There are many aspects to retirement in Australia and it appears that most of the focus has been on the financial aspects like superannuation and the tax concessions available for people over 55 or 60.  There is no longer a technical age for retirement even though, for historical reasons, 65 appears as a mental goal for many people.

Note I have had my first retirement - at the age of 46!   It lasted less than a year - and one of the reasons for this is I wanted to do far more - like coaching.

Whilst I studied superannuation in depth as part of my Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning in 2006, my Retirement Coaching is not about the financial aspects - it is about all the other aspects, approached in a holistic way,  like:

• how are you going to fill in your time?
• what are you doing to manage your health?
• are you actually retiring - or just downshifting?
• what are your relationships like?
• where will your social contact originate?
• what are your goals?
• do you still want to work - full-time, part-time, casually, contracting or consulting?

Even the word "retirement" is questionable or nearly redundant itself (click here to see some recent commentary).  We hear words and phrases like "Third Age", "Third Phase", "Transition", "Active Retirement", "Wisdom Years", "Sea Change", "Tree Change" or even "Me Change" to describe a phase of our lives when we may not be going to "work" in the traditional 9am-5pm (or these days 8am-7pm!) sense but we can be busier than we have ever been.

So lets call this New Phase of Life Coaching.   And it is recommended that planning for the period after you "retire" should commence a long time beforehand - maybe up to 15 years!

To get you started, here are some links to some websites covering many of the issues that I don't want to reinvent:

Adage  - a job board for the mature age professional

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia - lots of good financial material to cover one of the now greatest tax concessions in Australia

CNN Life after Work - a global spin on this new phase of life and some of the issues faced

Greypath - an Australian website of resources, links and blogs specifically for the seniors market

The New Retirement Options - a paper prepared by a pioneer in this area, Dr Richard Johnson.

Portfolio Careers - a different way to think about work and life where you have a portfolio of jobs and interests.

University of the Third Age - one of the many Universities catering for senior people still wanting to learn but not do exams!

Yahoo Retirement Focus - another global site covering many of the issues potential retirees face.

I am a now a Certified Retirement Coach through Retirement Options and can administer the following:

• Assess your preparedness for retirement - take the Retirement Success Profile!

                                                  OR

• Discover the various life arenas - take the Life Options Profile