Retirement

I was reading about a state trooper who is retiring after 37 years of service and he was asked what he is going to do and he answered that he will spend more time with his wife and grandchildren and do some traveling. I spent many years talking to people about retirement planning and his was a typical response. In today's world many people don't think about the fact that you may have 20 or 30 good years after you retire and it requires some planning. As a general rule you will not do after retirement what you did not do before retirement. When I retired I took a trip down memory lane and visited the many places I had lived before and it was fun but after 5 weeks away from my bed I was ready to come home and stay home. After that I went back to work which is what I did for most of my life. Often times retired people say they are busier than ever but that may not be the case. There is a business principle called Parkinson's Law and it says, work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Many retirees work on various projects and they say that keeps them busy but many of those same people worked on similar projects while they were full time workers. People who are self employed like writers and artist continue right on working at their craft and so there is not much adjustment required but for those who work for an employer it helps to have a plan.