How to lead
A Happy Life After Retirement
7 Secrets To A Happy Retirement: Surprising Research Findings
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what makes your retirement enjoyable is
it the free time is it the money what do
you think there has actually been
research done in Australia to answer
this question they asked hundred
australians who really liked their
retirement and hundred australians that
are struggling and find it difficult the
same questions to figure out what makes
the difference today I want to share
those findings with you welcome I'm
Sabrina from retire own I try to answer
the question what makes retirement
enjoyable good and successful and I came
across this book here it's written by
Michael Longhurst and it's called
enjoying retirement and Australian
handbook of ideas strategies and
resources actually Michael Longhurst was
planning his own retirement when he
heard different stories of people who
are really liking their retirement and
people who are struggling he was really
engaged by this question why there is
such a difference and he decided to
perform his retirement and signed up for
master bi research at the University in
Melbourne the findings of his research
are summarized in this book today I want
to share them with you
research finding number one engaging in
a purposeful activity for more than five
hours a week well actually most people
go through a stage of honeymoon in their
retirement in the beginning they travel
they engage in all the activities they
always wanted because they have all this
free time now but one to two years after
their retirement started they get bored
one way to avoid this is having a
purposeful activity but what is the
purposeful activity it's something
meaningful something more engaging than
just staying active and if you're lucky
it even may generate some income do you
have an idea what this could be for you
well I'll give you an example as well if
you always wanted to
scuba-diving do it but if you just go
diving here and there after you
completed your certificates it's not a
purposeful activity however if you go to
the Great Barrier Reef and you support a
research program there by counting fish
or cataloging corals then it becomes a
purposeful activity think about what
this could be for you research finding
number to retire at your own free will
yes this makes sense and I'm pretty sure
for most of us it will be the case but
there is an increasing number of people
being forced into retirement by
companies reorganizing or by health
problems let's focus at this
retrenchment so what does it mean people
who are being forced into retirement
often carry hard feelings towards their
colleagues who can stay on they can get
angry or they look at themselves and
think they were the problem they have a
very low self esteem so what do you do
well it's very important that you deal
with those feelings if you don't it may
result in some emotional health problems
I had a look around and I found a very
good website set up by the professionals
of Australia called heading for
retrenchments four ways for a better
outcome in short these are the four
points they suggest that you address
first managing your reactions second
give serious consideration to the
assistance offered third proactively
look for more support if you need it and
fourth focus on the future and build on
the past there's also a really good
booklet published by beyondblue it's
called taking care of yourself after
retrenchment or financial loss it
actually gives you specific strategies
what to do in such a situation for both
of them I've put the links below in the
description and I'll encourage you to
have a look at them although there are
Australian resources I'm pretty sure you
can apply them to any other country
research my
being financially independent yes I
think this makes sense in this video
however I will only cover the research
findings I have a different video that
shows you how you can organize your
finances for your retirement so what did
the survey say well people actually
think that the government pension viley
covers the necessities of life they
think that if you only rely on this
pension you will face some financial
difficulty ins if you still have a
depths like for example you have to pay
back your mortgage or you're supporting
your children they also think that it
could get quite difficult for you in
case of an illness or an accident
because you don't have any resources or
financial resources to cover such an
event and they also think that it quite
limits you in what kind of social
activities you can participate in
because you simply don't have the money
to buy entry tickets all the time
another thing and it's more general
thing is that people are worried to
simply run out of money if they only
rely on the pension research finding for
retire at 55 for younger well actually
this didn't come as a surprise for me
but the reasons behind this finding
actually made me think twice the main
reason people indicated why they wanted
to retire early is that they've seen
their parents retire at 65 and shortly
died afterwards and they don't want this
to be their case the other reason they
indicated is that they wanted to have
time to engage in the activities they
like or build their own business while
they were still young so retire at 55
for younger well sounds nice doesn't it
but how do you actually do that if you
still have a mortgage to pay back or if
you're supporting your children well
have you considered semi retirement it
means that you quit your full-time job
and you pick up an activity that can
generate some income and some is
something that you really look so I'll
give you a few examples for example if
you have a special skill like speaking
language you'd become a freelance
translator you offer your services and
you only pick up work in the time you
want to work or you could write a book
and publish it on Amazon or how about an
Airbnb tour guide well did you actually
know that exists
well it's quite fun to do for certain
people I think well I've put all the
links for OCD ideas below in the
description and I also have a different
video that goes more into depth of how
you're concerned generate income in
semi-retirement research finding number
5 having someone on whom you can rely on
for emotional support at the moment you
have your family but also your coworker
to whom you can turn to if you need
support once you retire however the
second group the work colleagues may
disappear literally overnight so what
else could you get support from I think
it's a good idea to find a social
network based on your interest
do you like knitting reading or biking
well there's actually quite a few
websites that link people with similar
interests for example there's Meetup gum
tree or even Facebook groups go ahead
and look around if you can find somebody
who has the same interests as you do or
if you need some more professional
support you might find it in religious
institution municipal counseling
services or at organizations such like
beyondblue lifeline australia or man
line australian again I've put the links
for those organizations below in the
descriptions but your main support group
is and will stay your family just serve
share in your situation where somebody
may decrease your stress research
finding number six proactively
maintaining your health what does it
mean it means that you're active follow
a healthy diet and go to the annual
health check-ups being active and
exercising may put some people off but
actually half an hour per day is enough
to maintain your health but what if
you're on a budget and you can just sign
up for a gym well there's actually quite
a free events around in Australia those
events are hosted by the city councils
for example Brisbane City Council's
program is called active parks they
offer Pilates yoga dancing or aqua
classes go ahead and have a look below
in the description I put the links to
the websites for the major Australian
cities but if you're not in Australia
there's a different website I suggest
you go and have a look at it's called a
mint bite and it lists events and active
groups for the most Majors cities in the
states and some of the UK have fun
browsing through it research finding
number-7 planning for retirement
receiving pre-retirement advice and
education well the research has shown
that if you plan for your retirement and
you get some advice or educate yourself
about subject your retirement is going
to be more happy and enjoyable but
planning for retirement doesn't only
mean financial planning
it also means planning for what kind of
lifestyle you want to have and you
retire but where do you get such advice
so most people turn to friends and
families but when you do that please
keep in mind that those people's
expectations and values may be quite
different to yours another way to get
information is for example through your
employer are you working for a big
company chances are pretty big that this
company runs retirement courses or
seminars another way are online courses
I found a very good one at ome I've put
the link for that one below in the
description as well it walks you through
all the step of retirement so that you
get the best retirement possible an
order idea is at the libraries here in
Australia there are free courses run by
the libraries for retirement planning go
over to your library
and ask maybe they're running one and
last but not least you can keep watching
my videos and you get more information
about retirement planning and the life
in after retirement so these were the
seven research finding let's have a look
at them again
first engaging in a purposeful activity
for more than five hours a week retire
at your own free will retire financially
independent retire 55 for younger having
someone for emotional support
proactively maintaining your health and
planning for retirement receiving
pre-retirement advice or education so
what do you think about all of this
please leave a comment below like and
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links I mentioned in the video also I
wanted to let you know that if you buy
something through one of those links I
may get a small commission thank you so
much for watching and I'll see you in my
next video
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