Do you plan for retirement?

I was not enjoying my work in 2006. I took a leap into the unknown and quitted my fulltime job. I was feeling burnout on the job. At that time, I was the Deputy Director of Temasek Business School in Temasek Polytechnic (TP). I did not know at the start that I would end my career that way. Health took priority. I left the job with so much fond memories and so many friends I made over fourteen years.

I remember taking stock of my financial assets and working out how much was my recurring expenses. The question I asked myself was, “Could I afford to retire?” In reality, I would not do it if I wanted to maintain the same lifestyle. I knew that I had to cutback on some expenses.

Between 2006 to 2012, I took on part-time teaching at TP to ease me into full-time retirement. When I started work in 1981 after university, the official retirement age was 55 years. Now the retirement age was raised to 62 years. I kept to 55 years as my retirement age that I bargained for when I first started work. I kept faith with myself.

It has been ten years into retirement. People and friends often asked me how I spent my time on retirement. I found it tedious trying to answer. You just go with the flow and live each day as it comes. It is up to each one of us to spend his/her time meaningfully. There is no roadmap to guide us.

Go with the flow. When the time comes you will know.