First of all, decide what you want

Retirement is a major step in your life, something you should think about carefully. You’ve got so many options. So first of all, you should decide what you’d like to do… and take your time deciding.

Planning your retirement is a process, and it isn't always easy. You might be working fewer hours already, or you might have ended your employment at ING and started your own business. Have you started scaling down your work or are you still in full swing? When will you completely stop working? Will you continue doing things on the side? Although you may not yet be fully retired, you have probably been in a grey area for several years, during which you keep asking yourself ‘How will I make ends meet?’ and ‘How am I going to spend my time?’ These are questions that lead up to the question of when your retirement should start, fully or partly.  All of this probably sounds familiar to you.

Not purely a rational decision
You might feel that planning your retirement is quite difficult. Once you’ve retired, you will want to keep doing serious things – as a volunteer or in a paid job. The decision isn't purely rational. Even though you know exactly where you stand, it can still hard to suddenly be called a ‘pensioner’.

Plenty of options
You have plenty of options and possibilities. Retiring early or late. High or low pension benefits. Many people think they’ll need to retire when they reach their Dutch state pension (AOW) retirement age, but that isn't necessary at all. It can be quite complicated, having so many options. So it's important for you to first decide what you’d like to do. That's more than just a rational decision. You've got online tools to help you. The websites are user-friendly, once you know what you want. That’s a decision you'll have to make for yourself. And as to how you’re going to spend your time when you’re retired, it isn't advisable to do nothing at all. ‘Stay as active as you can,’ is what most pensioners advise.

Take your time
Figuring out what you want may take some time, and you should take that time. Scale down your work gradually and look for other things to do. You might be planning to do something entirely different for a few years, or you might want to stay active in what you’re already doing. You'll need time to decide such things. Years ago, there used to be retirement courses, which couples were required to attend. These courses were sneered at, but everyone found them useful, once they had taken the time to go there with their partner. So take time to think carefully about what you’d like to do when you're retired. You could start by retiring one day a week – it might help you find the answers to significant questions like how you'll have a meaningful life in retirement.