Preparing for Retirement: Strategies for Financial and Personal Well-Being

Retirement is the period in which, by agreement, after a certain age, people retire from active working life. In Spain the general legal age of retirement is 65 years, but there are professions in which it can vary; for example, miners can retire at 50 years of age and, on the other hand, professors can extend their working lives until they are 70. This makes the average age in our country at 63 years. The possibility of extending the retirement age to 67 years is currently being debated.

Retirement marks the end of working life, in which there is a very specific social role, with very marked activities and time-use habits and effective productivity. The change of these habits, prolonged for more than 40 years in most cases, is usually abrupt and is a yearned for and, however, also feared event. It is longed for because it represents rest, being able to use time as we please, being able to enjoy leisure as we please; and it is feared because we do not know what to do with so much free time and it can give us the feeling of no longer being worth anything.

Suddenly the hours of work, rest, leisure and sleep, among others, do not adapt to current life, which produces a disturbance of mental and physical balance with repercussions on health and character. This occurs at the same time as there is a breakdown in professional relationships, a change in the conditions of social life and a modification in the relationships with whom we live daily. Spending more time than usual with other people means that many affections can be rethought.

Regarding financial conditions, the loss of a part of economic resources, given that pensions are usually lower than the income received during working life, entails the alteration of purchasing power.

In cultural life and leisure, the retired person goes from a situation in which they have little time to dedicate to distractions to a situation with much more free time, appearing a new disturbance in the balance of the individual. In our society, unfortunately, most entertainment is expensive and we have already said that the income of retirees is usually limited.

However, it is possible that retirement is really a time to enjoy rest time, if we try to maintain a good physical and, above all, psychological preparation.

There are a number of important rules that are important to keep in mind:

• Take care of health: Even before retirement it is convenient to insist on healthy lifestyle habits, watching the diet (low in fat, rich in fiber and calcium and with an adequate level of protein), eliminating tobacco consumption, moderating or eliminating alcohol intake, reducing the consumption of coffee and other stimulants and increasing hydration with water and natural juices.
• Exercise: Depending on previous habits, it is important to continue with the exercise that was already done, perhaps more progressively or with less intensity. If it was not done before, it is advisable to start a progressive, aerobic, regular activity that, above all, is pleasant.
• Keeping your mind in shape: Reading, doing hobbies (sudoku, crossword puzzles, word searches, etc.), learning new skills like painting or singing, continuing studies or starting new ones… Everything is good for brain gymnastics.
• Pamper social life: Once the withdrawal from working life has occurred, it is essential to maintain social contacts with family and former colleagues, as well as to cultivate new friendships and recover old ones; in short, feeling that we continue to belong to a society and that it knows that we exist.