What People Fear in Retirement
During retirement, you might face fierce emotions you have been carrying for a while. That’s normal! Anytime there is a major life transition, you will likely process some physical and emotional junk.
You have time to explore the emotional ramifications of a long and undulating career. There have been good times, and sure, there have been plenty of bad times quickly swept under the rug.
So, what scares me in retirement?
What People Fear in Retirement
What fears are common in retirement?
Of course, number one is running out of money, experienced by about half of retirees.
Since you have oversaved for retirement, you don’t need to worry about running out of money. Instead, you need to worry about developing a scarcity mindset once the money stops rushing in.
Let me step back and clarify that for a moment. You have plenty of money; you need to worry about spending it all.
The scarcity mindset will hit you at some point in retirement once the paycheck stops. But, I’m telling you, there will be some point where you care what gas costs and worry about that cup of overpriced Joe you get every time you increase your social circles in a coffee shop. Man, inflation at the grocery store is real!
What to do about your scarcity mindset?
Get over it! Get real! Focus on growth and abundance.
If you have a real risk of running out of money in retirement, that is one thing. But most people I talk to have a problem spending the money they have so carefully accumulated and nurtured over the decades.
Remember, you have abundance in all areas of your life—work, social, intellectual, etc. Make sure you focus on abundance with your money, as it will quickly affect the other, more important, areas of your life if you don’t.
Prosperity, I claim it. Abundance, is mine. Love, flows through me. I feel joy, all the time. Peace, fills my heart. I surrender, everything. Health, is my birthright. Passion, helps me sing. I release, and let go. I accept, what is mine. I can have, what I want. And let spirit, direct the flow. ~ Prosperity Chant, Karen Drucker
What Scares Me in Retirement
Next, after running out of money, additional fears in retirement include:
- Develop chronic medical condition
- Become a burden to family
- Not finding meaning/identity crisis
- Becoming bored
- Spousal demise/ losing your partner
- Loss of medical insurance
- Not staying mentally or physically active
If you study the list above, the fears are those of health and those of the mind. This is also known as longevity or more specifically as health-span (rather than life-span).
Your new job in retirement is to take care of your physical, emotional, and spiritual body. Make it a full-time job.
Divorce after Retirement
Retirement gives everyone much time to think, and that makes divorce common after retirement. “Gray Divorce” is increasing; about 43% of divorce happens between the ages of 55 and 64. On the other hand, nationally, divorce is down (at 34% of all couples).
Retirement is a major life transition and affects a person as much as marriage or death of a spouse. We all know there will be an adjustment period with retirement. The remedy is to take care of yourself physically and mentally and keep working on what is most important to you in your life.
Is there More or Less Fear if you Retire Early
The good news is that the closer you are to traditional retirement age, you may have fewer retirement fears.
This makes sense, but let’s look at the magnitude of the difference.
Above, you can see the top financial fears if you are 55-64 vs. 65+.
Note that these are monetary and job-related rather than emotional fears.
Every single retirement fear lessons in the decade before “traditional” retirement.
Notable examples include (of course) “not enough money,” which decreases from half of people to 35% after 65.
Next, on the bottom, check out “losing your job.” This fear makes a ton of sense since about half of people may retire before they intend to.
The longer you wait to retire, the better you are off financially. So–you– why wait? What people fear in retirement is not being enough or having enough to move on to the next phase of life.
