Retirement is not an ending, but a chance to live a richer life

At the core of SHIFT is “Your Retirement Readiness Workbook,” a four-part guide to planning life after work.

Most of us can name the day we will retire. Far fewer can say what we will do the morning after.

At the core of SHIFT is “Your Retirement Readiness Workbook,” a four-part guide to planning life after work.

That gap shows up in the numbers. The 2025 InLife Retirement Readiness Index gives Filipinos an overall score of 47 out of 100 for retirement preparedness. About 40% of respondents said fear was the main reason they had not started planning.

We are not unprepared because we do not care. Many of us are unprepared because the subject is uncomfortable, so we put it off.

The trouble is that readiness is not only about money. A person can have enough savings and still arrive at retirement unprepared: for the loss of routine, for a house that is suddenly quiet, for the question of who we are without a job title, and for the conversations with a spouse or children that we have postponed for decades. These matters rarely appear in a financial plan, yet they can determine whether the later years feel like freedom or drift.

We tend to define retirement by what it takes away: the office, the schedule, the paycheck.

A more useful question is what it makes room for. Done well, the decades after work can be richer than the ones before them. They can be more intentional, more connected, and more truly our own. But that kind of life seldom happens by accident. It has to be prepared for, the way we prepare for a career.

Even those who insist they will never retire, and plan to work until they die, are not exempt. Health, energy, and the demands of work change over time—and choosing how, where, and for whom to keep working—is itself a form of retirement readiness.

That belief eventually led me to develop SHIFT, my own approach to retirement readiness. It grew out of the conversations I had on Senior Moments with Louie Montalbo, my podcast about retirement, aging, and senior life. The discussions kept moving beyond money toward questions of purpose, relationships, identity, and legacy. What gives my days purpose now? Who do I want near me? What am I holding on to that I should let go? What do I want to leave behind?

Those conversations had no obvious place to go once the episode ended. SHIFT is my attempt to give them one, to turn those questions into a practical process for preparing for life after work.

SHIFT brings together “Your Retirement Readiness Workbook,” a four-volume guide to preparing for life after work. Book 1, “Who You’re Becoming,” invites readers to imagine the life they want. Book 2, “What You’re Holding Onto,” examines the factors that shape their security. Book 3, “The Finite & the Sacred,” asks them to face life’s limits, choose what matters, and decide what they want to leave behind. Book 4, “Your Guide to the Journey,” explains how to use the workbook.

The workbook is paired with the Retirement Ledger, a spreadsheet that helps readers assess whether their funds can support their retirement years.

Both are used in a 2.5-day retirement readiness retreat, where a life coach guides participants through personal questions, a financial adviser helps them assess their financial needs, and participants exchange perspectives with others preparing for or adjusting to retirement.

The retreat is designed for people between 50 and 60 who are working out the next phase of their lives, those nearing retirement who feel anxious about it, and the recently retired who feel disoriented without their old routine.

Retirement readiness is often framed as a way to avoid fear: of running out, of being idle, of being alone. I would rather frame it as a choice. We can arrive at retirement by default, or we can arrive on purpose. The first takes no effort. The second takes a few honest questions, asked early enough to act on the answers.

Those interested to join the Retirement Readiness Retreat can email: seniormomentslgm62@gmail.com.

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