Source: www.marketwatch.com

What people in their 50s, 60s and 70s should know about navigating life after work

This summer I taught a six-week Masterclass in Unretirement through NYU’s Academy of Lifelong Learning. The students were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Some were enthusiastically looking for help charting their next stage of life combining part-time work, volunteering or mentoring, exploration, friendship, family and fun. Others had recently retired (not necessarily by choice) and wanted to make the life transition more fulfilling.

Mostly, they were looking for guidance in starting unretirement because they were eager to turn the page in their life while not giving up work entirely. What I call “unretirement” some people think of as semiretirement — working part time or volunteering in retirement and importantly. Among the most important aspects of unretirement are finding meaning and purpose.

Partly, they wanted help managing their money wisely in unretirement, but they also hoped to learn how to find opportunities to work, volunteer, mentor and get more meaning and purpose in their lives.

A few had been downsized and were unprepared for retirement, realizing they needed to reinvent themselves and make the money they had saved, or expected to receive from Social Security, pensions and part-time work in retirement, last the rest of their lives. Others felt burned out.

Most felt like they were in pretty good shape financially, but many were unnerved by the ideas of not being busy and needing to find ways to fill up their days in fulfilling ways. One had already been volunteering; others wanted to, but didn’t know where or how.

Some were considering hiring a retirement coach to help them chart their next path.

To help the students get an objective look at how they were feeling about retirement and how prepared they were mentally, before the first class I had each complete the Retirement Intelligence RQ Assessment questionnaire, a creation of the Retirement Coaches Association founder Robert Laura.

Throughout the course, the students peppered me, and the expert guests I’d brought in each week, with questions about Social Security and Medicare, job hunting and more.

Here are six tips I gave them for thriving in unretirement:

1. Try to figure out not just what you want to retire from, but what you want to retire to. Few people seem to do that, which causes some of them to flounder, get bored, get depressed or just get spooked in unretirement.

Spend some time thinking about what would give you pleasure in unretirement and what you need to do to make that happen.

That’s what Michele Weldon, 66, author of the excellent new book, “The Time We Have: Essays on Pandemic Living,” is doing. A professor emerita at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and longtime friend, Weldon is thinking of spending more time doing plein air oil painting and indoor oil and pastel work, often with others. She calls art “an escape and refuge.”

2. For the financial side of unretirement, keep in mind three guidelines that financial advisers suggest.

The first is the 80% rule. It means you’ll need about 80% of your preretirement income per year to maintain your lifestyle in retirement. Since this is just a recommendation, once you estimate your retirement expenses, you may find you’ll need less than 80% of your preretirement income to cover them — or you may need more.

The second is the 50/30/20 rule, though lately some advisers are changing it to the 60/30/10 rule. The 50/30/20 rule means allocating 50% of your income toward necessities, 30% toward discretionary purchases and 20% toward paying down debt and saving for the future.

But with inflation higher than normal lately, you may find your necessities costing more than 50% of your income. In that case, the 60/30/10 rule may be more applicable: allocate 60% of your income to essential expenses, 30% to discretionary expenses and just 10% for savings and debt repayment.

The third rule is the 4% rule to help you avoid outliving your money. A slightly simplified explanation of that is to withdraw no more than 4% of your retirement funds per year in retirement.

3. To transition from full-time work to unretirement, try to be a “purposeful pathfinder.” That’s the name given by the AgeWave consulting firm and the Edward Jones financial services firm in their study, “Longevity and the New Journey of Retirement” to describe the happiest type of retiree.

A purposeful pathfinder is the type of retiree who is most fulfilled, most liberated and most prepared. Purposeful pathfinders often want to volunteer and go back to school. Most purposeful pathfinders in the AgeWave/Edward Jones survey said they were in great shape financially.

4. When determining when, how and whether to retire, try the six words idea. That’s the conceit from Harvard Business School Professor Teresa Amabile, author of the forthcoming book, “Retiring: Create a Life That Works for You.”

List six words that best describe you and then consider how retiring might change that description. If your identity is wrapped up in your job, Amabile notes, you may not be ready to retire quite yet. But repeat the exercise in a few months to see if you can start making your identity morph into a new one.

5. To find part-time work in retirement, go local and age friendly. Pitch yourself to local businesses and nonprofits for an unretirement job, freelance, gig or consulting work. Odds are, you won’t need to go through HR bureaucracy and you may be a strong candidate simply because you’ve been a loyal customer, client, patient or supporter.

Since age discrimination continues to be a scourge faced by many older job applicants, review the AARP site’s list of over 1,000 employers who have signed its pledge to promote equal opportunity for job seekers. The AARP site also has job listings.

Similarly, the Age-Friendly Institute site has a list of certified age-friendly employers that might offer possibilities for you, as does the 50Wise site.

6. Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of looking for meaning and purpose in unretirement. This search can be difficult. In an AgeWave/Edward Jones study, 23% of retirees said they found it challenging to find purpose in life.

In her new book, “Lives Well Lived — Generations: Resilience, Positivity and Purpose at Every Stage,” Sky Bergman says overcoming the challenge of redefining your sense of purpose in retirement involves a deliberate shift in perspective and a journey of self-discovery.

It can be a great opportunity, Bergman says, to explore interests you shelved over the years due to work commitments. Or it can be a chance to discover new passions — like volunteering, pursuing hobbies or learning new skills.

Research has shown that finding meaning and purpose can be good for your mental health and physical health. In fact, when AgeWave listed the five keys to thriving in “The New Age of Aging,” one key was “maintaining a clear sense of purpose and pursuing meaningful involvements.”

You may find meaning and purpose through reconnections with old friends or bolstering relationships with your family and relatives. Or by leaving a legacy as a mentor, passing along what you’ve learned over the years.

Volunteering is an excellent way of finding meaning and purpose since it lets you spend time assisting a mission that matters to you. To find a place to volunteer, check out the sites of VolunteerMatch, AmeriCorps Seniors and ThirdAct.org.

You could even find purpose through whatever part-time work you take on in unretirement. The Encore Fellowship Program is all about that.

This program, run by FedCap Group, provides $25,000 stipends to people who put in at least 1,000 hours over six to 12 months at social impact organizations they’ve matched with by FedCap.

Here’s hoping these suggestions make your unretirement a spectacular one.