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Retirement is harder than many people expect, and adapting to it takes longer than you think.

By Robert Laura

“ It turns out that the person I was planning for all along has changed … and that’ s why despite doing everything right, it feels so wrong for me right now!” I knew in an instant how profound his statement about retirement was. The most significant factor that financial professionals and their clients underestimate about people’ s transition to retirement is the level of change they will be forced to deal with. There are no glossy brochures or TV commercials that warn anyone about the side effects of life after work. These changes will affect the way a person thinks, feels and works through the first couple of years. It’ s why retirement is one of life’ s most stressful events.

In 1967, two psychiatrists, Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, developed a scale in which they named 43 of the most stressful life events. Retirement was No. 10. But many of the other items on the list happen around the same time, either shortly before or after people stop working: Those things include the death of a spouse, a divorce, the death of a close family member, a change in the retiree’ s health or that of a family member, a decline in sexual function, a change in financial state, the death of a close friend, the increase in the number of arguments with a spouse, the departure of a child from the home or a change in living conditions.

The Retirement Coaches Association, which I founded, has done research about the issues that retirees have adapting to their new lives after work:

• 43 % of retirees reported that adjusting to retirement was harder than they expected;

• 45 % said adjusting to it took longer than expected; and

• 76 % of retirees have seen someone else struggle with the transition.

For financial professionals this is extremely important to understand because something that didn’ t make the Holmes-Rahe list is“ a change in portfolio value.”

Put yourself in the shoes of a client who has just retired. They have lost their daily routine, their connections at work, their feelings of purpose and direction, and mental stimulus, just to name a few things.

Throw on top of that two or three items from the most stressful events list and it’ s easy to see how a client who is juggling multiple and competing responsibilities— in addition to, perhaps, a stock market nosedive— can be more concerned than ever before. Even if the client has never flinched in previous market downturns, changes that happen all at the same time can heighten their financial sensitivity.

MAY / JUNE 2026 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 53