Retirement and Your Legacy
Conversations about leaving a legacy often intersect with retirement planning. With financial planning for retirement, discussions often revolve around leaving behind tangible assets or financial resources. But there are other facets of legacy that can hold equal or even greater personal significance as you approach retirement.
Considering the legacy you hope to leave as you near retirement can influence the choices you make concerning your lifestyle. Moreover, the transition to retirement, itself, can provide a unique opportunity to pause, reflect, and contemplate your legacy—what you wish to leave behind and the essence of legacy in your eyes.
Legacy in your career
With retirement, you may consider both the legacy you're leaving at work and in life as a whole. Work is often a significant avenue for leaving our mark on the world; and so, for many, retirement signifies this point at which we have finished leaving our mark in this way. This may bring up feelings of satisfaction and reward, or it may also bring up feelings of doubt and reluctance to retire.
As you contemplate retirement, or begin the transition, it is worth reflecting on the legacy you aim to leave behind in your career. Perhaps there are personal career goals, projects, or commitments you want to see through before transitioning to retirement. You might also consider any unfinished work that remains, and opportunities that exist to complete it or to pass it on to others to take over and build upon. How would you like to be remembered in your career? How will you know when your work is done, or ready to be left to others?
What does legacy mean to you, outside of work?
Retirement also presents an opportunity to think about leaving a legacy outside of work. It can be the ideal time to focus on the legacy you want to leave, beyond your professional sphere. What other ways do you wish to make a lasting impact on the world? How would you like to create something meaningful that can be passed on to others?
Legacy can be viewed from many different angles–from material to intellectual, emotional, creative, social, or environmental. Below are some ideas about different facets of legacy, but the key is to identify what resonates most for you. Your legacy is about the way in which you would like to leave your mark, or leave something behind.
Material legacy-tangible assets, possessions, or financial resources (e.g., real estate, heirlooms, or charitable donations)
Emotional legacy-connections with, and emotional impact on others (e.g., memories, feelings, and bonds with others)
Social legacy-impact on society as a whole (e.g., tackling social justice issues, creating positive change in society, and improving the lives of others on a small or large scale)
Environmental legacy-impact on the environment and the planet
Intellectual legacy-knowledge and wisdom that you leave behind (e.g., through mentoring, research, teaching, or writing)
Creative legacy- artistic and creative works that you leave behind (e.g., writing, music, woodwork, photography, paintings)
Which of these facets of legacy resonates most with you? What other facets of legacy come up for you, that were not included here? What is most important for you to focus on, as you consider your retirement?
At Retirement Life Plan, we focus on preparation for the non-financial side of retirement. Whether you are retiring yourself, or working with others in the retirement transition, our research-based programmes provide you with specialised insights and tools for retirement life planning.
