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Retirement expert visits NZ

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Barry LaValley is a leading Canadian educator, expert in retirement and author of the book: ‘So you think you are ready to retire’. After successfully launching his book in North-America (2014) and Australia (2016), LaValley has co-written a new edition with financial advisory firm Cambridge Partners, specifically aimed at a New Zealand audience.

The book prepares New Zealanders for retirement and helps ageing boomers clarify their vision for the future. ‘So you think you are ready to retire’, is the result of 30 years of working in the field of retirement, psychology and transition issues faced by pre and post retirees around the world.

From LaValley’s experience, retirement is more of an emotional issue than a financial one. “Retirement has changed greatly in a generation with the retirement period increasing from 10 to 30 years. This means the perception of retirement has gone from a ‘long deserved holiday’ into a second life,” LaValley says. “I wrote this book because I know what helps people moving into retirement and I can guide them with common misconceptions and pitfalls.”

Main points raised by the book include:

• Many retirees suffer from stress after retirement. Three major stresses are health, relationships and financial security.

• There are six to eight distinct phases in retirement. The honeymoon phase is the first three years and people tend to spend a lot of money. When retirement routine kicks in, paired with physical limitation, retirees hit the disenchantment phase. Some people will get to the final contentment phase, but some won’t.

• People think retirement happiness is directly tied to financial resources. In fact, good relationships and health are the biggest keys to a successful retirement.

• Men and women envision retirement and life after retirement differently.

• New Zealand is a great place to be an older worker, enabling people to phase their way into retirement.

• New Zealand has one of the most generous pension systems in the world and the largest basic pension in the OECD relative to incomes (OECD, 2015).

‘So you think you are ready to retire’ is available to buy here.

Excerpts taken from scoop.co.nz