A New Retirement Mindscape II (SM) study has uncovered interesting information about how the attitudinal and behavioral stages of retirement have altered. According to the study, the recession has caused prospective and current retirees to add a stage in the process only five years after they were first introduced.
The Stages of Retirement
Taking a look at the stages of retirement was a concept first introduced by Harris Interactive, a custom market research firm, as a way to identify what consumers experience in their journey to and through this process.
When first conducted five years ago, Harris’ New Retirement Mindscape II (SM) study discovered that consumers experienced five stages of retirement. However, since the recession, that number has climbed to six and include:
- Imagination
- Hesitation
- Anticipation
- Realization
- Reorientation
- Reconciliation
These stages are slightly different than those first identified five years ago, which were 1) Imagination, 2) Anticipation, 3) Liberation, 4) Realization and 5) Reorientation.
According to Harris, the new stages of retirement clearly reflect the substantial emotional impact of the recession. Its difficult economic environment has affected those approaching retirement or recently retired so severely that a new stage emerged and another was renamed.
Ultimately, the researchers determined that now, retiring is a process filled with anxiety and fear as opposed to years ago when the idea was exciting and liberating.
Have You Experienced These Stages?
Learning about these stages of retirement brings to light how emotional a journey the process really is. If you don’t take the process seriously, you could experience adverse financial affects as well as deteriorating health due to stress.
That’s why if you are nearing retirement and struggle with whether your investments are in order and if you will really have a secure future without employment as your security blanket, it’s time to find out. While it’s a scary prospect in this shaky economy, there are things you could do to make sure you’re on the right track.
One is to ask yourself if you’re really saving enough for retirement. This could help you decide whether it’s really time to leave or if it would be better to work a few more years. If you find that you’re not saving enough, it’s time to better understand investing for retirement and how to create good investing habits before you walk away from your employer.
The last thing you want is to know what happens when retirement goes wrong. The more you take retirement planning seriously now, the better your stages of retirement will likely feel when it’s time.
