For couples, lifestyle planning is as crucial as the financial planning for retirement. The push and pull is a common state affair for newly retired couples.
Retirement is a major transition as getting married or becoming parent. There are three major transition periods/times for any couple when they have to negotiate or renegotiate for better understanding of each other and happy living together;
1. MARRIAGE: People spend lot of time negotiating matrimonial alliance, and drawing conclusion is not easy for strangers to come together to live. Even after, they need lot of compromises and adjustments.. ;
2. PARENTING: Having children, taking care and bring up the children, also need a lot of negotiation, planning as it affects the whole life style of the family and extended family and friends;
3; RETIREMENT: Matured people in their lifestyle, thinking, dealing etc. need to renegotiate, plan for better/ happy living. Now they need more adjustments and compromises ( more than what they had during their married and parental life before ). Levels of understanding, intelligence, biases, whole view of the world around — family, extended family, friends and now grown-up children and their families also to be taken into consideration ( dealings among three generations of different stages of understanding ).
Physical Body- Mind- senses complex goes through thorough / drastic changes right from childhood to adulthood to old age; P-M-B complex deals with Anatomy, physiology, genetics, psychology, social and financial aspects, Religious and spiritual aspects; In short , for retirement , one should plan:
Maintain healthy lifestyle,
Maintain strong ties with families and friends;
Render some volunteer work to give back to the society;
Develop and maintain effective communication at different levels among the people ( especially with wife and husband to deal with three generations in most cases );
Embark on ” spiritual journey” with good faith;
NEGOTIATE/ Renegotiate very well the terms of the new phase of life. It is more enjoyable if TWO do together.
davendrak 