Avoid depression with a retirement coach
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - We talk a lot about planning for retirement. Naturally, that's about making sure you have enough money. But there's one more thing you probably aren't thinking about.
I hadn't even thought of it until financial advisor Beau Henderson told me about retirement coaching. I know you folks - you're raising an eyebrow. Just hear me out.
Often our careers define us. Whether you're a pilot or a construction worker, you've likely spent much of your life honing your craft. Then it's suddenly over. Now what do you do? Well, we chat with a former TV news executive who worked in our business for a very long time. What's he do now? He chills out in a wood shop and makes guitars. It's a passion. He makes some money, but most importantly he has something to do.
"When somebody asks me about retirement they say, 'Should I retire?' And I say that I don't know. What do you like to do? And they say, 'Oh, I don't know.' What are your hobbies? 'Oh, I really don't have any hobbies.' I say, if you like your job then don't retire. Because if you don't have something to do when you retire, it's a slow death, I think," said Bud Veazey.
He says there's only so much TV to watch and so much money to use for travel. And this takes us back to Beau Henderson the financial advisor who first told me about this. He said he would help folks approaching retirement get their money in order, but then when retirement came there was a problem. If you don't find a retirement strategy - ways to use the day - depression can set it.
"I had a recent Delta pilot I talked to who said he really didn't think about this when he retired, and he retired this year, but when he would walk down the terminal there going to his plane, it was kind of nice, people would part and get out of the way for him because they really respected his job and his title. When he retired and no longer had that, he is actually dealing with depression," said Beau Henderson of RichLife Advisors.
The pilot to - and you and I will too - create a new identity. Bud Veazey, the guitar builder, says he started before retirement repairing guitars, working in his shop. Then when the day came, he had his second job all lined up.
Now, retirement doesn't have to mean a second career but maybe just a hobby or a passion. You can play golf, join a bowling team, or hike with friends. Or maybe you become a volunteer. The pilot, as I understand it, is doing Habitat for Humanity homes.