Switching from full-time work to retirement can be a huge shift in a person’s life and can affect more than just your finances. Transitioning into retirement changes how you live, from daily activities to relationships with family and friends, and even your identity. To help you navigate this transition, here are some important considerations and tips for success.

When planning for your retirement, you may not consider how it will look for you and what you may want to do.

Retirement can look different for everyone and should look different as we all have different goals and needs. Do you know what your retirement goals are? Great, but if not, asking these questions to yourself might be a good place to start: What does retirement mean for you personally? Do you want to stop working completely? Or will you want to work part time, or start a new business? Will you want to travel? Will you work on your hobbies? Maybe spend more time with family and friends?

These are all important things to think about and can help you identify your priorities.

Many retirees who have transitioned successfully have done so because they have a strong sense of identity outside their work.

A recent study showed that older Canadians retiring had a much more positive experience when they had a balanced sense of self, versus retirees whose identity was too closely entwined with their job and the status it brought them. If you find you belong to the latter camp, now is a good time to start to unwind your identity from your job to help ease the transition in the future. Were you once a teacher? Now, you could be a mentor, Elder, grandparent, volunteer or an artist. You get to decide! You are more than your work; even if you are unsure of what that looks like now, that’s okay. Taking the time to figure it out now will help when you stop working.

For many, retirement planning means financial planning and preparation for when you stop working.
However, that is just one side of the coin. It’s also important to plan your retirement lifestyle and how you will spend your time. Remember those hobbies you never had time for? Did you always want to learn how to garden? Or volunteer at the community centre? How about that trip to Europe you always wanted to take? You can do many things when you have the luxury of time on your side.

Check this article on 120 Big Ideas for what to do in Retirement for a lot more ideas.

Take the time now to dream and plan how you want to spend your days. Having an idea of how your life will look once you retire will help ease any anxieties you may have and give you something to look forward to rather than just leaving work behind.