What do some of the people I know do well in their retirement? Or should I say how did they plan for their retirement? Well I have interacted with some retirees (less than 75 years of age) and here are my observations:

1. They did not retire alone: many of them have retired near their place of work and count their classmates, cousins, etc who have all retired. This means they are no longer isolated, and have a friends, relatives circle for socializing.
2. Most of them had visualized how their retirement will look like and feel like: I never thought this was important, but in retrospect I was wrong. A few of them had thought how it would look like, with whom they would like to be, etc.
3. Many have not retired totally: I found one CFO looking after the portfolio of all his siblings, cousins, friends, etc. This is keeping him active, and he is acting like a free IFA for these people.
4. Those who are happy are the ones who felt that they were in control of the Retirement process, and not in some others hands.
5. Those who have shifted to a senior citizen home have found new friends, and have taken many of their friends along.
6. Many of them are active in terms of activities – which earn money and help them interact with younger people.
7. Many of them are sure that their corpus will last them – however NONE of them are beating themselves over this!