Many people talk about ‘FIRE’ - Financial Independence and Retiring Early. When I say many people talk about it, many people are also afraid of Retirement. It does not matter whether it is an early retirement (by force, I mean) or a regular Retirement at the stipulated age, not everybody looks forward to Retirement! From the interaction with many people, I find that these are the big fears that people have about Retirement:
Health care Costs
For a person covered by corporate medical care, it is the hospitalisation and related costs with respect to kidney failure, and cancer, which are very scary. This fear was worsened by the recent Covid problem - where many of us spent upwards of `35 lakh per patient. For those who had to bear the cost themselves (and were not covered by insurance or by their corporate), this amount just tore into their Retirement fund. Many of us struggle with medical insurance too! It is a very complicated and difficult to understand topic, and not much guidance is available. In most cases, we do not know whether the premium that we pay is really useful. Will it really pay when we claim the amount is a question most of us struggle to find an answer to!
Not having much to do
What would a fit 58-year-old MAN do at home all day? At least women keep themselves busy with the cooking, general housekeeping, etc. Most men (Indian at least) do not have a hobby, and going to the office is a social requirement apart from a financial requirement. Suddenly they have 24 hours, of which only seven hours are taken up by sleep! What to do with the remaining 17 hours is really a challenge.
Being Healthy during Retirement
This of course is not directly related to retirement, but many people are paranoid about dependency. Being dependent on somebody (anybody) for day-to-day activities, being bedridden, being in a coma - these are the worst nightmares that most people have when they think of their old age. No, I do not have a solution for this, but it does not help in being paranoid about such things. Just be physically and mentally alert, and spend time with family and friends. Provide the money needed to pay for all the requirements - and make sure that it is well communicated to the next of kin.
Not knowing where to live post 70
Many people start needing some support in their day-to-day living activities post their age of 70. If one of them has dementia or Parkinson's, then the need for a full-fledged helper is felt even earlier. At this time they have to think of shifting to a Retirement Home, or to a smaller house, but near their children. If the children are abroad, then it is really a very difficult call that they have to take. Even if they do find a senior citizen home to which they are willing to shift, the next question is where will they find Geriatric Care post say age 85.
Of course, there are other worries like they outliving their corpus - but financial worries are easier to handle than non-financial worries.