Preparing for retirement

Settling into retirement involves changes in many aspects of a person's life. Certainly financial adjustments are involved as employment income is replaced by retirement income and spending patterns are altered. People often find they have to make psychological and social adjustments as well. In light of these substantial transformations in lifestyle, retirement counsellors are increasingly encouraging older workers to prepare just as carefully for the non-financial as the financial challenges of retirement. This article draws on the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS) to examine four specific non-financial preparations made prior to leaving the labour force by Canadians who had retired in the previous 10 years (1992 to 2002).