Fall 2008

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Prep Time... For Retirement

Reflections on Retirement by Retired Educators

by Enise Olding and Carol Baird-Krul

Generously giving of their time, eight former educators agreed to answer our questionnaire and share with you their retirement experiences before they left their jobs and afterwards. Their answers vary from the succinct to the detailed, but all come from an individual perspective. They hail from different parts of Canada and cover the gamut of experience within the field of education: administrators and classroom teachers of elementary, high school and university.

In this issue we’ll learn what they anticipated as they approached retirement, and in the next issue what actually happened, and in the following issue they’ll share their tips, comments and wisdom about planning for retirement.

Margrid, Vicki, William, Lori, Caroline, Alan, Emma and Terry retired from their primary careers in education between 2002 and 2007, so perhaps their words will resonate with you as you contemplate your own retirement.

What made you decide to retire?

Having reached the age of 65, I wanted a change of scenery.

Health issues led to a decision after 1.5 years off work not to return to the realm I had worked in for about 25 years.

Burnout. Spouse was already retired.

I decided to retire because I had been teaching for 30 years and I had just turned 55 and was eligible to receive my pension. At the time, the Board of Education had a clause in our contract that entitled retirees to fully covered benefits for ten years if they retired by June 30th, 2007. If they retired by June 30th, 2008, retirees were entitled to only 50% covered benefits for ten years. There was some incentive for retiring in 2007! Aside from that, I was exhausted from teaching and I was beginning to lose my enthusiasm and joy of teaching children. The system demands were ever increasing and what used to be fun was now becoming tedious and frustrating. The curriculum demands were unrealistic and I was beginning to feel like I couldn’t possibly teach all of the content in the time frame given and I therefore felt like I wasn’t doing a good job. As a result, my satisfaction for teaching decreased, while my frustration level increased. Due to accountability issues, the paperwork tripled—teachers were now expected to not only write report cards for 30 students, but many of these students had a lengthy I.P.P. (individual program plan) that had to be implemented and reported on and then there was the growing ESL population that required individual program plans and reports, as well. I just found that the expectations were unrealistic and overwhelming. A teacher just didn’t have time to address all of this, plan curriculum, mark papers and teach during the day, and as a result the job required many evenings and weekends of school related work. As I watched the system expecting more and more from teachers over the years I was becoming resentful. I was losing my positive vibe… It was time to get out!

My husband had been retired for two years and was waiting for me to retire to start our adventures. I required some time off in May of 2003 to travel to Europe for my husband’s 50th confirmation reunion. This request was not granted so I retired.

I retired because at that time I was emotionally exhausted and needed to try and put my life back into some sort of healthy balance.

Two reasons. My husband retired from the fire department six months earlier, and wanted me free to do things. At that time my son was going to university, and I thought I would continue to work to help with that. I had taught for a very long time, but mostly sharing my job. When I looked into my pension, I found I would make $100 more a month, twelve months of the year.

I decided to retire for several reasons:
• reached the full 35 year of pensionable service;
• work load was increasing – i.e. Math classes of 36; classes with up to 7 special needs students plus EAs;
• felt a need for a change or rest;
• wanted to spend more time at home with my children from my second marriage;
• no longer teaching music, which was my specialty;
• age: 62 ¾;
• wanted to start enjoying the benefits of collecting my pension.

What concerns did you have about retiring?

Due to my young family, my concerns about retiring were financial—the drop in income and loss of the bridge benefit at 65. However, my concerns so far have been unfounded as I have not claimed and will not take the CPP until 65 and the Teachers’ Pension has been more than adequate. Dental costs, however, have been more than expected.

I really didn’t think too closely about it. I clearly remember the September when I retired. My son moved to go to school in Vancouver that Labour Day weekend, then I didn’t go to school for the first time in my life, and then September 11 happened.

Initially, I had no concerns. At the time at which I retired I had done little or no preparation for retirement and was under the illusion that when I retired life would happily unfold as it should.

The biggest concern was the reduction of income. The second concern was whether the academic and social void would be filled.

I had no concerns about retiring. In fact, I was excited! Finally I would have time to do whatever I wanted and not punch anyone else’s time clock. For about 23 years I had dreamed of retirement. I was not financially able to be a stay at home Mom for my son 23 years ago, but now I was finally able to take a rest and take some time for me. I had long lists of things I wanted to do and had never had the time to do before.

Only finances—would there be enough money?

Once I felt better and started to contemplate not returning to the hectic life I led, my greatest concern was financial security and independence. I had been the primary earner in my 30+ year marriage. Other concerns included where I would get social contact and intellectual stimulation.

Getting bored and not having enough money to live on.

What were you hoping for, or expecting, during your first year of retirement?
I was hoping to travel Europe, which I did and then returned home. I assumed that having the opportunity to travel, rest and reflect that the future would become clear to me. This did not happen!

I was expecting to enjoy having more leisure time, but found I had to be busier to be happy. I tried volunteering in the first six months but found it wasn’t enough meaningful outside contact for me.

There were big plans about all the hobbies, jobs around the house and social contacts that would be started and completed. Dreams of all that free time to finally do everything.

It seems to me the first couple of years of retirement mostly felt like an extended vacation. My husband and I had responsibilities with elderly parents, we sold our house and renovated a new one so were quite busy.

This may sound strange, but I really wasn’t hoping for, or expecting anything following retirement. I guess I really didn’t give it all that much thought. I was so tired I just wanted to rest and do nothing. People told me to do nothing for the first year and just rest and let the future take its course. So, that’s what I’ve done… nothing really. Oh, and by the way, that long list of things I wanted to do and never had the time to do is still a long list! I just never seem to get around to doing any of them. I feel like I’m busy every day, but I’m not sure what I’m busy doing! I’m taking a lot of “me” time, running errands, cleaning house and reading. Aside from the fact that my husband and I take more vacations throughout the year, things really haven’t changed all that much during retirement. Now that it’s been a year since I retired, I am starting to think about what I might want to do. Sometimes I feel like I would like to go to college and become a personal trainer for older people and I’d like to combine that with becoming a nutritionist. Other times, however, I just feel like doing nothing except reading and traveling. I really don’t want to be locked into anything right now. I guess I just need more time to think things through.

Relief from the stress. Chance to set my own timetable. Chance to take care of me.

I was without hope and/or expectations for the first 6 months. In retrospect, I was resting my mind and going through a withdrawal from a workaholic lifestyle. I suffered generalized anxiety and guilt about having left my post abruptly, who would do my job and the impact on staff, about my own financial and mental health, etc.

Time to travel, to spend more time on running and to be busy doing other things.