How To Ensure A Happy Retirement

It’s a time when we’re supposed to find happiness, but post-work life is often associated with stress, loneliness and worry. Here are some tips to help you live long and prosper.

Is retirement good for your health?

According to researchers, it is entirely dependant on what you did before and what you plan to do with yourself after.

Retiring is a huge life event, and can sometimes leave us feeling like we've lost our identity.

It is, however, possible that the shift from working full-time to not may not even change your life much; if you can maintain your standard of living, interactions and sense of purpose, then retirement may not have an impact on your quality of life.

We spoke to journalist, author and retirement coach Marianne Heron about her tips and tricks on how to ensure a happy and healthy retirement.

"Achieving a work-life balance, obviously, this depends very much on the circumstance, on what you do and what kind of corporate environment you work in," Marianne says.

"But given the pressure of work these days, where employers seem to have lost sight of the importance of human capital it is getting harder to achieve, a shame since creativity gets eroded. In retirement or Rewirement, on the other hand, you are your own boss and it is much easier to find the balance between ‘me time’ and being involved in a purpose which is meaningful to you.

"Six months before you retire is an ideal time to go and see a financial advisor about how best to manage your financial parachute.

"Studies show that those who do so feel much more confident about the future. New research commissioned by leading pension company Irish Life, shows that 3/5 Irish people approaching retirement are unaware of the vital financial decisions they need to make affecting their retirement income.

"The earlier you start paying into a pension the better, contributions will be less steep, and you get the benefit of compound interest, start 10 years earlier than average of 37 for starting a pension and you will have 50 per cent more pension.

"A few years before retirement it’s a good idea to start on your retirement life planning so that you have an enticing future – and Rewire don’t Retire looks at what to expect of this major life transition and provides a guide to help you realise your own special dream for Rewirement."

"It’s time to retire that word retirement. It simply doesn’t sum up a vibrant new life stage lasting 20 or even 30 years which is full of possibilities.

"You can be who want to be and do what you want to do once free of the demands of work and to do so you need to REWIRE your mental circuitry and discover new aspects of your identity.

Irish Life commissioned the second edition of Rewire don’t Retire Retirement Lifestyle Guide because they recognise that planning what you are going to do with the extra 2,000 hours a year that you gain after you leave employment is every bit as important as having a financial plan.

For more information on Irish Life's Retirement Plan visit their website or follow them on social media @irishlife.ie.