Reengineering of Retirement in 5 Simple Steps

Reengineering of retirement sounds like doing it all the other way around. Yes, it is!

The starting point for most people is the financial part. I did it myself, and it took me years to find out that it was the wrong start. Without realizing it, money shapes lifestyle.

We work for money.

How to live? Money.

Sometimes, deciding whom to marry can be a financial issue.

When discovering how wrong all this is, which isn’t easy, the following statement became my mantra:

“Do what you love to do, and eventually money will follow you.”

When Bill Gates initiated the development of what turned into Microsoft, was money the driver?

When Steve Jobs started developing what would later become the first Apple computer, did he wake up every morning to figure out how much he could earn?

No!

In both cases, they had ideas of something that turned into a passion. Both struggled to finance their projects as their ideas began to take off.

I’m not telling you to become a new Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, but learn from their histories, and you can see how doing something they loved to do got them money to follow their projects.

How to apply this to the reengineering of retirement?

Who Invented Retirement?

The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is known as the inventor of retirement. It was more of a political move than anything else to keep the workers calm. When he established the retirement age at 65 in 1916, the average life expectancy was 63 for women and 64 for men.

So, not that many could actually take advantage of this political move, but it helped to keep the workers calm. Most people died before they could cash in on retirement payments.

Since then, retirement systems have spread worldwide and are gradually being modified to align with current conditions, sparking curiosity about new possibilities. However…

Longevity is today over 80.
The population is growing substantially.
Retirement funds do not increase in the same proportion.

What started as a political move has now become a demographic threshold. Instead of relying on a comfortable pension to live your golden years without financial issues, the mentality is to look after your own private savings.

Is this a crisis?

No, it’s an opportunity, but only if you apply a reengineering of retirement.

Before Starting Reengineering of Retirement

When retirement starts, you need to go through four phases, like a natural process, that can bring reassurance and clarity before reengineering makes sense.

Vacation period

This is the first phase. No alarm clocks. Traffic jams in the rush to your job are just a memory you can laugh at.

You start to meet friends more frequently. Family life ranks as a priority on your list. If your financial situation allows, you travel to places on your to-do list. Maybe a summer house, cars, and boats.

This phase is a marvelous time, but it doesn’t last long. It’s like a champagne party. But then comes the day after and the hangover.

Identity loss

This is the period when you begin to reflect deeper on your retirement. Where are all your ex-colleagues? Some of them (your real friends) are still in contact with you, but the rest were just colleagues.

What replaced the old working routines: the meetings, the projects, all brainstorming sessions, and even the lunches with colleagues?

This is the hard one. Harder than most retirement guides will admit.

Your colleagues, the ones who filled your calendar for 30 years, mostly disappear. The meetings, the projects, the brainstorms, the lunch conversations: gone. What replaced them?

This void is where depression quietly enters for many retirees. The career wasn’t just a job. It was an identity. And when it ends abruptly, the question “Who am I now?” has no easy answer.

This phase hit me hard. If it hits you hard, too, that’s not weakness. It’s the gap in retirement reengineering that this is designed to fill.

Experimentation

After completing the first two phases, you realize you need to do something to make your days meaningful. Maybe you revive an old hobby or learn a new one that interests you. Learning a new language or taking classes to play an instrument are other examples.

You experiment with different activities to fill up that “black hole” of emptiness. All these are good signals, because you come to the insight that you cannot spend the rest of your life doing crosswords and listening to the birds singing outside your window.

Reinvention of retirement

If you come to this phase, congratulations! You’re on the right path. It’s the moment you realize that something needs to change, be added, or even deleted. We got so indoctrinated throughout all our corporate years about how life should be shaped. But what if that is just a false illusion?

If the identity loss was the hardest one to go through, at least it was for me, then this phase is opening up the door for a real change. It’s the beginning of the reengineering of retirement.

Reengineering of Retirement in Practice

The old, and I would say obsolete, formula for retirement planning could look like this:

#1: Detailed analysis of your financial assets

#2: Budget and calculation to find out if financially ready for retirement

#3: How many years will I most likely live, based on health and biological inheritance

#4: Legacy desires; what will you be recognized for?

#5: Eventually…purpose

Now, let’s turn it all upside down and develop a comprehensive approach that combines financial stability with purpose-driven living. Reengineering your retirement isn’t just about money. It’s about aligning your financial plans with your passions and values for a truly fulfilling life.

If the video gave you the piece you’re missing to start the reengineering of your retirement, then let’s begin.

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”

Fred Rogers

What’s Your Next Step

Find your purpose, to:

wake every morning, motivated and enthusiastic about what you are going to do

not rush through the process. Do it with a sincere commitment to success

not fall into the trap of “get-rich-quick” schemes

work on your terms, when you want, and where you want

live your best golden age lifestyle ever imagined

be willing to step out of your comfort zone

earn an extra income from your passion, which eventually can exceed your pension

feel the satisfaction of helping others with your experience, skills, and knowledge

live a long and excellent retirement life

The reengineering of retirement doesn’t require you to become an entrepreneur, a speaker, or a content creator. It requires only that you stop letting money decide who you are, and start letting purpose lead.