Retirement can be both an exciting and a trying time for many people. While they might like the idea of getting a break from the type of work that they’ve been doing for the last few decades, making a big change like this can also be scary and have them rethinking who they are and what they’re purpose is. Luckily, there are things that you can do as a friend or loved one of someone who’s retiring to help make this transition a little easier for them to handle.

To help you learn how this can be done and prepare you for this possibility in your life, here are three tips for helping someone transition into retirement. 

Suggest Slowly Scaling Back At Work

For some people, easing into the transition of retirement is going to be one of the best ways to go. So if they’re going to be going from working full-time to not working at all during retirement, suggesting that they scale back slowly could be a great idea. 

While this may not be possible with all jobs, if your loved one can make it work in their professional life to slowly scale back how much work they’re doing as they get nearer and nearer to retirement, actually being done working won’t come as such a shock to them. They might want to start taking fewer shifts or working less hours.

As they keep working for a while, they can also continue saving for retirement for a bit longer before they aren’t making that income anymore. And, by having a positive experience with transitioning into retirement, they may have an easier time with other transitions that could be on the horizon, like moving into a senior living facility

Help Them Revisit Or Start New Hobbies

It’s not just the absence of working anymore that can make the transition to retirement hard for people. At this age, they might wonder what they should do with themselves during the days now. 

To help them with this, you can encourage them to revisit hobbies they used to love or consider starting new hobbies that they’ve always been interested in. And if they’re scared to do this all on their own, you can volunteer to do these activities with them, too. 

Be A Solid Relationship They Can Depend On

Don’t underestimate the amount of emotional support that your friend or loved one might need as they get ready to transition into retirement. 

Many times, people feel like they lose a big social circle in their lives when they retire. So to help them know that this isn’t going to be the case for your relationship with them, make sure you continue to reach out and do things together so you can help bridge this gap that they may experience in other relationships. This way, they’ll always know that they have someone that they can depend on in good times or bad. 

If you have someone close to you that’s going to be retiring soon, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you through this transition.