Feature
So you’ve retired— now what?
Considerations for what comes after retirement By Aubrey Palestrant, MD, FSIR, and Curtis W. Bakal, MD, MPH, FSIR
that you had a full schedule of cases the next day? When this happened, your thoughts likely drifted to a future where you would be retired from interventional radiology and could redesign your life.
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Planning for retirement is like executing a complex procedure. We can agree that key ingredients for a successful procedure are planning and timing. Retirement may be on the horizon for some of us, but are we prepared? Being able to deal with unpredictable events is the hallmark of an excellent IR. Using the skills honed during our professional lives will help prepare for our time in retirement.
While it is important to have a secure financial foundation, it is equally important to anticipate the significant changes in day-to-day living that come with retirement. In this article, we address how our lives and those of our colleagues have changed during retirement and the lessons we have learned over the past 3 years since we retired.
Preparing for a change Transitioning away from work The work and retirement environments are very different life circumstances. Where possible, negotiate a gradual decrease of clinical responsibilities from your employer over a 2- to 3-year period. The transition will allow you to have an appreciation of retirement and
16 IRQ | WINTER 2022
o you remember a night when you were called in to initiate thrombolysis for a threatened limb, knowing
facilitates the development of a lifestyle structure that benefits you and your family. This transition may also allow you to deal with the changes discussed below with minimal impact to you. Others prefer to go “cold turkey” and leave practice all at once. Either way, pre-retirement planning is necessary.
Changing homes Often, we remain in our homes because of their proximity and convenience to our workplace. It’s not uncommon that, once retired, people consider downsizing, moving to a retirement community or relocating closer to children and grandchildren. Preparing your existing home for sale and searching for a new home can take a while. It’s important to consider your activities and priorities when deciding on a new location, including proximity to family, availability of sports facilities, places of worship, cultural offerings and educational opportunities. Also consider that, if social relationships are a priority, making friends and new contacts is considerably easier in retirement communities or where retired individuals compromise a significant part of the demographic. Even so, it may take months or even a few years to grow a new circle of friends after relocating.
Material disinvestment We all underestimate the amount of “stuff” that we’ve accumulated over the years, especially if we have remained in the same home throughout our professional careers. Going through
material possessions and deciding what goes to charity, to the dumpster, or to children, family and friends is a time-consuming task but will provide you with a deep sense of achievement. Almost as good as the perfect TIPS!
It’s also important to go through this exercise because if you and your spouse love your family, you shouldn’t impose cleanup on them as part of your legacy. The most likely scenario is that they will shovel your stuff into a dumpster and be done with it.
One other important legacy consideration is the distribution of valuable items to children, family and friends after you and your spouse pass. It is wise to list all these items and discuss their distribution amongst your heirs. You should particularly include in such a list items of sentimental value to others. Try not to leave a legacy of ill feeling among your heirs because you did not appreciate the importance of an item to one of them.
Spending your time wisely New associates and friends Forming new bonds and friendships can take 6–18 months to develop. Our physician referrers, medical colleagues, nurses and techs form a significant social circle that we interact with on a daily basis. As IRs, we lead the team and command significant respect and deference from the members. When we leave that environment we often lose many enjoyable and sincere relationships. For some, this loss may cause loss of self-worth, depression and even difficult interactions with family. Planning to join social groups that share interests similar to yours helps bridge the social loss, and those new friends will be both important and rewarding. It is also a time to learn new skills, whether it’s photography, birdwatching or bonsai. Joining community volunteer groups such as Habitat for Humanity can be a way to restoring a sense of purpose.
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