Articles

How to emotionally prepare for retirement

6 minutes

All of our content is approved by our in-house expert advisory panel.

The information on this page should not be considered as financial advice. If you are unsure what’s right for you, please make sure you speak to a financial adviser.

Retirement is one of the biggest changes in a person’s life. After years of structure, whether in education or work, you are suddenly free to do whatever you want with your spare time. For this reason, retirees can fall into poor mental health and struggle with loneliness.

Preparing for retirement is something people may have considered financially. But when it comes to the emotional preparation, it’s an entirely different matter.

Why do you need to emotionally prepare for retirement?

You need to emotionally prepare for retirement because it’s a huge life change. Whether that’s looking for some kind of structure in the form of volunteering or rediscovering your passions, you have time to do new things, but this can be tough.

Emotional preparation for retirement involves more than just planning what you’ll do, it’s about managing the transition from working life and putting measures in place to ensure you’ll feel fulfilled in your retirement.

The steps to emotionally preparing for retirement

1. Give yourself time

The old adage that time is a healer rings true when preparing for retirement. After a big change like retiring, it can be easy to rush into more work and take on more projects, but one of the best things to do is to simply take time to reset. Whether you go on a holiday, or simply potter around the house, it’s important to find time to process your thoughts and feelings and find new ways of dealing with the change in your life.

This time of readjustment will allow you to recuperate from the working world and reprioritise. In this change period, reaching out to friends and family will help you maintain good relationships and stay connected.

2. Keep in touch with people

Whether you've got work friends or family members that you see semi-regularly, retirement presents a perfect opportunity to invest more time in these meaningful relationships. During this period of transition, you can choose to deepen connections with those who matter most, creating more regular meetups or longer visits that weren't possible during your working years.

Having these familiar faces and consistent relationships in your life helps maintain a sense of stability as you adjust to retirement. Your friends and family members can be there to share in your new adventures, offer support when you're feeling uncertain, and provide companionship when you're seeking connection. They truly become an essential support system, offering both practical help and emotional comfort as you navigate this new chapter of life.

3. Find new activities

Perhaps you’ve always wanted to try pickleball, or you’ve wondered if you’re secretly an aficionado in the creative arts, retirement provides you with the opportunity to seek these activities out and try something new.

Some people choose to seek reduced employment hours to provide them with some structure and spending money, while others choose to volunteer at a place that means a lot to them.

If you’re looking for volunteering opportunities, Doit Life has an expansive database of opportunities listed by charities across the country. 

4. Create structure in your day

As retirement approaches and work is no longer an option, it's crucial to find new ways to structure your days. Consider the activities that genuinely bring you joy, such as:

  • Adult education classes.
  • Voluntary work.
  • Fitness classes and sports activities.
  • Spending quality time with loved ones, like walking the dog or looking after grandkids.
  • Engaging in hobbies you already enjoy.
  • Meeting friends for coffee or other social activities.

While the bigger events are part of it, structure can also come from the smaller things like having a regular bedtime, devising a food plan or even enjoying a daily cup of tea. All these can help you to feel grounded in this time of change.

If you're eager to learn something new, The Open University is an excellent resource to explore educational opportunities, including some free learning courses.

5. Consider a slow transition to full retirement

Retirement doesn’t have to be an overnight change. Consider transitioning out of your job by cutting down your hours, either through working less days or by working fewer hours each day and come up with a plan with your employer. This way, you can start to develop new habits and structure without a huge and sudden change.

A slower transition can help you to feel prepared for retirement and also help you to slowly switch off from working life. For many people who are taking retirement at the end of the working life this is possible, however, if you are having to take ill health retirement, this may not be an option.

6. Create a financial plan

The emotional side of transitioning to retirement can be made considerably easier with a financial plan in place. Financial stress contributes a lot to a person’s overall mental wellbeing, and so being financially prepared for retirement can massively help a person.

Working with a retirement advice specialist can help you to understand your options and provide you with clarity on your financial situation before you take the step into retirement.

LV= offer impartial retirement and pension advice

Our retirement advice service looks at your pensions, financial options and gives you clarity over your choices. A retirement adviser will guide you through the process of preparing your pension and investing it in suitable retirement products, such as annuities. They will help you visualise your future income streams and provide advice on planning strategies to ensure a secure retirement.

Learn more about our retirement advice service today.