Five Stages: Liberation

TheStreet.com, with AgeWave, Harris Interactive, and Ameriprise Financial, conducted a survey in 2005 in which they identified the emotional aspects of retirement and found similarities with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ On Death and Dying, which outlines the five stages of dying. It’s kind of creepy but the analogy is a useful one. The third stage of retirement? Liberation.

Once you’re past stage two, Anticipation, you’re really actually in retirement at this point – hence the term Liberation. This is where it starts to get tricky and the psychological side of retirement comes into plan. While it’s nice to be free from the daily hassles and it’s nice to do whatever you want, this honeymoon phase that lasts anywhere from a day to a year to whenever might soon end and often does. It’s here that you have to be very careful because the psychological is a far greater beast than the financial.

Source: TheStreet.com