You retired early. now what?

More US workers retire earlier than planned in pandemic, and some are struggling with how to make the most of an after-payroll life and identity

Juliette Kahui Sinclair didn’t plan on retiring in her 40s.

She was laid off in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with millions of other American workers. Suddenly without employment, Ms. Sinclair, now 50, realized she had been burned at her IT project-management job in Overland Park, Kan. After reviewing his retirement savings, he decided not to go back to looking for a job.

“I never planned it, but when I stepped back and saw the big picture I was like, ‘What do I care about in my life? she says.

As more American workers retire earlier than planned during the pandemic, some are struggling to build new, post-paycheck lives and identities.

For some, the pandemic has exacerbated the challenges many retirees face when they go away from work, including how to find day-to-day purpose, as well as financial concerns, says counseling psychologist and author Nancy Schlossberg. is included. life transition. In some ways, the challenges of early retirement are a runaway problem, but they are difficult to navigate nonetheless.

Doctor. People who have retired in the pandemic may have fewer opportunities to pursue non-work-related passions, such as traveling or forming new relationships, says Schlossberg. And financially, it can be frightening to see the money coming in after decades of receiving regular paychecks, she says, especially when there are complications with returning to work such as the fear of exposure to COVID-19 and the need for office hours. Changing rules and dynamics.

“You’re going through income withdrawal syndrome, you’re dealing with identity, changed relationships, and purpose, and it’s overwhelming,” she says.

Roughly 2.6 million Americans retired earlier than expected between February 2020 and October 2021, according to estimates by Miguel Faria-e-Castro, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Some, like Ms Sinclair, have left the workforce after being fired or fired. Others retired after finding that working from home caused additional stress and irritation, or because they were concerned about the health risks associated with returning to the workplace.

When 55-year-old Roger Placer retired from his IT role in May 2021, he was looking forward to spending more time playing guitar and making beer and wine from his home in New Jersey, but also expected to travel. The pandemic stopped it temporarily.

“I think there’s going to be a point where my routine starts to get a little boring and a little limited,” he says.

Ms. Sinclair says she’s also feeling a little stir-crazy. Despite finding meaning in her work with local activist groups, she is hopeful about traveling more often and coming back to the world as the pandemic eases.

“I still have doubts about never working again,” she says. Every day has become the same and blending into each other.

Workers who are considering early retirement should plan for potential emotional impacts in addition to financial ones, Dr. Schlossberg says: Identify your support system, explore options for building new relationships outside of work, and plan what your days will look like.

“You have to connect with people and change ending relationships,” she says. “There’s going to be a lot of ups and downs. It’s a process, not an event.”

Mr Placer and Ms Sinclair say that despite the challenges, their overall mental health is now better than it was before retirement – ​​and they are not alone. St. Louis Fed research found that retirees reported lower rates of anxiety in 2021 relative to their working peers of the same age.

Ayse Yemisigil, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, found that people generally have a higher sense of purpose after retirement, as did a study he conducted in 2021.

“They retire and then have more time to spend in meaningful activities, like social activities,” Dr. Yemisigil says.

Frank Niue, 30, finds his understanding of post-retirement purpose in parenthood and creating audio and video content about his early retirement journey on platforms including TikTok. Mr Niu, who lives with his family in British Columbia, Canada, retired from an engineering job at a large entertainment-streaming company in the late summer of 2021 after his net worth exploded during a market boom. He says it has shrunk a bit due to the recent market downturn, but it is still strong.

Mr Niu said, “I’ve read a lot of stories about a lot of people, especially people who are high achievers, who have attached a lot of their identity to their careers, where they would later in some way or other. will experience depression or loss of identity,” Mr. Niu says. “My sense of identity goes from ‘I was a software engineer,’ to now, ‘I’m a content creator and I’m a full-time dad.'”