Six reasons to look forward to your retirement

While many of us crave the day when we can forget the alarm clock, the commute, the boss and all the other strictures of work, retirement isn't necessarily a golden age – depression is the most common mental health ailment in New Zealand's elderly population. But aside from the SuperGold card, retirement offers a range of benefits and opportunities that, if played right, can make your last decades of life some of the most fulfilling yet.

Managing without a regular income is most people’s biggest concern about retirement – according to one survey, 39 percent of Kiwis worry about it. And obviously, your ability to get by on your weekly superannuation depends partly on whether you’re mortgage-free and have a decent KiwiSaver or other pension plan lined up.

However, as a recent Financial Times article points out, life after retirement really is substantially cheaper. Aside from the acquisition of your SuperGold card and all the discounts and freebies it bestows, there's the fact that employment brings a plethora of costs you'll no longer bear. Those costs can be the need to live in a pricey city to be close to your workplace, requiring at least one car per household, petrol or other commuting expenses, not to mention the tax on your mental health from sitting in traffic.

Then there are all those ways busy workers spend money in an attempt to buy some precious time: grabbing takeout coffees and café lunches, paying someone else to clean your house or walk your dog. There’s that expensive gym membership that was supposed to counter your sedentary desk job (but doesn’t because you never use it) and that therapist you see every Wednesday to help you untangle your issues with your toxic boss.

And what about all those grooming costs? The clothes and shoes that need updating every season, the dry cleaning, hairdressers, manicures, makeup, botox and dermal fillers. “What?” we hear you say. “I don’t do any of that!”

Maybe not, but with a high percentage of people (especially women) reporting experiences of ageism in the workplace, the pressure to maintain a youthful appearance is intense – and can be costly.

Whereas for those spending the day in their vege garden or on the golf course? They can wear last year's clothes and leave the wrinkles and grey hairs in peace. And lunch? That would be the life-extending soup you’ve spent half the day brewing. Cost per serve: 65 cents.

Yes, since the pandemic, work has become more fluid for many, with hybrid arrangements and flexi-hours common. But the fact remains that work is, by its very nature, on somebody else’s schedule (that would be the person paying you). And that schedule is not necessarily in accordance with yours.

Maybe you’re a night owl, happiest tinkering on a project until 2am and sleeping until midday. Maybe you have bear-like rhythms, naturally producing very little through the winter months but working like a demon in the height of summer. Perhaps you’re not suited to employment at all, preferring instead to spend your days in your garage producing vast Jackson Pollock-inspired art works that are yet to find a market.

Whatever your rhythm or reason, when you’re retired it’s all good. You’re the boss.

The science is in: when it comes to living a long life, social connection is up there with flossing and looking both ways before you cross the street.

One recent study showed that an active social life can reduce the risk of early death by over 40%. Another, which tracked over 700 people for 85 years, concluded that the role of social interaction in keeping humans alive “could not be overstated”.

That doesn’t mean you must spend every weekend throwing dinner parties or dancing till 5am in a club (though it’s your retirement, do as you wish). Little passing moments of social connection – chatting with a neighbour, a phone call with your daughter, a friendly exchange with the other dog owners at the park, all those things count. (But scrolling on social media doesn’t.)

And let’s face it, those moments are much easier to come by when you’re not working. Who in the working world hasn’t scheduled a long-overdue lunch with a friend, only to have one or other of you push it out until the following week, then the following week, and on and on until it never happens?

Retirement can mean a much richer social life – but with loneliness rates high among all New Zealanders, you do need to be proactive about it. Just remember: if your old friends have died, moved away, or just faded out of your life, it's never too late to make new ones by taking up new hobbies, sports or perhaps doing a spot of volunteering. Which brings us to our next point.

By all means be altruistic, but the beautiful truth is that helping others creates one of those win/win scenarios where the giver benefits too. Many studies show that doing good things for others majorly boosts our psychological wellbeing, aka happiness.

It doesn’t have to be official – you might just want to be a great neighbour, family member or friend – minding children, baking cakes or putting on the jug and listening to another person’s woes for a spell.

Or you might like to be more formal about it, particularly if you’re the kind of person who misses the structure of work. There are endless ways to get involved in your community – just Google your city or town and and “where can I volunteer?” and a list of worthy causes as long as your arm will pop up. Some volunteering organisations allow you to specifically choose group activities where you're bound to meet like-minded people.

Choose something that resonates with your values and interests – children, the environment, animals – and your skills. Maybe you could help immigrants learn English, or teach literacy in your local prison?

The possibilities are endless.

We mentioned above how work is changing – gone are the days where everybody worked 8.5 hours a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year, and were out the door at 65. Many of us now choose to work past the age of 65 and some, says career coach and author Jess Stuart, will ease gradually out of work.

"We don't necessarily see retirement as going: Right, I'm gonna jump off the cliff and go from working 50 hours a week to zero," she says. "There can be more of a phase of transition. So some people will go part-time first or they'll take a different role within the company, maybe more of a mentoring role. There are lots of different options now so that retirement doesn't just mean you're working one minute and then retired the next. And I think that's really important for our sense of purpose."

If you have left your job, there might something you enjoy and are good at that you could consider turning into a little side hustle to supplement your superannuation. Maybe you knit scarves worthy of selling at a local market. Perhaps you're a writer and have the time to research and craft the kinds of stories that media organisations can no longer pay staff to produce. You might be up for a spot of childcare, gardening or cooking for someone who's as stressed and over-stretched as you used to be.

Having survived a corporate career (and subsequent burnout) much of Jess Stuart's ethos and advice is centered around cultivating a life that’s rich in personal passions as well as meaningful work. That means hobbies and interests – and if these enrich the lives of workers, they're invaluable to the retired.

If you've left your job, Stuart suggests taking an interest you only had time to dabble in before – it could be a craft, a sport, a language – and really grasping the opportunity to go deep with it.

Ideally it will be something that brings a few demands and some structure – like a place to be at a particular time of day (all that stuff you couldn't wait to ditch when you were working).

"We need routine and we need purpose," says Stuart. "Retirement can't just be, 'I'm going to put my feet up and do crosswords. Because that doesn't really suit anyone. We want a reason to get out of bed in the morning."