Over the past few years I must have dealt with hundreds, if not thousands of people retiring. As can be expected, most of my dealings with them have been of a financial nature, working out investment strategies, cash flows and income tax strategies.
Due to the nature of the game, I tend to have a close relationship with many of these people and meet with many of them on a regular basis.
Initially, the relationship tends to focus on investment performance and whether the investment strategy is achieving the desired goals. Generally, newly retired people are quite anxious about whether they will have enough money to retire on and, quite naturally, we always focus on that particular objective.
But I have noticed something else recently, especially amongst people who have already been retired for a number of years. More and more of them are talking about wanting "something to do".
In fact, many people quite openly say that they are bored. They have been on a number of holidays, played endless rounds of golf or bowls, have redecorated their house etc - and now they are bored.
Some people admit that they retired too soon when they should have kept on working.
This is especially true among people who used to be in business or who used to run their own businesses. Once out in the mundane world, they realise what an important part business used to play in their lives. It kept them busy and alert, and in interaction with many stimulating people. Now suddenly they're on their own, contemplating their navel on the beach at Hermanus. And quite often what they see bores them to death, in the true sense of the word.
This reminds me of a story attributed to the legendary and very rich comedian Bob Hope who was asked by someone why he did not retire and go fishing. To which he replied: "The fish don't applaud."
Quite often I try and persuade people not to retire but to keep on working, if possible for a few years at least.
This achieves two objectives: it increases their retirement capital (although it reduces their potential years of retirement) and it should also keep them active for more years than would have been the case had they retired early.
In a country crying out for skilled people, especially business skills, there surely must be a way to retain these skills for as long as is humanly possible.
I know of several people who, at retirement, have set up very successful consultancies for their own account.
Is it not possible, I ask myself, to harness all these years of skill in a more productive way by establishing some kind of mentorship programme.
Many young people, black and white, would love to have someone guiding them through the ups and downs of a startup business.
It's in the first couple of years that entrepreneurs need the steadying hand of someone who has seen and done it all before. They don't need to work fulltime, they can still have their holidays and their golf games but they will at least keep themselves mentally active and they will also contribute to the economy.
Many people don't seem to realise that anyone who retires at the age of 55 has, on average, another 20 to 25 years to live. In some cases people end up being retired for longer than they worked, as a result of improved medical care and better nutrition.
So before you contemplate retirement, ask yourself the following two questions: What are you retiring from, and, secondly; what are you retiring to?