Surviving retirement – re-invent yourself

By Stuart Cohen CabinCare Property Management & Project Specialists

As the cold of mid-winter grips our town and tourists disappear from the scene, it is a good time to reflect on the impact that seasonal trends have on what is a holiday and retirement destination for many.

We constantly hear conversations about the economic state of the town, province and country, and the financial challenges many business owners and retirees are facing at this time, yet they fail to realise that they themselves are a potential solution to some of these challenges.

Retirees in particular may have a source of income at their fingertips, yet either fail to identify it, or are unsure how to take the first steps into the unknown. The one factor that has changed worldwide is that retirees may no longer be in their late 60s and beyond, and deemed by large sections of society to have reached their sell-by date.

The South African political scene over the past 25 years has had such an impact on the careers of the baby boomer generation (between 55 and 75 years of age) that there are many ‘pensioners’ in their mid-fifties to mid-sixties who find themselves excluded from employment opportunities, yet are not financially placed to spend years in the unemployment wilderness. South Africans have never been the best ‘savers for a rainy day’ and only a small percentage of the population is financially secure on reaching the ‘official’ retirement age.

The key to taking the reins and changing the situation for oneself is to start a process of ‘re-invention’, a metamorphosis which many may resist or avoid, for fear of the unknown. Nevertheless, it could be the source of more than just additional income, but also one of new challenges, social interactions and an unexpected new spark in your life.

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