When Everyday is Saturday

By: Bing De Los Reyes 

When you turn gold (in age, that is), you start thinking what will be your next phase? When will you retire from corporate work or if you’re an entrepreneur, is your succession planning well in place? I’m in this phase in my life now and as I think about it, I’m putting more details on how it will be when everyday is Saturday.

Yes, I’m referring to retirement. That phase in our lives when we change gears and embark on a new adventure. That’s how I look at retirement. It’s wrapping up a life stage to start a new one where I can give more time and attention to some meaningful ventures that I have set aside because I am tied up with many responsibilities as an employee. Retirement may mean slowing down on deadlines and deliverables but never an end to a meaningful and productive life. In fact, it may just be a more meaningful phase awaiting.

I’ve been working in the corporate world for over 3 decades and while there were work weeks that extend until weekends, there were more weekends spent to rest and re-fuel and when I have the whole Saturday for myself (I mean, when there’s no work to attend to), it feels so good! So, I imagine retirement as everyday being Saturday. Heaven, right?

But wait, can I really live a life doing practically nothing? I don’t think so and that is why it is important to plan. I want to continue to have a meaningful and productive life in my next phase and I can only achieve this if I planned ahead for it. 

My journey in the corporate world had been long and exciting and I will share with you the planning process I implemented to prepare for yet another exciting life stage in my succeeding articles – the good steps I took and the missteps that we can learn from.

For starters, here’s what you can do now to start the planning process towards a comfortable retirement. If you do it right, you may not even take 30 years before embarking on this phase. The key is starting it early:

1. Envision the future that you want
2. Know the price tag of that future that you want
3. Start paying for that future now while you can still do it on installment basis.

So how will it be for you when everyday is Saturday?