Advice from the Pro to future retirees

One of my best friends recently shared his apprehensions at the thought that, come the end of November, he'll be joining the ranks of retirees. To address his anguish, I'm covering a number of key advices that should pleasantly ease him into his transition!

To begin with, recognize your addictions to work and to being relevant, and then deal with them. They're a disease, period. If necessary, get some professional help, but do everything possible to resist the foolish idea that you ought to pursue yet another career. These destructive addictions simply have to go!

Next, there's no more room for stress in your lives. Like dreading Monday mornings, anguishing about another last-minute business trip, or trying to placate the boss when he or she wants you to increase productivity, sales, or margins when you know damn well that the expectation is totally unreasonable. That's right, the ugly stress in gone for good.

Another benefit of being retired is that there's no more room or excuses for rushing. You can now take your time, seize the moment and make it last as long as you want. That applies to resting, eating, drinking and anything else you still enjoy doing.

Of course, when there's no rush, there's also plenty of room for doing nothing. Even though this lack of activity might seem obvious, retirees need to seriously apply themselves to learning the art of goofing off. Practice, practice, practice! After a lifetime of work, this skill doesn't come as easily as one might believe!

This bring me to the inexorable truth about aging. The older we get, the less time we've got in reserve and conversely, whatever times remains suddenly becomes increasingly valuable. So if you think your time is precious today, wait until tomorrow; it will be unaffordable! The bottom line is that day after day, the value of your remaining time will shoot through the roof, because, let's face-it, time is all we've got, and you must begin treasure every moment...

This is why doing things today instead of tomorrow is the main idea as long as there is no rush or anxiety and you plan everything smoothly. If you had a dream like skiing South America or bungee-jumping, and still feel you're up to it, don't delay, do it while you can. Make sure you make a list and review all of your dreams including your most obscure ones, and schedule them for accomplishment!

Lastly, but not least, is your relation with your spouse. How will you interact with your better-half now that you'll have so much time to spend together? A sizable period might be needed for adapting to that new reality of shared space and time, and if some conflicts were to pop up, always keep one fundamental principle in mind; at retirement age, your spouse can no longer fire you as you have now reached that coveted status of tenure or lifetime employment!

Now, enjoy your time off...