A new perspective on retirement encourages proactive lifestyle design that focuses on relationships, purpose, and everyday fulfilment, rather than just finances, for a more satisfying later life.
For decades, many people prepare for retirement by running the numbers: savings targets, investment returns, asset mix and withdrawal rates. Yet Christine Benz’s “How to Retire” argues that money is only part of the equation. The book gathers insights from 20 retirement thinkers and looks beyond portfolio design to the less quantifiable ingredients of a satisfying later life, including happiness, relationships and how people actually spend their time.
That wider lens matters because retirement is not just an extended holiday. Michael Finke, a retirement researcher, has argued that people often imagine it as a permanent weekend, but the novelty of leisure fades if every day is left unstructured. A beach may be pleasant for an hour; it is less appealing as an entire morning with nothing else to do. The point, then, is not simply to build a bucket list, but to shape ordinary days with movement, reading, learning, social contact, volunteering and hobbies that can endure for years.
The same logic applies to regret. Jordan Grumet, a hospice doctor, has said that the final reflections he hears are rarely about earning more or working longer hours. They are more often about opportunities left unexplored: projects never started, relationships never repaired, goals never pursued. Grumet’s own career shift reinforced that lesson. After years in medicine, he gradually cut back and kept only a small amount of hospice work, which he found most meaningful. His question is a simple but revealing one: if salary, title and other people’s expectations were removed, what would still be worth doing?
Grumet also uses the idea of a “life review”, the reflective practice sometimes used in hospice care, as a model for earlier self-examination. Instead of waiting until the end of life, he suggests people should ask now what they would regret leaving undone. That can point to practical preparation: staying fit if retirement may involve walking or hiking, building friendships that do not depend on a workplace and starting volunteer work or creative pursuits before retirement begins. The habits people want later are often built years in advance.
Relationships, in particular, need deliberate attention. Work supplies an automatic social network through meetings, lunches and shared projects, but those ties can weaken quickly once employment ends. Retirement planning, therefore, should include the quieter question of where community will come from next. That may mean making a habit of seeing friends, joining clubs or classes, or choosing a home not just for its size or scenery, but for its access to people, activities and familiar connections.
Financial advisers quoted by Benz also recommend trial runs before the last day at work arrives. She herself has described using a six-week sabbatical to test life without deadlines and meetings. Others may try a longer trip, reduce hours if possible, or spend time in a place they might eventually want to live. The value of that experiment is not to imitate retirement perfectly, but to discover what kind of rhythm feels sustainable and what gives the day shape.
A useful exercise is to draft a sample retirement week. What time would you wake up? How often would you exercise? Who would you eat with? What would you keep learning? What would make the day feel worthwhile at night? The strongest retirement plans are not only about reaching a number. They are about building, in advance, a life that still feels connected, purposeful and worth getting up for.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
