Are You Prepared for Retirement?
By Sean Blackburn

Dick Barney, '60, retired in 1986 after working 40 years, but he took a gradual approach.

After retiring from the Seattle Housing Authority, Barney worked part time at a sporting goods store for five years, taught as a substitute for one year and worked as an elementary school principal's assistant for four years. Barney stays active today by attending nearly every Whitworth event with his wife and serves as president of the Crimson Club.

"If we didn't have the school around, I might miss work," Barney said. "The school is really our life. We even plan our vacations around school events."

With the average life expectancy up to an all-time high of 77.6 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people are spending more years in retirement than they do in childhood and adolescence combined. Research shows that staying active is a key factor to happiness in retirement.

Retired Biology Professor Howard Stien has found rigorous ways to stay active. After 29 years of teaching, Stien went to work building his dream house, where he and his wife live today – a skill he picked up while working for a rancher on a log house. Stien still uses his skills to help friends build decks and other parts of their houses.

Hammers and nails are not the only way Stien uses his hands in retirement. Since retirement, he has begun writing. With help from his wife, retired Theatre Professor Pat Stien, Howard wrote the Improbable Professor, a collection of 27 essays describing his 29 years of teaching, and a series of children's books.

Planning a successful and productive retirement should start years in advance, recommends the American Association of Retired People.

"You've got to get your financial ducks in a row and start saving money," said Glenn Ellison, '49, who retired in 1989 as the former vice president and general manager of Cargill Australia, Ltd. "After that, retain good health; if you don't have it, your options quickly diminish. Finally, you need to be able to access your skills and consider how you can use those to contribute."

Ellison said the skills need meaning. "They need to be valued contributions and you need to get some sense of reward from them."

Planning ahead and staying active in retirement sounds easy to do, but adjusting to the mental change is much more difficult for some. While the financial side of retirement is important, the mental and emotional changes can be far more devastating than money issues.

Ellison instantly noticed a change once he retired. "All your prestige and power are suddenly cut off, BANG!" All of a sudden, he realized that he was just an ordinary guy. While he lost the perks of being an executive, he realized he also lost the grueling schedule.

Accepting a more relaxed agenda is crucial in retirement. "If you have to know what you're going to do the next day, then you're not ready for retirement," Howard Stien said. "You got all day to figure it out."

There is a difference between doing nothing and not doing anything, Stien said. Doing nothing means what it says, while not doing anything can involve reading a book or playing with the grandchildren.

"I think to enjoy retirement you have to enjoy not doing anything."