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THERE’S AN OLD JEST that goes, “How can you tell if someone is a runner?” The answer: “Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.”
I’m a runner and have enjoyed running for more than 20 years. For me, it’s not about aspiring to go farther and be faster. It’s more about being outdoors, getting my heart rate up, clearing my head and just moving my body.
This spring finds me training for a half marathon that I’ll run with my son. We’ll peak in our weekly training distance in a month and then, a few weeks before the race, we’ll begin to taper. We’ll start reducing the distances we run to rest our muscles, lessen the possibility of injury and be ready to perform our best. We want to go the distance—and claim the race T-shirt, of course.
Like our peak training distances, the years before retirement often coincide with our highest-earning years. They can also be the most complex and involved both at work and at home. Rather than abruptly stopping your income and your daily work, I advocate a tapered approach to retirement.
Even among the financially well-set, the dissatisfaction with a sudden, total retirement seems to come after the initial honeymoon period. There’s a lack of engagement. No more problems to solve, people to interact with, or advice to give and take. The disengagement drives many to return to work fulltime after only a year or two.
How best to begin to taper from your peak? More employers are sponsoring programs of gradual work reduction before retirement, according to The Wall Street Journal and other sources. If your employer doesn’t, you might encourage management to develop one. You could even craft your own tapered retirement plan with the cooperation of your manager, once you are sure you’re ready.
Readers have offered some of their own creative approaches in the comments section of HumbleDollar and my own blog posts. One person was a partner in a business. He used the freedom that allowed to gradually cut back his hours during the years before full retirement. He accepted fewer new clients, avoided certain unpleasant projects and took Fridays off.
Another commenter said that, while she doesn’t have a formal phased retirement option, she’s essentially designing her own. She’ll continue teaching but shed some administrative duties. She’s completing a writing commitment this summer and it will be her last. She’s finishing a term on a board and won’t renew. Her husband is scaling back his hours, too. They’ll use some of their freed-up time to explore other interests in preparation for full retirement.
You can use examples like these to craft your own tapered retirement plan. After all, you don’t have to sprint to the finish to earn the race T-shirt.
This is my first year retired.
I’m using it to get health stuff done, bone grafts and teeth implants are taking the longest ’cause you have to wait 6 months for the bone grafts to be dense enough to take the implants. Slightly cracked hip screwed back together. Cataract surgery and liver treatment are finished with easily acquired good results. So I’m almost fixed up.
But when the teeth thing is over, I’ll be looking to teach some again (physics, which is a fun and dynamic subject to teach.)
I miss the energy and joie de vivre of the young people.
They are a fabulous hedge against depression.
I’ve taught in the US, China, and Taiwan, where I am now.
But I’m just gonna work half days.
I’ll come in early, but I want to leave at 2.
I don’t want the full class load.
I can take less pay, no problem.
Completely agree with your feelings on being around young folks.
Good luck with your list of health improvements! I like your step-down version of teaching where you can work fewer hours, but still get the ENERGY from teaching Physics (pun intended). I’ll also remember your line that “…youth are a fabulous hedge against depression.”
In 2008 I put in a formal phased retirement program at my company that allowed one’s pension to be paid while working for the same company – based on IRS rules.
The hours you worked were limited,