9 Questions to Ask Before You Retire

On Nov 14, 2022

For most of the past 20 years, retirement rates in the US were declining. People were staying in jobs longer, experts speculated, because of factors such as increased life expectancy, higher education levels, and the rise in the minimum age to collect full Social Security benefits.

In the past two years, that trend reversed: Beginning with the pandemic-related economic shutdown in March 2020, a significant number of US adults who hadn’t necessarily planned to retire, did so. It’s estimated that two and a half million “excess” retirements took place between March 2020 and the second quarter of 2021.

“What we’ve been seeing is a wave of people who have rethought the contract between themselves and the world of work,” says Frank A. Ghinassi, PhD, senior vice president of behavioral health and addictions at RWJBarnabas Health and president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care. “The question is whether they made the choice with a complete understanding of what the consequences would be.”

Reasons to leave: Fear was a motivator for many, Dr. Ghinassi says. “Early in the pandemic, before we had vaccinations and better medications, lots of people were dying,” he says. “People began to ask themselves: ‘Is going into work worth my personal risk?’ You saw this in people who couldn’t work from home, such as environmental services workers, first responders and healthcare workers.

“Also, many individuals began to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression. Then, as the pandemic ground on, making decisions about vaccination and risks and new variants all began to weigh on people,” Dr. Ghinassi explains. “Older adults started thinking about how they wanted to spend the rest of their lives. A lot of employees began to examine whether they could make retirement work earlier than previously planned.”

“It’s important to walk through the actual realities of retirement before you take that step,” says Dr. Ghinassi.

1. What is your debt situation? Are you still paying off credit cards or a mortgage?
2. How much of your nest egg is tied to the stock market, and what would happen if the value of your stocks dropped by 10% or 20%?
3. Are your friends retired and, if not, how will that affect your social life?
4. How will you structure a typical day, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed? What will a typical week look like? A month?
5. What are your hobbies, and how will they help provide structure for your time?
6. How are you going to cover medical costs?
7. Have you talked to people you know well and asked them what retirement has meant for them?
8. If you’ve decided to move away from where you’ve lived, how will you create a new social life?
9. If your partner is also retired or not working, how will you negotiate daily life now that you’re together for a greater
   part of the day? 

About the Author: As the leader in providing mental health services in the state of New Jersey, RWJBarnabas Health Behavioral Health and Addiction services are focused on providing unparalleled expertise and stigma-free mental health services.

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