Planning for retirement: After 40 years in the public service, Gerard* recently retired from his job.
Just two months into retirement, I now realise how important good preparation is.
The psychological change after retirement is enormous, going from holding down a demanding job in the public service to a situation where there is potentially a lot of leisure time. This is all very good for your golf handicap and for jobs around the house, but these in themselves cannot fill the vacuum left by the loss of a working life.
This is where good preparation comes in; leaving this until after retirement is far too late, which is why I found the pre-retirement course at work invaluable.
We have all heard of husbands on retirement invading their wives' "space" but, so far, my wife and I haven't encountered this problem to any great extent.
What we have found is that she now misses the social opportunities that came from my job.
The psychologist who spoke to us on the pre-retirement course identified the phenomenon of the trauma of retirement and how it can cause a flashback to another previous traumatic life experience.
She stressed how important it was to get help to deal with this and used the very appropriate analogy of trying to push a large duvet into a much too small press and it bursting to get out. Thankfully, I have not discovered any "duvets" yet, but then I've only recently retired.
I'm told that early summer is the ideal time to retire, but I found that pre-Christmas was good for me with the preparation for Christmas and the expectation of family returning for the holidays.
Regardless of when a person retires, I would strongly recommend that they plan ahead in the months preceding retirement. Adopting a positive mental outlook and daily physical exercise are also advisable once you retire.
*Name has been changed.