This is how to make the best of your retirement

The advertising industry loves to suggest that retirement is one holiday after another but for many people, it takes time to get used to endless time and a limited budget. Margaret Jennings talks to the experts about how to approach life after work 

DROWNING their sorrows in a bottle , or embracing life to the full; home alone behind the four walls, or actively engaged in local communities — the picture of the modern Irish retiree is a mixed one, depending on who’s talking.

What’s clear is that each individual’s unique response to the challenge of this major transition — from the full busy schedule of a working life, to the gaping formlessness of ‘what happens next’ — can make or break them.