Research & Writing

Re-working Retirement: How Will You Manage It?

The next 15 years it will be another coming of age for Boomers as the notion of “freedom 55” struggles with “too young to retire”. With this cohort, retirement is up for reinvention for as a society we are living longer and hopefully healthier lives. This will challenge Boomers to think often and earlier about later life career options with recurring questions.

What is my career plan that will span the years ahead? How do I evaluate and plan my health, wealth, relationships and personal purpose for today and tomorrow?

The desire or need to retire before or after that time marker of 65, will shift as the years go by, influenced by several factors from the state of your health and wealth, to how you view what you’re going to do with your time.

And if you do decide to “retire early”, how will you manage to pay for it?

A Globe & Mail article by Elizabeth Church, (May 12, 2003) stated that Canada’s largest corporations face mounting demands on cash and higher expenses because of deepening losses in employee pension plans: “Only 23 of 104 companies on the SandP/TSX index with defined-benefit pension plans showed a funding surplus in 2002. Collectively, these companies saw a pension funding shortfall of more than $18.7 billion in 2002. While most companies say they have the cash to make good – this is cash that won’t be available for other purposes such as reinvesting in the business. This funding crunch comes as the baby boomer bulge enters their retirement years.”

Again in the 2003 survey of 1,000 Canadians by Desjardins Financial Security, only 16% declared a high degree of confidence in their ability to save for retirement but 46% said they wouldn’t be able to save enough to retire. If this is the case then how much will a person depend on other sources of income other than pension or registered retirement savings plans?

In the HRDC overview report “Challenges of an Aging Workforce” (2002), workers opting to work in later life after the age of 65 it is stated that paid work would account for 11% of expected retirement income. (“A Study of Investment Attitudes and Intensions for 2002”, Compass Inc.)

In Canada, HRDC declares that 46% of Boomers are close to retirement or pre-retirement years. If you are 54 in 2004 you are in the front end Boomer Zone, born 1946 to 1950. By 2015 you will be 65. Have you expanded your concept of career to mean your life’s journey or is retirement some sacred place after your pilgrimage through a series of jobs?

If you take an early retirement from organizational life, living a further decade or two may be a psychological challenge for you as you face the adjustment from that routine and the sense of purpose that full time working life brought to you.
Workers concerned about their bridge years to full retirement from work will need to focus on
their values and sense of purpose in this later life cycle much sooner than they may have been prone to do in a previous decade. Individuals currently aged 54 and up should consider looking at jarring their current situation at work by:

 adjusting their pace and patterns of work
 looking for assignments outside their normal roles
 developing other interests or learning opportunities outside the organization
 joining a professional association
 volunteering for an organization that stands for an issue or cause they care about

Note that these approaches listed above are not unique to any age group. Everyone needs to adapt to a reinvention process if we are to manage our transitions in a fast changing society.

In the back end Boomer Zone at 44, the likelihood is that with many more years of high demands and more frequent spikes of change and uncertainty in the workplace you will be more charged to evaluate and manage your career longevity. Career management now takes on new meaning in an integrated or portfolio approach to include:

 Simultaneous or sequential work relationships
 Contract or project based work
 Transfers of industry or profession
 Broader networks or alliances outside organizations
 Intergenerational teaching, coaching or mentoring
 Volunteer work, board advisory or sabbaticals
 Self employment

Watch this last option. The link between late life career options and self employment is significant and can be argued is a prerequisite, part of pre-retirement planning courses. Not everyone wants a part time service sector job, nor will it always satisfy what motivation or “buzz” factor that was present in a previous part of the career. And there are many unmet needs and opportunities in the market that people with business acumen can apply their knowledge and expertise to offer services to customers.

Whatever trends and social conditions that may emerge for an aging population, expect that any future career pattern will be unpredictable and interruptive and that work life expectancy may be longer than you think. But remember in the end, it’s not age but attitude that will shape who you become.