Members in the Media
From: The New York Times

Some Seniors Readily Step Back. Some Never Will.

Researchers are only beginning to understand why some people embrace retirement while others won’t even consider it.

Yet “the reality is that retirement can be a very challenging time,” said Teresa Amabile, a psychologist at Harvard Business School and a co-author of the forthcoming book “Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You.”

After a decade of research into the retirement trajectories of professionals and executives, her team found that detaching from work can prove difficult, a phase often lasting two to three years before retirees settle into new routines.

The end of a career means “the loss of being a wage earner, of being a member of an organization or of a profession,” said Dr. Amabile, who retired this month at 74. It’s “the loss of being someone needed, counted upon, respected, perhaps powerful if you’ve been the head of a major corporation — or the president of the United States.”

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): The New York Times

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