adoption

What to do When You Stop Punching the Clock

by Brad Lewis

Nearly 35 million people were 65 or older in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2020, more than 53 million people will have reached or exceeded that age.

If you're nearing age 65, you've probably spent the past few years thinking about retirement. Can you afford it? What about medical bills? What are you going to do all day? What's your newly retired husband/wife going to do all day?

By planning ahead and focusing on the benefits of retirement, this season of life can be fulfilling, rewarding and fun. Here are some practical tips to help you embrace the opportunity to do things you never had time to do and experience life from a new vantage point — a positive outlook that allows you to age with grace and wisdom.

Before you retire:

  • Gain some perspective. Don't view retirement as an end; think of it as a positive and exciting start to the next few decades of your life.
  • Consider easing into retirement by negotiating part-time hours with your employer.
  • Think about what's important in your retirement — strengthening family relationships, serving other people, traveling. Start investigating, before you're done working, how you can achieve your goals.
  • Decide if you want to relocate. Check out cnn/money for a list of the best places to retire.

Some planning ideas:

  • Assess your resources. Pull together your investment, savings and pension records and estimate what kind of income you'll have and how you might need to supplement it. Check with your past employer's human resources department for help with pension plans they provided; look on your statements for the toll-free numbers and websites of investment companies.
  • Use an online financial calculator such as the one at http://moneycentral.msn.com/to help determine how you'll make ends meet. Click on the "Planning" link and navigate to the retirement calculator.
  • Request your Social Security statement online at http://www.ssa.gov/ (click the "Social Security statement" link on the main toolbar).
  • Check Medicare benefits and compare medical coverage available to retirees at http://www.medicare.gov.

Ways to stay active:

  • Take a class at a community college or a nearby university. Nothing close by? Many correspondence classes are now online.
  • Take a dance class with your spouse; if you're single or widowed, a dance class might be a good place to meet new friends.
  • Start a new hobby: build models, take up woodworking, try your hand at gardening or put all those boxed-up family photos into scrapbooks.
  • Volunteer at a local school, church or charitable organization. Become an adopted grandparent at a school. Build houses with your local Habitat for Humanity chapter.
  • Get a part-time job. You'll meet new friends among your co-workers and enjoy new experiences. Consider a temp agency if you want the option of taking off extended periods of time.
  • Take up a new sport: swimming, golfing, tennis, hiking. Check with your doctor before you start any new physical activity.
  • Join a book club or a writer's critique group.
  • Take piano lessons or learn another instrument you've always wanted to play.

How to stay sane when your spouse retires:

  • Help him or her find a hobby (see list of activities above).
  • Travel together. If you want to go RVing, great. But if bed and breakfasts are more your style, that's okay too!
  • Encourage him or her to get out of the house. Meet a friend for golf, coffee, lunch or shopping once a week. Meet several friends several times a week.
Copyright © 2002 Brad Lewis.

Background Information

Agency Adoptions
When it is time to evaluate adoption agencies, consider these pros and cons.

Where Have All the Babies Gone?
The top reasons fewer babies are available to the growing number of couples who want to adopt.

Adopting on Your Own
This advice can help single parents who want to adopt children.

Causes and Characteristics of Attachment Disorder
For adoptive parents, attachment issues can be a huge concern.

Independent Adoption
These are the risks and rewards of adopting without the help of an agency.

Questions and Answers

Are adopted children more likely to be rebellious than children raised by biological parents?
Answer

How would you go about telling a child he or she is adopted, and when should that disclosure occur?
Answer

Review Frequently Asked Questions

Stories

Reflections on Bonding With an Adopted Child
Bonding with an adopted child can take time — and great patience.

A Second Chance at Life
Two adopted children arrived from the most unlikely of sources.

Adoption as Grace
How does enlarging your family reflect God's love?

An Act of Grace
In the midst of ethical ambiguity, one infertility treatment is a welcome development.

Climbing the Hills
A father tells his story of adopting his daughter from Russia.

If you've been through a experience related to this topic, we invite you to share your story with others.
Share Your Story

Other Things to Consider

Where is God in the Midst of All My Troubles?
So many cry out to Him in times of need, but is God really listening? And, more important, does He care?

Related Topics

Life Pressures: Working Moms, Stay-at-Home Moms

Relationships: Blended Families, Divorce, Parents and Adult Children, Caring for Elderly Parents