That Next Step It Takes More Than Saving To Prepare For Retirement; Leave Room For Life Assessment, Too

F.C. “Bud” Budinger knew retirement would be an adjustment.

He just hadn’t counted on the sting that would accompany going from being an in-demand engineer to coping with the deafening sound of his phone not ringing. “It hasn’t been easy,” he said. “There have been some painful moments.”

Budinger, 60, retired from the Spokane firm that bears his name in the summer of 1995. And he’s learned a big lesson: A person preparing to end a career of full-time work needs to do more than just financial planning. “You need to think about what the change is going to do to your sense of self-worth,” he said.

Budinger is so convinced not enough attention is paid to this that he and his wife, Jo Ann Bender, have considered presenting seminars on this subject. “Some people spend more time planning a two-week vacation than they do in getting ready for their retirement years,” said Budinger.

But they wouldn’t be the first to recognize that many people need more than golf, bingo and the grandkids to experience fulfillment. With a huge segment of the American population nearing its senior years, increasing attention is being paid to how our society defines retirement.

“One of the things people need to assess is, if they primarily get their satisfaction from their work, how are they going to translate this into the retirement years,” said Maria Hernandez-Peck, coordinator of the Aging Studies program at Eastern Washington University.

Failing to do this kind of planning is not uncommon, she said. And one result can be a sense of purposelessness and stagnation.

Said Budinger: “Pure leisure is a trap that can leave you feeling worthless.”

Of course, not everyone enjoys the luxury of being able to decide between, say, becoming an active social service volunteer and charting a course of exotic travels. For those facing financial struggles or health hardships, survival can be the only relevant watchword.

But for people who have choices, the years leading up to retirement can be a time to take stock. “It’s not exactly planning,” said Pat Freeman, manager of the Seniors Program for the Community Colleges of Spokane. “It’s more like stepping back and examining their lives.”

She said it’s not inappropriate to view retirement as a crisis of sorts because of the dramatic way it changes your life. “But it’s also an opportunity,” she said. “People can ask themselves who they want to be, both as an individual and as a member of their community.”

And most would agree that this room for contemplation represents a sharp departure from the working life most people experience. If the boss wants to know what progress you’ve made on the Penske file, most people can’t say “Actually, I’ve been pondering new paths toward a deeper, richer personal spirituality.”

It would be misleading, however, to suggest that anyone who doesn’t do a great deal of psychological preparation is somehow doomed to a depressing waiting-out-the-clock retirement.

“It’s hard to generalize because this is such a highly individual experience,” said Jeannette Franks, director of the Retirement Center at the University of Washington, an academic department with research and advocacy roles. “I hear more people saying that they enjoy life more after retirement than they did before. There are very few people who actually flounder.”

She said the people who typically have the most trouble adjusting are those who had virtually no interests outside their work. “But then again, I’ve seen workaholics who retire and do great. I’m talking about people who took their total identity from the workplace and they retire at 65 and then they start traveling or skiing or volunteering. So there’s no hard-and-fast rule.”

Still, everyone agrees that it’s vital for married couples to focus clearly on the future as one or both approach retirement. Couples unable to communicate feelings and desires are in for a bumpy road, said EWU’s Hernandez-Peck.

The community colleges’ Freeman suggests taking the time to dream and then sharing. “And maybe even start looking into these dreams ahead of time, to see what’s possible,” she said.

If the husband wants to live on a houseboat in Puget Sound and the wife wants to hit the highway in an RV, keeping these plans secret only invites problems.

Raymond Mulvogue, a visiting professor from Australia who has been teaching courses at Gonzaga University on the issues of aging, said people often deal with retirement in much the same way they’ve handled other big changes in their lives.

“If they’ve coped with the other transitions, they’ll pretty well be able to cope with this one,” he said.

But planning can’t help but make the process smoother. “The problem is, some of the people who need to do that the most don’t want to face reality,” said Budinger, the retired engineer. “And that will just make things worse. Believe me.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by Molly Quinn