What is retirement really?

Most of the expats we know here in Cuenca are retired, about to retire and looking for the right place to live, or thinking out a few years about what they will do when the time comes. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what retirement means for them - travel, an easier life style, an escape from the work ethic, leisure, a time to do things never done before, and dozens more reasons or possibilities. But retirement isn’t all that easy. For us, it meant uprooting the family, leaving everything familiar, and moving to a foreign land. Some others realized their dream by moving into a retirement community so they could play golf every day for the rest of their lives. Some have actually stayed at home and will work, as they have always worked, until it is no longer profitable or feasible.  Others reached out and followed a life-long dream by traveling or moving to a more hospitable place.  We have found that three of the real draws when making these choices are health care, economics and a favorable climate. These are subjects that we, and others, have dealt with extensively in our blogs. But there is another factor that lays hidden in the excitement of retirement.  What will you do for the rest of your life? There are hundreds of answers to this question and it is very personal but the main fact to think about is that you must have something to do with yourself when you retire.  There is nothing worse than no longer having a job to go to, nothing to do, and 24 hours to deal with each day. So, before you make this important transition, start planning what you’ll do in the next chapter of a long and fruitful life. Nothing will serve you better than to tuck a few projects into that suitcase, projects that will make a contribution, that will satisfy a life-long need, or that will keep you engaged, interesting, and useful.