When I turned 60, I saw retirement coming—time to start planning.
The first thing I did was to google “retirement planning.” What turned up was a pile of information on money matters. It seemed retirement planning = financial planning! Retirement planning was also regularly featured in newspapers. Yes, you guessed it, retirement planning = financial planning – again.
How should I or how could I live out my days in retirement? I wanted some guidance on living healthily, interestingly, and meaningfully. Such information was not listed under retirement planning. The reason (I suspect) is that there is money to be made in financial services – and no money in non-financial guidance. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing dishonourable about financial planning services.
If I had lived before the 19th century, I wouldn’t need to plan. Why? Retirement wasn’t born yet! People just worked until they could work no more. Then came the industrial revolution. It brought wealth and dramatic changes in working life. Germany invented retirement and took the lead to support the elderly, funded by the state.
Never mind all the scary stories I have heard about retirement. Today retirement is firmly in place. It is a social right, a new stage of life, has a legal structure, and a subject for research in academia. People are living longer – I hope I will too. There will be a lot more years ahead and start to structure the unstructured time early.
Now how did I start my retiring planning? I started reorganising my study first. It was a journey of discovery and rediscovery. I discovered lots of stuff, once helpful, were no longer relevant to my next phase of life. Declutter. Junk. There were many books possibly valuable for others. I moved them all to Jurong Library and placed them (sadly) into the book deposit shelves.
As for rediscovery, I found an old book with a price tag of 7/6 (7 shillings and sixpence). It bought a smile to my face – Rudiments and Theory of Music! I took up music studies and my medical studies in my student days. I stopped playing the classical guitar altogether when I graduated. It was more than challenging to juggle a busy working life, post-graduate training studies, and luxuries like music.
I only revisited the “Rudiments and Theory of Music” not long before my liberation day. By then I had already decided to take up music again. Yes, I have rediscovered music in my life. It will make me happy (and sane). And through this rediscovery, I have discovered the joys of music with other people. The joys of friendship and joys of music, like a well-blended cocktail, are delightful.
The journey is pleasant. And so is the result! Start rediscovering!