Retirement…Thinking about my strategy

When I retired, I rrealized that my life had changed dramatically from the work-a-day world that I had experienced for the years since I left the cockpit and joined the world of high reliability electronics for the aerospace industry. Retirement was a life transition with which I had no experience. I was fortunate because I was offered a part time position by my company for which I could work from my office in the plant and, ultimately, from home during the Covid debacle. As a result, during the initial phase of my retirement, I experienced an incremental change that would keep me occupied for several years. I was able to continue to work, albeit in a modified capacity, while I had more leisure time than I had ever experienced.  Last year my company was absorbed by a multi-billion dollar aerospace company. I was caught in the reduction-in-force that was part of the process of the acquisition by the larger company. I was forced to confront the prospect of a full retirement without a part time job. I was forced to ask…now what?

When facing a significant life transition change for which I had no experience, I had to review my core values, work to create clarity as I reviewed my options, establish my priorities and devise a strategy that would define how I moved forward in life. Unfortunately, like many people facing the realities of a full retirement, I had not previously developed a strategy that would set me on a pathway for the fulfillment that I needed as I moved on with my life. I actually had not considered that my situation was, in the initial phase of retirement, relatively simple. I continued to work remotely while maintaining a place in my company. When I fully retired, I asked myself, do I move forward based on the consideration of myself, do I move forward with the development of the concept of service to others, or do I arrange to do both during my retirement?

I considered that one to the characteristics that I had developed was a relatively keen curiosity. I have, during the initial phase of my retirement, taken the time to “look up” ideas or details about which I either was hazy or had no knowledge. During those eight years, I realized that my curiosity was a gift. In fact, my curiosity led me to find a way to continue to explore ideas, to better understand the humanity with whom I share this world, and to realize that I enjoy writing. With that in mind, the strategy that I developed for the balance of my retirement is to, through my curiosity, explore and refine the hills and valleys of life transitions.

We each will settle on a strategy for retirement that will, most probably, change or become more refined as we move through the remainer of our lives. For me, the prospects realized in retirement are based upon curiosity and the continual need to find challenge. Whether curiosity and challenge are found in travel, the golf course, becoming conversant in philosophy or becoming supremely adept at crossword puzzles, our curiosity is a gift that, if we support it, will provide a retirement that provides each of us with enjoyment and growth.

Safe Harbor Pathways is a forum that is intended to provide ideas and encouragement that assists with developing retirement strategies that allow us to meet our expectations for this time in our lives. You can find us at safeharborpathways.com, the Bill Holmes and the Safe Harbor Pathways pages on Facebook, or email directly to me at bill@safeharbor pathways.com.