Your Future Reality

How do you envision your retirement years?  I grew up with the expectation that once you retire
(i.e. leave the full time work world) time and space would be mine to conquer. My husband and I would spend our twilight years of togetherness by traveling, pursuing long held back hobbies, enjoying extended visits to our children and grandchildren, all while maintaining the standard of living we've grown accustomed to.  Unfortunately, this rosy vision was recently blown to smithereens.  Apparently, retirement as I've come to understand it, is now obsolete.  

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What is the new reality of retirement? Well, according to Amanda Steinberg founder of  Daily Worth, it is going to be a combination of four factors:

       1)  Shared Housing- Think the television show, The Golden Girls—older people brought together not because of a family bond but because of financial circumstances. 

      2)  Continued Employment-  Working in some capacity way past the magic retirement age of 65. It won’t be the intense, 40+ hour work weeks of younger years. Rather, part time work revolving around a hobby. There has even been a new term created to describe this type of retirement employment: jobby. A combination of job and hobby.
3) Global Influences- Having access to seeing how aging is handled throughout the world will expand and change the practices used in the United States.

4) Move to Costa Rica- Well, maybe. Truth is, in Costa Rica today, you will find over 20,000 expatriate U.S. citizens living very comfortably in this adopted homeland on just $1,000 - $3,000 a month plus having access to a strong healthcare network

I found these ideas to be fascinating and something definitely worth considering as I plan now for my future. (Well, maybe all but Costa Rica)

No doubt about it, I hope to live a long time. Not just in terms of years but also in quality of life. I realize that there will be factors that will impact this desire: health, finances, the ability to take care of myself. Still, I know that I don’t have to just wait and see what happens. There are so many resources available to help me stay motivated, informed, and engaged as I get older. That is what Pfizer’s Get Old program is all about  An open forum to support healthy aging in our communities. I hope that my series these past few weeks, highlighting some of the things I learned at Pfizer’s Blogger Summit, has inspired you to start planning a future that is focused on healthy, sensible  aging. A worthy goal, indeed.               

Hope you didn't miss any of my entire Get Old Series:
Get Old in a New Year
Promise Me I'll Look This Good At 64
Chew On This From Carla Hall
How Prepared Are You For Your Retirerment?