The process of retirement planning.

After I turned 45 last year, I began reflecting on my retirement strategy and felt a strong desire to plan for it thoughtfully in advance.

My contemplations encompassed various aspects, such as determining the optimal retirement age, ensuring financial readiness for expenses after retirement, outlining post-retirement aspirations, contemplating the option of a mini-retirement over a traditional retirement, pondering whether this was a mid-life crisis common among individuals in their 40s, considering the lifestyle adjustments required upon retiring etc.

This blog is about the internal process I am going through, from need to plan for retirement to discovering the meaning of post-retirement life. I continue to be at a discovery phase but wanted to share things I think as I go through this process

Having these new thoughts occupying my mind, I started looking up "retirement planning" on the internet. I observed that the majority of search results emphasized financial planning for retirement. Nonetheless, my requirements went further than just financial matters and included a more profound insight into retirement lifestyle.

This blog focuses on my ongoing discovery about the concept of early retirement. Through my observations of those around me and online research, I have come to realize that retiring early presents a myriad of opportunities. Here are the list of things I learnt in my discovery process.

1. Pursue Writing: Use your retirement to write books, articles, or blogs. This creative outlet allows me to reflect on your experiences and share my insights with others. I created this blog-post just to do this and I am liking the process of thinking and writing and publishing.

2. Volunteer work: Giving back to the community can be deeply satisfying. I have been contemplating how can I use my knowledge of data and AI for people, for health, for education, policy making. No concrete plans as yet, working on it.

3. Learn new skills or enhance old skills: Pursue things I could not do it due to social or financial obligations. my list is long

   1. I want to go back to painting. I love doing painting and want to learn more of it by pursuing painting classes.

   2. I want to learn more about public policy and evaluate If I can join policy makers in some capacity

   3. Pursuing sports like tennis and swimming. Senior tennis leagues, squash leagues is a fast growing thing in metro cities and there are many clubs & competitions for senior categories.

4. Family time: My professional work keeps my very busy and doesnt allow a lot of time with family except weekends. Retirement from full-time roles offer more time to spend with family and friends. Organizing family get togethers, taking mathematics lessons for my son, cooking for the family etc.

5. Travel: I love travelling but dont get to travel more than 8-10 days in a year. I want to take the opportunity to explore new destinations in different parts of rural India and hopefully around the world (If the financials permit). I love traveling by road (road-trips) and like to spend time at a new place like an local (and not as a tourist). This provide enriching experiences and whole new understanding of people and cultures.

6. Strengthen Relationships: After I retire, I want to go back in time and reach out to my school friends, colleae friends, my relatives, my teachers, my old colleagues. I want to become active on facebook again.

7. Become a Mentor: Sharing my knowledge and expertise with others by mentoring aspiring professionals. This can be a fulfilling way to give back and a potential new source of income in retirement life.

8. Join the maker and creator economy: If I retire early, I want to stay connected to my professional skills acquired over 2 decades but post retirement, I don't want to offer my skills as a full-time employee. I am beginning a see a lots of folks who take part-time assignments for a 3 months in a year or so, just enough to cover expenses the the year or expense for a international trip. I think the idea of creating & selling data & AI products, services and content over a digital marketplace is worth exploring and is the way of future work.

   
   

Relax and do nothing: I definitely want to experience doing nothing for a good amount of time and experience it till i get bored with it. After 22 years of working on weekdays, and recuperating over weekend to get ready to work for the next work-week has set in the fatigue. Its always good ti take time to unwind and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I like making coffee, I like making breakfast, like to do a bit of gardening. want to do a lot more of it.

Its possible that I might not be able to retire early after-all and even if I do, I may not be capable of accomplishing everything listed above. I am determined to continuously remind myself that we live only one life and goals other than work are equally important to pursue. Writing a blog serves as a method to reinforce these aspirations and by sharing it, I hope it can benefit at least one other person in addition to me.