Your business is thriving, money has come to your way, and you are about to be financially free. You start to think about retiring early.

Or, in other, typical case – you work hard and secure your hard-earned cash well for your retirement, either in retirement funds or in your own personal investment instruments. You hope to retire well when the time comes.

For whatever options you have in mind for retiring, you have to think the answers on this question:

What would you do after you retire?

Think about your options after you retire

You wish to stop working after you retire; The answer, to some people: sure, you can. In fact, you can start looking for retirement ideas from the Net, such as SilverFoxRetirement.com.

However, here is the real issue to address: do you really want to stop working after you retire?

Why people choose NOT to retire

I have relatives and colleagues of relatives that really indicate the ‘agreed’ truth:

While others wish they could retire, some could stop working after retirement, but chose not to.

The following is one or several of their reasons NOT to retire:

To keep themselves lively, healthy and their minds active

To avoid getting sick, depressed and being forgetful

To preserve social status

To maintain lifestyle

To achieve milestones they have set in their life

and many other social and personal endeavours.

I highlight one of those reasons, because it is the reason why most of my relatives and colleagues of relatives keep working.

They (still) have the drive and passion to achieve, and their life is driven by achieving milestones, often with no finish line. Their motto could be “It is not the finish line that important, but how you ‘run’ the course of track that really matters most.”

How to retire right

From those who have paved the road and set the example to us, I learn the following on how to retire right:

If you want to retire from your job or biz, you might want to start an activity that can fulfill your need for achievement, i.e. start a charity

if you have the capital, consider purchasing a franchise right that requires less or minimal owner involvement in day-to-day operation.

The basic rule is: Never stop doing anything productive – traveling the country is the better option than staying at home watch TV, walk the dog or care the grandchildren.

Think succession – Never feel not needed by your boss, peers, colleagues or even your own children – you have pave the road, and it’s time for other, younger people to have their chances and continue what you have set.

Offer yourself to be a mentor or a consultant, either paid or not – share what you know, regardless.

Ivan Widjaya

Retire right

Image by Ernst Moeksis.