Twelve Keys To A Decent Retirement” – Justin Kangwa

In “Twelve Keys to a Decent Retirement,” Justin Kangwa draws from his personal experience to offer practical guidance on preparing for life beyond formal employment. After observing the struggles of unprepared retirees, he outlines twelve key questions that address emotional, financial, and personal aspects of retirement planning. The book is divided into three phases Twilight, Transition, and the Deep each reflecting different stages of retirement. With real-life insights, Kangwa emphasizes early planning, adaptability, and purpose as essential to enjoying a peaceful and dignified retired life.

Introduction
Following an abrupt and acrimonious resignation as Human Resources Manager from Maamba Collieries Limited, I was jobless for ninety-five days from 9th January, 2009 to 13th April, 2009. During this period, I spent a total of fifteen days assisting my good friend Felix ‘Galamukani’ Banda with consulting work on Performance Management implementation and Business & Entrepreneurship training for a water utility and a nongovernmental organisation, respectively.

Other than another total of three days that I spent on attending job interviews, I invested the rest of the time keenly observing the livelihoods of people who had retired from formal employment upon attaining the then statutory retirement age of fifty-five years. My observations led me to conclude that within three years of separation, most retirees looked desolate!

Their apparent cluelessness showed up even in their outward physical appearance. They looked rather pale and unkempt with diminished confidence levels. Clearly, they had failed to adjust to the new external environment. My considered conclusion was that inadequate preparation for life beyond formal employment was largely responsible for the retirement woes that afflicted the senior citizens whose lives I had been ‘studying.’

The topic of ‘retirement’ is one that rarely receives much attention. While working, employees seem to be too busy to make time to discuss the topic of what looks like too far away in the future. In fact, ‘retirement’ sounds like a myth whose reality is only uncovered by people who enter its realm.

Similarly, employers are also preoccupied with issues of productivity. They are too focused on exploiting the employees’ knowledge and skills for the organisation. Obviously, the company’s objectives do not include the future welfare of employees. Therefore, quite clearly, if ‘retirement’ was a piece of land, we would say it was ‘virgin land!’

Nonetheless, 55-year-old Justin Kangwa, who proceeded on early retirement at the age of 47 years, has published four books on the subject of retirement planning and implementation. However, in this article we are focusing on one, “Twelve Keys to a Decent Retirement,” which he published in September 2022.

The book answers the question, “What exactly constitutes adequate preparation for retired life beyond formal employment?” It qualifies to be a planning and implementation guide that borrows heavily from the author’s hands-on experience on how he:

Ø  Prepared for early retirement from formal employment.

Ø  Weathered an emotional roller-coaster set in motion by sudden increase in free time, abrupt drop in disposable income and the eventual dissipation of physical strength.

Ø  Has harnessed different emerging opportunities to create a sustainable cash flow.

Ø  Harvested from his past associations of harmonious co-existence with others.

Ø  Developed competencies in tune with the dictates of the time and environment.

Ø  Converted his passions and experiences to sources of income.

Ø  Has consciously decided to diligently execute his personal key roles to leave a lasting legacy.

The book is divided into three parts, namely:
Part I: The TWILIGHT, which is the period when the retirement date appears to be too distant, running up to about five years before the self-initiated or mandatory retirement from formal employment.

Part II: The TRANSITION, is the period of about ten years, with five on either side of the retirement date. It is characterized by three main realities:

1. Coming to terms with the fact that what looked far in the future is actually in sight, soon to become a reality.
2. The actual separation from formal employment.
3. Adjusting to a new way of expending your increased free time and waning energy.

Part III: The DEEP, is the period from five years after your retirement and runs until you breathe your last. During this period, you aspire to lead a peaceful, stress-free and harmonious life as you prepare to leave a good legacy and earn yourself a dignified sendoff by those who will witness your departure from this world.

SUMMARY
Using my five years hands-on experience, in this book, I have addressed the question, “What exactly constitutes adequate preparation for retirement life beyond formal employment?”, through 12 further questions, which I have christened KEYS as follows:

1. In what state of preparedness do I wish to be at the time of my exit from formal employment?
2. Am I on course with my preparation for retirement?
3. Should I wait until my preretirement plans are realised?
4. How come this new freedom is emotive?
5. Will I reap what I sow(ed)?
6. How do I respond to emerging opportunities?
7. What can go wrong in running a business?
8. What if an attractive job opportunity comes along?
9. Can I monetise my passion?
10. How many sources of income do I need while in retirement?
11. How do I execute my personal key roles?
12. What is my desired requiem?

Through the user-friendly cases or snippets of narration under each KEY, I have offered practicable and revealing insights on how you can model your own retirement planning and implementation.

About the Author
Justin Kangwa, the author of the book, retired from formal employment with effect from July 31, 2017 after serving the National Pension Scheme Authority as Human Resources Manager for eight years and three months. And Chapter 7 of the book contains an interesting episode of the author’s retired life, highlighting how he ventured into pottery (making of flowerpots) when his consulting business came to a standstill as a result of the novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) which ravaged the entire globe, including Zambia.