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Below are some retirement quotes that can help those people that are attaining their retirement age to prepare for this new phase of life that is ahead of them. Even, if you are still far from your retirement age, reading the retirement quotes can inspire you to start taking the right steps now. I have not only listed the quotes; I have also tried to read through the mind of the people that made the assertions. However, you should understand that the explanatory notes given after the retirement quotes may not actually reflect what the author meant. But the tips can be considered relevant.

Retirement Quotes

1. “Planning to retire? Before you do find your hidden passion, do the thing that you have always wanted to do.” – Catherine Pulsifer 

I like this particular retirement quote. It starts with a question by asking if you are planning to retire. We should not ignore the word “planning” there. This tells us that retirement requires planning. You don’t just wake up one day to realize that you have gotten to your retirement age. There are certain things you need to be sure you have put in place. You need to plan about the amount that you need to save so that you don’t outlive your savings. Also, you need to settle the issue about where you want to live and what you intend doing after retirement. The second part of this quote talks about how you can live a fulfilled life. Everyone has a hidden passion. Even though you are yet to find it, don’t just keep waiting. If you wait, you will waste. Whatever you can do now, do it very well. In the process, your hidden passion will come alive.

2. “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.” George Bernard Sha,

A merry heart works like a medicine. Helpguide asserts that laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. Surprisingly, it was also affirmed that laughter can help individual to live longer. Therefore, it will be a good idea if you make laughter your second nature.

Read Also: Retirement Planning: Basic Steps You Must Take

3. “Don’t act your age in retirement. Act like the inner young person you have always been.” – J. A. West

This retirement quote is similar to the one above. I want to believe that the two authors are saying the same thing but in different ways. When you think young, it will reflect in your disposition. We all watch movies. You must have seen a situation where a young person was given a role that required that he acted like an old person. Even though the person was young, people could easily mistake him for a very old person. Why? It is because of the way he acted. So, if you don’t want to grow old fast, it will be good for you to keep yourself young at heart.

4. “Retirement is supposed to be the great escape from the stresses inherent in most jobs, a time to experience a fulfilling life derived from many enjoyable and rewarding activities.” – Ernie J. Zelinski

Actually, retirement period should really be a time of enjoyment. Unfortunately, this is not automatic. As you lay your bed, as you lie on it. Ask anybody, he will tell you that he will like to engage in many enjoyable and rewarding activities after retirement. But if wishes were horse, beggars will ride.

5. “A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”- John Barrymore

Let me tell you that you are not too old to have your dreams fulfilled. Although there may be challenges and obstacles on your path, you can actually turn those seemingly stumbling blocks into stepping stones. With God, nothing shall be impossible. LifeCare Advocates has a catalogue of people that fulfilled their dreams later in life. For instance, Harry Bernstein published his first book, The Invisible Wall, at age 96.  Also, James C. Warren, a retired Lieutenant Colonel received his pilot’s license at the age of 87. Therefore, you should not give up on your dream. When there is life, there is hope.

6. “Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy retirement living.” – Danielle Duckery

Do you really want to enjoy your retirement? It can’t be over-emphasized that you shoudn’t see yourself an ‘old cargo’. You should also be kind to people around you. Encourage the young ones. Let them learn from your mistakes and successes.

7. “Once the mindless myths associated with aging are dispelled, people of traditional retirement age must learn to identify the purpose they can pursue with a passion.” –  Helen L. Harkness 

The fact that you retire from your 9 – 5 job does not mean you can’t still engage in productive activities. I like what the Bible says in Psalms 92.14 about retirement. “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing”

8. “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” – Vince Lombardi

You should know where to draw a line. If care is not taken, you can be so engrossed in your work that you just keep working. You need to know when to give yourself a break.

9. “The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.” – George Foreman

You can actually retire at any age if you know that you have saved enough money that can help you live the kind of life you dream for yourself without any fear that you may outlive your savings. On the other hand, some people may need to work longer before they retire in order to have enough saved for their retirement. If your initial plan was to retire at the age of 55, you may decide to work till you attain the age of 60 so that you can be able to put more money into your retirement account.

Read Also: Budget Preparation: How to Prepare Household Budget

10. “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.”- Abe Lemons

How would you like to prepare for a journey that you know that will not have to get back to where you are coming from once you have embarked on the journey? That is just how retirement is. Once your retirement begins, you are really inside it and nowhere to go. Once you board the flight and you are up in the sky, everything you will need to do will be in the confine of the plane. So, if you don’t want your retirement to be boring, you need to plan what you can be doing that will keep you busy and excited.

11. “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – Lubbock

You don’t need to wait till the time you retire before you enjoy yourself. Take time to rest and enjoy yourself. The truth is that, not everyone will live up to their retirement age. But you can increase the chance by creating time of relaxation for yourself. Stress can kill. Therefore, don’t over-stretch yourself.

12. “I’m very pleased to be here. Let’s face it, at my age I’m very pleased to be anywhere.”- George Burns

The kind of lifestyle I want for myself is to be able to live and work anywhere I choose per time. With the help of internet, one does not need to be tied to a particular location before one can achieve his goals.

