Retirement Options

Retirement Options

Do you ever think about your retirement? We do. We’ve been working so long that it becomes a puzzling question of what shall you do now for the rest of your life? Work gives us routine and something to aim for, but retirement seems to take all that away. That’s what it might seem like on the surface especially to people who haven’t done proper research into their options. Retiring for many people seems scary because it’s like a confirmation that they are heading into their twilight years. However, retiring from the workforce and living your own life without any worries of a 9 to 5 should be uplifting. Now you get to do all the things you never thought you could and really spoil yourself post retirement. 


 Using Your Senior Skills

Many people above the age of 70 still retain a lot of enthusiasm for their profession. In fact look around the world and you see many people in their 70s in the most senior positions of business and many other jobs. This is because they have a lot of experience, knowledge, and have made the right decisions to become a senior figure in their industry. If your parents are looking to retire and are one of these people or you believe that they have such great skills that they shouldn’t be wasted, speak to them about working for themselves as a consultant. Consultants are basically like freelancers, they offer their skills and expertise to anyone that is willing to listen and pay them.

You don’t have to do anything that is tiring or requires a lot of legwork. Your wisdom and words are the only thing people want. These people that would hire you would be entrepreneurs that want knowledge of special tactics, small business owners that want to grow and expand, and of course corporations that need cool and calm experienced heads in their boardroom. Many c-suites will use senior consultants as their personal advisors and these positions can easily fetch a cool six-figure salary. So if you have parents that are retiring from a busy office, tell them that if they still have passion for their industry, they might want to become a freelance consultant. 

 Low Stress High Reward

Much like the consultant work, there are teaching jobs you can take on to pass on your knowledge. If you are someone looking to retire from the workforce and just take each day as it comes and slowly relax into old age, you can still find pleasure in teaching. For example, if you are a professor in a university and you just want to stop marking coursework and exams, as well as teaching full classes but still love your work, then look towards tutoring. Why should you stop working just because your body is ageing? If your mind is fresh and loves your subject so much that you want to impart knowledge into the world, then look toward becoming a private tutor.

Firstly, it’s far less stressful as you’re only dealing with however many clients you wish. You pick the days you want to work and the hours you want to put in.  Since you’re dealing with clients on a one-on-one basis, you can take your time to explain the intricacies of your work and the things they need to understand. You can tutor at your home and have no need to meet up anywhere. It’s simple, it’s relaxed and it’s still mindfully engaging.

Retirement With Care

If you’re someone that is looking to retire but you would still like to enjoy the things in life you have now, then you have many options. Those that know they are physically unable to wander around and go see things they would like to, often find themselves in the house a lot. For that you have options for carers to come visit you at home and perform all sorts of tasks. Take a look and compare the live-in care options that you have regarding your own city. The website offers a directory to many services and then compares them to see which might be best for you. The feedback that each service receives is also taken into account so you can make the best choice from previous users. We’re not quite at this stage yet but it’s good tobe able to have such info to pass onto relatives.

Retirement is far from boring, not in this day and age. That old image of a gloomy few final years is but a stereotype that needs knocking on its head. Now you can still work, but absolutely to your own wishes and probably make more money as well. You can tutor privately, passing on knowledge to the next bright young minds. You may want to take up private consulting so you can help executives in their companies while playing a less stressful role.

 

Difficult Decisions and Awkward Conversations

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I consider myself a fairly open person and as such don’t find most life and death conversations too galling. Roy and I both know each other’s wishes when it comes to the final curtain and overall, we are fairly open with the kids (or as much as you can be with a six and ten year old). We know what we want to happen with the boys if we were both run over by a bus tomorrow (touch wood this isn’t on the cards anytime soon) and we have life insurance.

That said, despite being in the minority of people who find discussing finances, sex, relationships and death easier than others, we still don’t have a will. This is something that has been hovering at the back of my mind now as should something untoward happen, particularly while the boys are still young, it could make a difficult time all the more difficult for all concerned.

Many of us will find the subject of writing a will difficult to discuss which is probably why I’ve held off tackling the issue until now. The idea of having to make an appointment with a solicitor, find paperwork, and actually go through the process of laboriously putting everything down on paper is not the most enjoyable of tasks which is why I was surprised to find that nowadays, making a will can be quickly and easily achieved. Better still it can be done online and the costs associated (which aren’t quite as bad as I thought) are very transparent.
Having read through some of the information Which ? Wills have recently released on how difficult people find discussing such sensitive topics (see the infographic below, you might be surprised by the numbers!) it’s no wonder that wills are being left unmade.

We’ll be sitting down and putting together our wills shortly, it’s too important a task to put off and we feel foolish that we let it slide for so long, especially considering the boys. Do you have a will? Did you find it easy or quite difficult to talk to your family including your parents about your wishes? If you haven’t a will made up, is this something you’ll now consider doing?

The only thing that is certain in life is death (I’m sure I’ve read that somewhere!) so taking advantage of the easier will-making services now available makes sense.