Unfortunately, retirement often gets a bad rap from many media people and other individuals who themselves have not been able to successfully cope with their retirement plan. Fortunately, however, people who can't cope with retirement are in the minority.
"Retirement works out quite well for people," states Joel Savishinsky, a professor at Ithaca College. Savishinsky, author of Breaking the Watch, adds, "It is not the kind of trauma it has often been pictured in the past."
To be sure, most retired Americans who have implemented their retirement plans are enjoying themselves according to a survey by financial services firm AIG SunAmerica. Similarly, based on a recent survey conducted by Trimark Investment Management, most retired Canadians have no regrets about being retired. The Canadian retirees taking part in the survey claimed that a drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation since they left the workplace are two big advantages of being retired.
A drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation aren't the only advantages that people around the world get to experience when they retire. "Retirement has been very enjoyable for me," declares Pat O'Brien, 65, of East Haddam, Connecticut. "When it snows, I don't have to worry about getting on I-95 to go to work."
Mr. Yong Khin Chong, 56, of Singapore states that more time with his two grandchildren is the biggest perk of retirement. Indeed, after two years of retirement, he claimed that he still didn't have sufficient time to do the things that he would like to do. His retired wife, Madam Ku Lee Nor, also 56, added, ''I don't feel bored at all. It's only now that we have time to travel, read, do gardening, and exercise more regularly.''
The ability to make many choices is another benefit of leaving the work world. "You're free to rediscover who you really are," states retiree Lynn Nelson Paretta, a volunteer with a community service center in Springfield, Virginia. "You're free to go back and build on those aspects you perhaps did not have a chance to express when you were in the working world."
Bill Kalmar of Lake Orion, Michigan shares his love of retirement: "I am thoroughly enjoying retirement! The best part is observing my neighbors drive off to work in the morning knowing that that their day will be filled with jerks, brainless and endless meetings, jerks, vendor lunches where you hold your breath just waiting for the sales pitch until you regurgitate your pasta, more jerks and the eventual company reorganization of the section that was just reorganized last month!"
Clearly, retirement can be the best time of your life. Always keep in mind that you are not retiring from life, just a job. The key to a happy retirement is to make retirement the beginning of life, not the end!
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