This Is The Biggest Mistake We Make In Retirement Planning

The final stragglers of the Baby Boom generation are inching toward retirement, with the last one expected to cross the finish line – or at least turn 65 – by 2030. As a relatively new retiree myself,  I can almost guarantee that these folks are already sleeping with a notepad and pencil next to their beds so when they wake up at 2 a.m., they can “run the numbers” for the umpteenth time – you know, calculate how much they have saved for retirement and whether it will be enough.

And right there is the problem with how we plan for retirement: Overwhelmingly, we focus on the money and ignore the rest. We give little thought to the emotional and practical changes that lie ahead after we walk away from our work. For the few asked, “What are you going to do when you retire?” the standard response is usually a version of “relax, travel, and spend time with grandkids.”

Let me tell you now: it won’t be like that. Relaxation can quickly slip into boredom; traveling is expensive and physically exhausting, and all your houseplants will be dead when you get home. Doting on grandkids can soon become a two-way street, especially when you find yourself as their unpaid, on-call babysitter.

Retirement can also be a jarring change from longtime work routines. Jobs don’t just give us a paycheck; they also provide us with a network of friends, a chance to exercise our brains and a reason to get out of the house. Jobs offer us a chance to stay relevant, be productive and provide an audience for our opinions. Jobs help us identify ourselves. Those with an “I-am-what-I-do” relationship with work will likely struggle the most in retirement.

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On that last point, I plead guilty as charged. I remember telling someone that one of the best parts of working at a prominent newspaper, and later a Vanguard News website, was being able to tell the stranger in the plane seat next to me what I did for a living and watching their eyes widen. Would Shallow Ann survive retirement?

The answer is no, I did not. I was one of the 3.2 percent of retirees who, according to an analysis by Indeed Hiring Lab, returned to work-for-pay within a year of leaving my full-time job. That translates into about 1.5 million retirees.