For the generation which is now ‘pushing the flowers’ the word retirement was clear. You worked till you were 60, retired and died at 68. You did not have to worry who would take care of you in your old age. They stayed in a joint family, some of them had an indexed pension, had 5 children, so in the joint family SOMEBODY looked after them.  50 years ago, there was this idea of retirement where you worked for the company for 30 or more years, then one day you went from full-time to not working at all, you got a watch and all your retirement dues, a pension, some health cover for life, and you started going for walks every day.

Cut to 2020, you are 53, your company has sounded you out on ‘moving on’ and you have no clue what to do. Well what happens to doctors and how can they retire? Will they or should they retire?

PART TIME RETIREMENT

When you do not see any reason or logic in working for 40 years – especially if you are a well earning professional. You can surely cut down to 2/3rd of your professional time, and spend some time in looking after your health or socializing, or pursuing a hobby. Surely all of them have good dividend yields! For example if you are a doctor, you can drop certain days from your working calendar. If you are practising in 3 locations, you can cut it down to 2. Or maybe even one. You can shift from clinical practice to a part time teaching job.

TAKE A SABBATICAL

It is possible that you take 3 years off from your profession to comeback to the profession. Like women do to have a baby, men and older women too can take a break to look after a parent, pursue a hobby, try a different profession (photography?), …however, this needs confidence and some moolah in the bank…just in case you cannot get into the profession again. Risk. Can you have a second career option? Why not? The better you manage your finances in life, the more options you’ll have in your second one. But there’s no reason you have to stay in the same job or even profession for your entire life. I cannot imagine a 18 year old joining a factory and happy to stay there for 50 years. It is not happening now and will not happen in the future!

WORKING IN RETIREMENT

Why tie down to the word ‘retirement’ the way our parental generation did? You can take up some part time work, directorships, consulting, coaching, – there is no reason why you should be trapped in the word Retirement.

Even financial independence has no ‘clear’ meanings assigned to it. Each person defines it differently.