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	What Is Authentic Retirement?

	by Marcia Bench

If you are approaching retirement, you need to know that it will likely be a bigger change than you have anticipated! The millions of Baby Boomers that are retiring in the coming years have done little PLANNING for retirement -– and the planning they have done is in the FINANCIAL area only.

HOLISTIC RETIREMENT PLANS

While your financial situation important, it is only one of 8 key areas that retirees need to address in order to experience a fun, fulfilling, and SATISFYING retirement. Otherwise, they face the fate of many retirees from prior generations: if they retire from their profession with the proverbial gold watch and retirement plan in hand, they may die within one to two years due to BOREDOM or loss of identity or depression.

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC RETIREMENT?

Authentic retirement is a unique, comprehensive approach to retirement planning that is unlike any other system. And it is just that –- a SYSTEM or template that will help you ensure that your retirement decision is not only financially viable, but emotionally and PERSONALLY satisfying as well. Our Authentic Retirement Model includes the following elements (your Certified Professional Retirement Coach™ will have a worksheet and other tools to help you clarify each of these):

LIFE PURPOSE

The issue of one’s purpose in life arises at different times in life for different individuals. If you have not confronted the MEANING of your life prior to retirement, it will emerge for exploration then. And even if you have considered it previously, life without full-time work can shift your sense of IDENTITY: “Who am I if I’m not the Vice President of x?”

YOUR CORE ESSENCE

Dr. Carl Jung emphasizes that to self-actualize (or fully develop as people), we must discover and embrace spirituality and a sense of purpose by our 40’s or beyond. He calls this INDIVIDUATION. Often retirees will find themselves questioning their identity, redefining the roles of work and leisure in their lives, or desiring clarity on their life purpose. By exploring your purpose, you will determine what is most PASSIONATE and meaningful for you, and from that your life purpose will emerge.

VALUES

A second factor one must consider in planning retirement is what values are IMPORTANT to the person. What matters most to you -- achievement, security, interaction with others, a chance to teach what you know? During your primary working years, those values may largely be fulfilled through your work. Or while raising children, family values may be fulfilled there. But how will you ensure that those values are also satisfied in retirement? Planning toward that begins with increasing your AWARENESS about your key values, regardless of the context in which they are applied.

MOTIVATORS

Motivators, also called “drivers,” are the things that keep a person GOING, whether in work or in other aspects of life. Some people are motivated by spending their time working for a paycheck; others are highly motivated not to have to do so. Your motivators must be identified, and then INCORPORATED into your retirement consciously. Lifestyle choices made with a view toward what is motivating for you will lead to significantly greater satisfaction, in most cases, than planning merely based on what others expect you to do, or what your have chosen to do.

TALENTS

This factor asks, “what skills, talents, strengths and ABILITIES do I have that I would enjoy using even if I don’t get paid?” “If I want or need to work, how do I envision using them in a part-time or contract position in retirement?” In "Now Discover Your Strengths", Marcus Buckingham and his co-author define talents as those things an individual does well NATURALLY. Perhaps you have latent talents that you have either never used or abandoned during your primary career years that can now be expressed in retirement.

LIFE AND WORK EXPERIENCE

Experiences from both work and other aspects of your life can be LEVERAGED in retirement. If you have extensive experience in management, for example, directing a fund-raising effort for a nonprofit organization to promote a cause about which you feel strongly can be a retirement APPLICATION of that experience.

DESIRED ACTIVITIES

What are your DREAMS, plans, and other elements of your retirement lifestyle? Which activities will you focus on most? Here you envision your ideal MIX. It may be a mix of leisure and involvement, of hobbies and part time work, of relationships and experiences -- but you decide what you want.

LIFESTYLE AND ENVIRONMENT

Next, you define how the these activities will be BLENDED into a retirement lifestyle. Will you live “on the road” or in the home you have owned for years? Will you spend more time with your spouse or less? Will your disposable income be higher or lower than during your working years? Or perhaps you are grandparenting as the primary caretaker for a grandchild, or dealing with a health condition. All of these factors are combined into a desired retirement lifestyle that works perfectly for you and your unique NEEDS.

THE FINANCE FACTOR

Once the seven initial factors are clarified, the final consideration is MONEY. Will your financial resources support you through retirement? If not, how will you make up the DEFICIT?

Marcia Bench is a Master Certified Career Coach, Founder/Director of Career Coach Institute, LLC, and Retirement Coach Institute. She has written 18 books on career development and transition and has presented over 450 presentations to professional audiences throughout the world. She is a frequent guest in the media on trends in the workplace, coaching, and similar topics. She can be reached at or toll-free in the U.S. at 866-226-2244.

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