Joni Magil retired last year after working more than 40 years in health care. "I had a great feeling of accomplishment to leave work the way I had envisioned," she says.Chad Hipolito/The Globe and Mail
In Tales from the Golden Age, retirees talk about their spending, savings and whether life after work is what they expected.
Joni Magil, 67, Sidney, B.C.
I retired in January, 2023, at age 65 after a 40-year career in health care – the first 30 years working for a private company in Montreal and the past decade for the British Columbia Ministry of Health in Victoria. My last position was as the director of physician compensation. It was a stressful job, particularly during the pandemic when the pressure and the pace increased tremendously.
I thought I would work forever because I didn’t have many hobbies or a target retirement date. But when my husband and I started planning for a January, 2022, vacation, he suggested we go away for a month. I’d never taken that much time off before. We’re both scuba divers and spent the month in Bonaire, an island municipality of the Netherlands in the southern Caribbean.
It wasn’t until I took that time off that I realized how exhausted I was, both mentally and physically. I felt fantastic and realized, ‘Oh, this is how I’m supposed to feel.’ I also thought being so tired all the time probably wasn’t good for me – or the people I work with. So, when I returned to work, I told my boss I would retire in 11 months. It was very important to me to ensure a smooth transition. I had a great feeling of accomplishment to leave work the way I had envisioned.
Retirement wasn’t quite what I had planned at first. Unexpectedly, my husband had knee-replacement surgery the week I retired, so I was very involved in his care and recovery for the first month. I was grateful to be able to focus on him.
But when he got better, I realized I didn’t have enough to do in retirement. It felt like I went from full speed to full stop. Although I thought about retirement and felt confident I would figure it out, I felt a bit lost during the first few months. I worried that perhaps I’d made a mistake. But then I slowly started taking up different activities.
It took about six months to settle into my retirement lifestyle. I’m now a member of two walking groups, taking regular fitness and yoga classes and playing mah-jong. I’ve expanded my social circle while still maintaining contact with previous colleagues. I’m also volunteering as a patient partner, which means I help represent the patient community with health care organizations making policy, service delivery or operational plans and decisions. This ‘work’ sometimes includes a small honorarium. It’s still nice to be compensated for offering support in your area of expertise.
My husband and I are conscious of our spending in retirement. We were both previously married and had difficult divorces that resulted in a significant financial hit, so there has been a lot of discussion, planning, endless spreadsheets and meetings with a financial adviser over the years. We learned as we went, updated our plans as our situations evolved, seized opportunities as they presented themselves and made some good life decisions.
My husband once asked our financial adviser if any of his clients had ever run out of money in retirement. The adviser was taken aback by the question – which I thought was a good one – and said that no one ever had. We both found that reassuring.
One of the biggest challenges for me in retirement was to stop feeling like I have to be doing something productive all the time; sometimes, it’s enough to focus on enjoying the moment. I can’t think of anything I would do differently – my husband and I have looked back at our lives together and often commented that ‘We did okay.’ It’s a good feeling.
My advice to others approaching retirement is to follow their dreams, take the time to travel and try new things when you’re young and healthy. Don’t wait until you retire. Too many people take their health for granted and don’t truly realize how precarious good health is and the impact of age on your energy levels and, in many cases, your capabilities.
As told to Brenda Bouw
This interview has been edited and condensed.