{"id":449013,"date":"2026-02-27T19:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449013\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:49:13","slug":"the-five-retirement-pathways-psychology-today-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/449013\/","title":{"rendered":"The Five Retirement Pathways | Psychology Today United Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s start with the good news, which is that most retirees describe this stage of life as positive. However, there is bad news too. Taylor (2024) concludes that up to one-third of people who retire find the transition either stressful<\/a> or notice a decline in their well-being, and an additional 10 to 25 percent experience difficulties adjusting to retirement<\/a>, including mental health complications.<\/p>\n

Even the popular press now acknowledges that retirement can be difficult. In the book Thrive in Retirement, Thurman (2019) cautions, \u201cRetiring can hurt your health, strain relationships, wipe out your finances, and shorten your life expectancy\u201d (p. 151). In Living Your Best Third Act, Schwarzkopf (2023) states, retirement \u201cmay easily become a tragedy\u201d (p. 21), consisting of retirees \u201cmaking the couch, the fridge, and the TV their three best friends\u201d (p. 36).<\/p>\n

As psychological and gerontological research accrues, it is increasingly evident that there are five approaches to retirement, and each one can be evaluated for its risk to adjustment and mental health complications, including loss of identity<\/a>, relationship distress, sadness, loneliness<\/a>, substance use problems, gambling concerns, and implicit ageism. We now recognize that how we retire can have long-lasting effects, both positive and negative.<\/p>\n

Low-Risk Retirement Types<\/p>\n

Type One: The Proactive Retiree<\/p>\n

This low-risk retirement type is the individual who plans out their retirement in multiple areas (finances, health care, lifestyle) long before the final day of employment. They questioned how they would create a meaningful and satisfying retirement years before entering this new phase of life. They have already considered and explored post-retirement activities, new roles and interests, ways of maintaining identity and purpose, and preparing relationships for change. <\/p>\n

Type Two: The Voluntarily Employed Retiree<\/p>\n

These folks tend to really like their job, are passionate about their careers, and obtain much meaning and support from them. They may gradually reduce hours, seek out a similar but possibly less-stressful position, engage in a new career<\/a>, or entrepreneurially create a niche that resonates with their deep-seated interests. Of critical importance, these reduced-workload jobs provide older workers with the opportunity to adapt gradually to a life without work while simultaneously benefiting from social contact, structured use of time, and connection with current developments.<\/p>\n

(Note that if you remain at a job due to financial limitations or insurance needs, this category does not apply to you. You are instead a Type Five.)<\/p>\n

Moderate-Risk Retirement Type<\/p>\n

Type Three: The Psychologically Unprepared Retiree<\/p>\n

This category is comprised of individuals who did some, minimal, or no planning for retirement. If substantial planning occurred, financial matters were typically prioritized. Type Three individuals may or may not be looking forward to retirement, feel hopeful or anxious, or even powerless or empowered about the transition. In almost all cases, what has not occurred is psychological preparation. <\/p>\n

After a brief honeymoon period, those in this category begin to experience boredom<\/a> and meaninglessness. As a sense of being irrelevant insidiously creeps into their lives, they begin to ask the immemorial questions: \u201cWho am I now?\u201d and \u201cWhat do I do with my time?\u201d For those whose identity was primarily found in their jobs, retirement is particularly challenging.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, while those in the moderate-risk category often struggle early in retirement, they eventually rebound after a period of time, months to years, to a life as satisfying as Types One and Two retirees. A note of caution is needed here: Time\u2014one of our most precious commodities as we age\u2014is inevitably passing, and spending years figuring out retirement after the fact detracts from what could otherwise be a joyous, meaningful, and satisfying life. <\/p>\n

High-Risk Retirement Types<\/p>\n

Some studies suggest that those in the two high-risk categories could face a long-term decline in well-being and life satisfaction and don\u2019t necessarily rebound like the moderate-risk type.<\/p>\n

Type Four: The Involuntary Retiree<\/p>\n

Over 50 percent of people retire earlier than planned. The \u201cRetiree Life in the Post-Pandemic Economy\u201d report (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 2024) found that ill health was the cause of 28 percent of early retirements. Of course, people involuntarily retire for other reasons, and this same report notes job loss (16 percent), organizational changes (16 percent), or job unhappiness (14 percent) also contribute to the decision.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the 2025 Confidence<\/a> Retirement Survey (Employee Benefit Research Institute\/Greenwald Research, 2025) found that nearly seven in 10 retirees indicate the reason for retirement was something out of their control. Studies find involuntary retirement can lead to depression<\/a>, anxiety<\/a>, increased alcohol<\/a> use, reduced physical activity, and decreased general well-being.<\/p>\n

Type Five: The Involuntarily Employed Retiree<\/p>\n

These are individuals who\u2019ve reached retirement age and can\u2019t retire (no matter how much they want to). Financial insecurities restrict their ability to leave the labor market even when facing serious health issues or adverse working conditions. An Economic Policy Institute study (2023) found that significant shares of older workers aged 50\u201370 experience difficult working conditions. Augmenting this finding is a recent spate of articles examining the mental health consequence of feeling trapped in one\u2019s job as an older adult (e.g., Amilon, Larsen & Siren, 2025; Guan et al., 2025; Raihan et al., 2024), including anxiety, depression, anger<\/a>, the exacerbation of pre-existing mental and physical health problems, fatigue, and a sense of powerlessness.<\/p>\n

What category do you fit into? Of course, a category by itself is not the final word on its mental health impact(s). It is equally important to factor in your physical and emotional health, social supports, financial resources, and personality<\/a> characteristics. These can (1) support a satisfying retirement, (2) buffer the challenges in certain categories, or, in the worst case, (3) amplify the risks associated with each. Each person\u2019s experience of retirement is idiosyncratic.<\/p>\n

In the end, our retirement type does not definitively predict adjustment and mental health complications, but it can lead us to better prepare for the complications that can and, for many, do occur. The moderate-risk type can begin to prioritize psychological adjustment to retirement, while the two high-risk types should consider implementing supportive interventions sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s start with the good news, which is that most retirees describe this stage of life as positive.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-449013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}