Navigating the Retirement Transition
Transitions are hard. Many of us avoid them or delay them because we cannot guarantee the outcomes. Retirement is one of those transitions, and it may be the most overlooked transition in life.
As followers of Jesus, we believe each season of life is in God’s hands. Because God is always seeking our greatest good, we can trust him in each transition. As we consider the transition from career to Encore, we are expectant and hopeful that we will honor Jesus and bring him glory. (Philippians 1:20).
Numbers 8 gives us a picture of what good work as people transition from career to retirement:
“The Lord said to Moses, “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, 25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. 26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”
What we immediately observe is that retirement is not a transition from work to no work. It is a transition from one fruitful work to another. And we believe that Jesus is most glorified when we bear fruit, (John 15:8). Encore people are eager to discover the next work God has prepared us to do.
Here are four additional takeaways from this passage that are helpful to us in the retirement transition:
Do Excellent Work
By the time a Levite turned 50, they had 25 years of experience in the temple. Who do we desire to be after that length of time? An increasing measure of competency, wisdom, judgment, humility, and excellence in the way we approach and complete our work.
When we do excellent work, people benefit. When we flourish in our work, people flourish, too. The work we do should meet the needs of others to serve their greater good. Doing work with excellence gives us credibility to speak about what we value most: that God is the giver of all good gifts, made us with gifts and skills to love others, and that we would return thanks and praise to Him for all work.
And when we know the transition to retirement is approaching, we want to leave our careers with integrity, knowing that we have worked heartily unto the Lord in all things (Colossians 3:23).
A few questions we might ask as you approach the transition from career to Encore:
What does faithful, excellent work look like in the final years of a career?
How does my approach to work change if I know my responsibilities are temporary and transitioning?
How is God teaching me to work now so that I am ready for the next work in my Encore?
How do I finish my career by helping others develop and flourish?
Preparing For the Transition
For the Levites, the transition is prescribed at age 50. For most of us, 50 feels way too young and unrealistic. Apart from certain age-based retirements, such as pilots being grounded at 65, most professions do not have a fixed retirement age.
Instead, preparing for the retirement transition is a combination of professional, financial, and personal factors.
Professional factors include assessing our hunger to stay in our career, conversations with friends and family to discern the path forward, assessing and arriving on a departure window, tactful conversations to broach the subject with your employer.
Financial factors include a conversation with your financial advisor about the sustainability of your finances, considering all of your income sources, and trusting that the same God who has provided will continue to provide.
But the personal side of retirement might be the most neglected aspect: knowing what we are retiring to, not just what we are retiring from, determines our Encore enjoyment. Career gave us a daily and weekly rhythm. If I do not retire to a new rhythm with a clear purpose, I will find myself wandering.
Most people have invested in their financial future throughout their careers. Far fewer people have invested in their purpose after career. The transition from career to Encore is accelerated when we consider and clarify the good work God has next!
These factors can be emotionally overwhelming, and many people avoid the transition altogether.
A few questions that would be helpful as we prepare:
How clear is your vision for a purposeful Encore lifestyle? How much time and attention have you invested in the non-financial aspects of retirement?
How much of my retirement decision will be a financial number, a chronological age, or an intentional transition toward a purposeful work in my Encore? What else is affecting your situation that merits intentional consideration?
Which aspects of retirement feel most overwhelming? What do I need, or who do I need to talk to, in order to feel prepared to move forward?
What level of trust and confidence do I feel about my financial portfolio? When will I know I have enough? Am I okay with not receiving a paycheck for the first time in decades?
How receptive will my employer be to my departure? What do I need to do beforehand to make that conversation as seamless as possible? How can I be as faithful in my final months and years so that the transition is as successful as possible?
Who do I trust to have open, transparent conversations with about my retirement plans? Am I listening to their input and feedback as much as I am communicating my potential plans?
A New Definition of Doing
When we leave our career, work continues, but with a new scoreboard. The work of career involved salaries, promotions, and performance reviews. Our Encore expands our work beyond what we accomplish personally. We aim to develop others to thrive in their work, faith, marriage, family, and relationships with others.
Numbers 8:26 captures this well: “they may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work.”
Before the age of 50, the primary responsibility of the Levites was doing the work. Over the age of 50, their contribution does not end but their responsibilities shift.
The shift from doing to developing may be natural for those who held management and leadership positions. But for others, the shift is much harder after they retire.
One executive approaching retirement described how much he had grown accustomed to the recognition and accolades of his career, especially from one of his bosses. He openly shared his uncertainty about where those ‘atta-boys’ would come from when he leaves his career. His renewed focus is being fully present to the needs of others, rather than focusing on himself. But his greatest gain is in serving, not the recognition of others.
A few questions that we might ask ourselves:
How much do I measure my usefulness by my job title, income, busyness at work, and personal accomplishment?
Do I have hesitations about retirement because I am not sure what the renewed definition of work looks like?
How much do I enjoy being in charge and having control over circumstances and outcomes?
What would it look like to become a person of influence after I release the authority of my career role?
How prepared am I to love and serve others without expecting them to do things exactly like I did?
Embracing the New Reality
What does this look like in our context? How do we embrace this new reality?
First, we delight in God. If we delight in Him, we believe His desires for our lives will become the desires of our heart. We are eager to live in His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Second, we are willing to embrace transition. The retirement transition is not always easy. Not everyone chooses the circumstances under which it happens. But we believe God is good to us and that we will find the most joy when we follow Him.
Third, we are willing to adopt a posture of service. Jesus said He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
The Encore is finding ongoing ways to love God and serve others. As we navigate the retirement transition, we don’t stop working. Our dependence is on God, and we hope and expect that the wisdom, integrity, experience, and character He is developing within us will be poured into the lives of others.
Wherever you are in the process of thinking about your Encore, there are a few simple next steps to choose from:
If you’d like to talk one-on-one, I’d be glad to connect.
Or if you’d rather ease into the conversation, you’re welcome to join us for one of our weekly lunches.
