Editor’s note: Dave Buck is a longtime columnist with Rethinking65. Read more of his articles here.
Tim may not have considered himself retired. To keep himself busy, he had a variety of real estate properties, and he had his own side portfolio of stocks that he enjoyed managing and trading during the day. This afforded Tim a lot of flexibility and the ability to casually fill his time with activities he could prioritize and complete at his leisure.
That all changed in the blink of an eye. After managing chronic but low-level discomfort, he awoke in the middle of the night with excruciating pain and went to the emergency room. Seventy-two hours later, Tim was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He faces major surgery and any long-term treatments necessary to try to give him quality of life.
Retirement presents a fascinating and sometimes scary paradox of time. Many retirees anticipate endless days of freedom, only to discover a more complex reality: periods of overwhelming busyness punctuated by stretches of emptiness. Understanding this temporal contradiction is crucial for financial advisors guiding clients through retirement planning that goes beyond finances.
The Unexpected Scarcity of Time
For many retirees, the anticipated abundance of free time quickly transforms into unexpected time insufficiency. Several factors can contribute to this scarcity.
Individual wellbeing is usually the first (and for many, unexpected and surprising) disruptor in established patterns of time. Healthcare appointments multiply with age, consuming significant life margins. A routine checkup spawns specialist visits, tests and therapy sessions, creating calendar congestion unanticipated in retirement planning. Tim is dealing with this reality now.
Family obligations often expand to fill available time. Retirees become the go-to caregivers for grandchildren, aging parents or ill spouses. What begins as occasional assistance can evolve into regular, time-intensive commitments.
Volunteer work similarly grows beyond initial boundaries. Organizations naturally lean on reliable volunteers with flexible schedules, gradually increasing responsibilities. The part-time board position becomes weekly meetings, fundraising events and administrative tasks.
Advisors are in a unique and trusted position to guide their clients through retirement time scenarios before they head into post-career life.
The Paradoxical Abundance Problem
Conversely, many retirees face periods of too much unstructured time, particularly after the initial retirement honeymoon period ends. When a person leaves a career, on average they need to fill 40% more of their awake time.
The loss of work-related purpose and identity can lead to motivation deficits. Without external deadlines or expectations, even passionate hobbies may lose their appeal.
Social connections tied to professional life often dwindle, creating isolation. Take away a career and watch your professional network and personal community drop by half. Weekdays stretch endlessly without the workplace’s built-in social calendar.
Many retirees struggle with permission to enjoy leisure after decades of productivity-focused living. The question “What did you accomplish today?” haunts those raised with strong work ethics.
Tim had this figured out, but now he needs to adjust to periods of intensive focus on his health along with extended time between doctor’s visits, managing his physical and emotional challenges.
Introduce “time budgeting” alongside financial budgeting. Have clients track current time allocation, then create retirement time scenarios. This exercise illuminates potential gaps and commitments.
Ask clients to categorize activities as “energy-giving” versus “energy-draining.” This distinction helps prioritize commitments when time feels scarce.
Staged Retirement Planning
Frame retirement as distinct phases with different time dynamics. Retirees tend to experience four mindset changes. The discovery stage is learning about retirement life. The adolescence chapter is living retirement like a teenager. A middle age period is where post-career life is predictable and obvious. Finally, senior living is the twilight of life where time is consumed in personal care.
Encourage your clients to outline where they see their lifestyle in each of the different segments. Tim moved from an adolescent time frame to senior living in a matter of hours.
Meaningful Activity Development
Guide clients to identify activities aligning with core values rather than focusing solely on hobbies. Structured time-devoted engagements better withstand the novelty fade that affects many retirement pastimes. Developing a life purpose statement is a beneficial exercise to create a cornerstone of post-career living.
Help clients distinguish between “default commitments” that happen automatically (family obligations) and “intentional commitments” requiring active pursuit. Both have value, but understanding their different nature helps with expectation management.
Relationality Audits
Conduct “relationship audits” to identify connections that will persist, weaken or require cultivation in retirement. Social calendars significantly impact time perception.
Discuss how couples may experience different time rhythms in shared retirement. One spouse’s scarcity often coincides with the other’s abundance, creating relationship tension without proactive planning.
Financial advisors couldn’t have predicted what happened to Tim. He has a solid financial strategy that can weather his change in health. Yet, Tim would benefit from understanding the radical changes that time abundance and scarcity will play as he navigates his new version of retirement.
You can proactively explore and help bring life clarity by highlighting the paradox of post-career time. Time can and should be budgeted like money. Clients will go through life stages that will alter their use of time. Finally, planned activities create predictability and adaptability when life takes radically unexpected turns.
David Buck is the author of the book “The Time-Optimized Life,” co-author of the book, ”The Retirement Collective,” owner of Kairos Management Solutions LLC, and founder of the Infinity Lifestyle Design program. As a certified professional retirement coach (CPRC), David works with financial services providers helping their clients create a post-career lifestyle strategy. To learn more, contact him at dave@kmstime.com or visit Infinity Lifestyle Design.
Tim may not have considered himself retired. To keep himself busy, he had a variety of real estate properties, and he had his own side portfolio of stocks that he enjoyed managing and trading during the day. This afforded Tim a lot of flexibility and the ability to casually fill his time with activities he could prioritize and complete at his leisure.
