Just after Di Murphy’s husband retired, he found himself slumped unconscious on the floor during a leisurely lunch. The doctors were mystified as to what was wrong. But as he left the hospital, a nurse commented that he was the fifth patient they had seen that week that had recently retired. And not all had walked out.

“He started talking about retirement when he was 50 and was really looking forward to it,” Di says. “He then had this major collapse because he’d not planned for it,” she adds.

The incident sparked Auckland-based Di and her daughter Kristin Sutherland into thinking about the preparation needed to make retirement a success – beyond just the financial.

“Most of us spend more time planning our children’s wedding than our retirement,” Di says.

The pair run a business getting people retirement-ready and have now released a book: Dare to Retire Free: The ultimate guide to a happy and fulfilled retirement, it’s more than the money.

Di believes people should start retirement planning as soon as they hit their early to mid-forties. Their new book provides advice, anecdotes and specific activities to actively guide readers through the planning process.

“People think they’re going to just stop work one day. The question you’ve got to ask is: ‘Well, am I going to get out of bed at the same time? When that alarm goes off, what am I going to do?’.”

Di has shared their top tips for a successful retirement.

Suddenly you’re not a doctor, teacher or engineer any more. What are you? You still have all the skills you had when working, but how are you going to use them? How do you describe yourself now? Work to define what is important to you.

Ensure you are prioritising the things you really want to do, over the mundane day-to-day things, or those things others want you to do. This includes scheduling in your bucket-list items.

While you might have really good relationships with the people at work, they probably won’t last once you leave and that day-to-day contact is lost. So, build up a network of playmates first – people to go for coffee with and people who share the same interests as you.

Identify the skills you’ve built up over a lifetime and how you could apply them in a different way. They’re of value to others, yet we often don’t recognise the skills we have. Write down 50 skills you already have, then add some new ones to the mix - Di started learning the saxophone at age 64 and has picked up water colour painting as part of redesigning her life.

Sit down and work out how you’re going to use your day or risk spending a lot of retirement “fiddling” and wasting time, Di says. “Time management is life management,” she says.” Remember to schedule in those priorities, like bucket list items, first.

Have a conversation with those around you about what’s going to happen when you, or they, retire. This may be with your spouse, but also with your kids. “Make sure you have that conversation with your partner. The rules are different,” Di says. You need to allow space for each other and as individuals.