My cousin Janet spent many years employed by a financial firm. The hours were long and the work was often grueling, but Janet thrived on the pressure and genuinely enjoyed what she did.
But by the time her 60s arrived, Janet just didn't have the energy to put in those hours -- and frankly, she didn't have to.
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Janet spent her entire career saving for retirement. So by the time she started to grow weary on the work front, she easily had a few million dollars to her name. (I admittedly have no idea exactly what her nest egg looks like, but based on an educated guess, I have to assume it's a nice amount of money.)
Janet could've resigned from her job and jumped into retirement at full force. Instead, she spent almost five years working part-time and easing her way in. And that, she says, was one of the smartest decisions she could've made.
When you test the waters first
A lot of people find retirement to be a tough period to adjust to. Suddenly, you're going from earning money to having to rely on the savings sitting in your 401(k) or IRA. You're also going from spending most of your waking hours working to suddenly having tons of free time on your hands. All this can be jarring.
Janet's situation was truly optimal in that she was able to go part-time prior to retiring fully. To be fair, this was due in part to flexibility on the part of her employer. But it was also because Janet was known as a hard-working employee whose skills were valued, so she'd earned the right to that flexibility.
Meanwhile, that period of part-time work served Janet well. It helped her adjust to different financial circumstances and figure out what it was she wanted to do with her time. (It turns out, her plans to grow her own food and bake her own bread fizzled when she realized she didn't actually enjoy doing either.) By the time Janet was ready to wrap up her career for good, she felt confident that she'd be OK financially and that she wouldn't be excessively bored.
An approach it pays to consider
If you're nearing retirement age, you may be looking forward to ending your career and enjoying some much-deserved freedom from the grind. But before you resign from work in full, you may want to see if it's possible to do your job on a part-time basis before giving it up completely. If that's not possible at your current place of work, you may want to see if you can secure a part-time position elsewhere.
Easing your way into retirement could make that change much easier. It could give you a sense of what your spending needs entail and help you stretch your savings a bit longer. It could also help you figure out what steps you need to take to stay adequately busy so you don't wind up restless and miserable.
