer. But I wanted my book title to be so direct it’s aggressive. I wanted to pick a fight with the idea that retirement is your time of life to slow down and wish away your days, rocking back and forth on your front porch, waiting to join the Choir Invisible. Because that’s when I bet you’d hate your retired life.

And having worked so long in superannuation, I know that when newly retired folk fall into this trap, they often quit retirement, running back to their old job like a jilted spouse running back to an old lover.

And guess what? I quit, too. I didn’t quit retirement, though. I turn 40 next September. Retirement is still over my horizon and then some. Instead, I quit my safe, secure career in superannuation and published my book. But I didn’t quit to publish my book.

So why did I quit?