For those people who love their job, retirement is often something to be feared and resisted.
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But there are ways to manage it. Here's how one person approached this challenge.
Fred owned his own business and had a staff of 10 people.
He loved his job and when his wife talked about the idea of retirement, Fred saw all the negatives: "It'd be the end of my productive life; I'll be bored; I've been too busy to build my social network," and the idea was shelved again.
Then last year, Fred had a heart attack and his doctor told him to slow down and avoid stress. Major changes had to be made.
Fred had built a good team who could run the day to day business so he decided to let them do just that.
He organised himself so that he worked three days a week and focused on strategy and servicing major customers.
He also worked at developing a social life outside of work. In time he plans to be working one day a week and doing a few overseas trips.
The transition will take two to three years and give him plenty of time to ease into a new retirement lifestyle.
Now, Fred was in the fortunate position that he could control how and when he could transition into retirement. Not all of us can.
If you're over 60, but not ready for full time retirement and can still do your job effectively, why not try being semi-retired?
Many companies see major benefits with having experienced workers go onto part-time work while mentoring and training younger employees to step into their shoes.
This way the company can retain the corporate knowledge that an older employee has accumulated, and avoid a situation where a retiring worker takes all of his/her knowledge and experience as they walk out the door.
If you try semi-retirement for a couple of years, you give yourself time to adapt to a life after your career.
You also continue to generate an income during these years, which is a great way to stretch your superannuation funds.
If cash flow could be a problem when you're semi-retired, talk to your super fund about a "Transition to Retirement" package.
You'll find lots more useful tips in our book "A Holistic Guide to a Happy Retirement'. It's available on our web site at www.retirementbooks.com.au