Positive words for retirement

We asked Citro’s community for better words to describe retirement, given it is a negative word that means withdrawing or retreating. Here’s what our members say.

The word ‘retirement’ actually means withdrawing. It’s from an old French word that dates back to the 1560s with ‘re’ meaning ‘back’ and ‘tirer’ meaning ‘to draw’.

People retired from battle, or retired to sleep. Today, the French word for retirement is ‘retraite’, which literally means retreating.

But shouldn’t retirement be positive?

Dame Judi Dench says ‘retire’ is “the rudest word in my dictionary. And ‘old’ is another one”. At 89, she’s sick of people asking her when she will retire.

In an age where we live longer lives and we’re reinventing what it means to retire, it’s time for new words. Positive words. So we asked the Citro community to see what they had to say …

Dame Judi Dench, who at 89 is sick of people asking her when she will retire.

Flextirement

“ Flextirement is how I am describing my step away from full-time work to part-time consulting and volunteering. Retirement sounds like you do nothing but play lawn bowls. I’m as busy as ever.” Cal Logan, SA

Unplugged

“I have unplugged from stress and plugged into my true purpose, rescuing wildlife and having the time to care for my elderly parents. Full-time work is over-rated. Unplugging is the best way to describe where I have arrived.” Devon Nambiar, QLD

Rewirement

Jubilación Want-tos

“ Rewirement is a better word for retirement. We have to rethink everything from our daily routine to our money to our sense of purpose.” Linda Stoggal, VIC

“Retirement is not a word that bothers me. We aren’t retiring from life, only retiring from all the have-tos. Retirement is about want-tos.”

Harry Western, NT

“My family are Spanish, where the word for retirement is jubilación. Jubilation is how I will feel when I finally have enough money not to have to work everyday.”

Elena Angel Perez, ACT

Prime time

Chapters

“It’s my prime time. I’ve never been more free to follow my heart and travel where I want to.” Maria Kourania, TAS

“I tried to retire 10 years ago and gave up. Now I’ve realised it’s just a series of chapters. Life, like retirements, is a series of chapters, so it’s a plural word not a single destination.” John Matiakis, VIC