13. “Choose a work that you love and you won’t have to work another day.”- Confucius

If you look round, you will notice that those that are really making money are those people that do what they love. I have seen medical doctor becoming an artist, a lawyer becoming a blogger, an engineer becoming a footballer etc. There is no doubt that if you do what you love, work will become a fun to you.

14. “When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income.”- Chi Chi Rodriguez

I will agree to the first part of this retirement quote. When a man retires, he will be much more available with his wife. If not because of the age and family planning, you should not be too surprised if they have a new baby. To a certain extent, retirement may lead to less income to the family. But if the retirement is well planned, it may not mean that the wife will get half income.

15. “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” – Fred Rogers

When you retire, there is a tendency for you to feel that your career has ended. This is not true. Retirement may be an opportunity for you to do what you have not had time to do. When one door closes, another will open. Therefore, you should think about the new opportunity that your retirement may present to you.

16. “Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick

I notice that some retirees don’t live long after their retirement. In most cases, their death is not as a result of sickness as many may think. Their ill health could be traceable to inactivity. Before you retire, you should know exactly what you will be doing that will keep you active. 

Read Also: 8 Things to Do Before You Start Investing

17. “There is a whole new kind of life ahead, full of experiences just waiting to happen. Some call it “retirement.” I call it bliss.”- Betty Sullivan

The question I like to ask you is that, what does retirement mean to you? Are you scared about retirement or you are really looking forward for the day you will retire? If you are scared, it means you are not doing enough to guarantee a blissful retirement. Nevertheless, it is never too late. You can still do some things. You can open a retirement account where you put money into on a regular basis. If you are looking towards a blissful retirement, I say congratulations! But mind you, it should not just be that you so much detest what you do presently that you are looking for an escape route. Life does not get duplicate. You can enjoy yourself while you are still working. 

18. “A gold watch is the most appropriate gift for retirement, as its recipients have given up so many of their golden hours in a lifetime of service.” – Harry Mahtar

Well, giving up your golden hours is by choice. What will a gold watch be to a person whose entire productive life has been used up? What employees fail to realise is that, the bonuses and promotions they enjoy are actually a golden handcuff that keeps them tied down to their job. 

19. “Sooner or later I’m going to die, but I’m not going to retire.” – Margaret Mead

This statement can only come from a person who does what he likes. On the other hand, if you live on daily income, you may need to keep working until you die one day. 

20. “Please remember that retirement is a different way of life, with new challenges and opportunities. You need to adapt and adjust to this new lifestyle, and that takes time, effort, and creativity.”- Rick Steiner

After retirement, certain things will definitely change. You will need to adjust your lifestyle to reflect your new circumstance. For instance, you may not need to be waking up too early as you used to do. If you still wake up early as your body system has gotten used to it, you can use the early morning to exercise yourself.

21. As in all successful ventures, the foundation of a good retirement is planning.”” – Earl Nightingale

Have you heard about retirement planning? If you don’t know what it means, I suggest you consult a financial planner.

22. “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

At your retirement, you can still achieve great feat. You should always have something that drives you.

23. “Retirement does not mean that you are all through. It means that you have experienced a big break-through to a new freedom, with the time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do.”- Wilfred Peterson

Before you retire, you must have accumulated experiences in your field of endeavour. You can use the experience to create new opportunities for yourself. For instance, if you love writing, you can start a blog teaching people in the area of your expertise.

24. “Today we are living longer and retiring earlier, allowing us twenty-five or more years to pursue lifelong goals and passions. Rather than fading into the sunset, we have time to rediscover our personal uniqueness, deepen relationships, and question the mysteries of life.”- Douglas Fletcher

Increase in life expectancy can only be an advantage to people who are willing to pursue their passion. But for people that are just saving for retirement, the fear is that they may likely outlive their savings.

25. “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” -Arthur E. Morgan

Savings towards your retirement does not mean that you have to deny yourself of today’s enjoyment. All what you need to do is to start early. If you start saving just $1,000 per month at the age of 20 at the interest rate of 5% per annum, the money will have grown to $1,140,826.14 when you attain the age of 55. But if you wait till you are 30 years before you start saving the same amount, you will only have $597,991.00 when you are 55 years old

26. “Retire from work, but not from life.” – M.K. Soni

When you retire, you can still maintain your social life. Don’t withdraw yourself from other people. In fact, this is the time you need to keep in touch with people more. If you don’t, people may soon forget about you.

27. “Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time.” – Bernard Baruch

Let your experience count. Even though you might have lost some physical energy, your experience can be an edge that you have over the younger people. Therefore, try to leverage on your experience to achieve more.

28. “Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”- Edward Stanley

Everybody needs bodily exercise to keep fit. If you are inactive, your body becomes weak. This can make you to become prone to sicknesses and diseases.

29. “At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.”- Ann Landers

This is the word of wisdom. I think young people can learn from this. Since you know that most people don’t even think about you, why can’t you face your own business and stop thinking about what will people say?

Read Also: Pay Yourself First: A Golden Rule in Personal Finance

30. “Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.” – Gene Perret

Working in a corporate setting is somehow irritating. You do everything to please your boss even though you are not comfortable about it. Retirement offers you a lot of freedom.

If I may ask, which of these retirement quotes do you find more interesting? You can add your comment below.

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