BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR
As Kilkenny people, we’re fortunate to live in a county where community still matters. Whether it’s through GAA clubs, parish groups, farming organisations, local markets or simply keeping an eye on neighbours, most of us understand the value of staying connected. That sense of connection becomes even more important as we start thinking about retirement.
A new study by Standard Life, Bringing Retirement into Focus 2025, looked at more than 5,000 adults across Ireland. It found that being ready for retirement isn’t just about money. Financial security matters, of course, but so do social connections and having a sense of purpose for the years ahead.
One figure that stood out was that only 33% of adults know how much money they’ll actually need to live comfortably in retirement. Among people still working, financial readiness has dropped from 37% in 2021 to 30% now. Rising living costs, mortgages, helping children through education and supporting adult children for longer have left a lot of families feeling the squeeze.
It’s hardly surprising. For many in their 40s and 50s, retirement can feel like something to worry about another day when everyday life is already demanding enough.
Yet there’s an encouraging side to the research too. People who get regular financial advice are almost twice as likely to feel positive and confident about their retirement. They tend to have a clearer idea of what they need and what steps to take.
The findings on social wellbeing were interesting as well. Only 44% of working adults feel socially ready for retirement, compared with 65% of those already retired. Many working people said they didn’t feel fully prepared from a social point of view, while retirees reported much higher levels of satisfaction. Retirement often creates space for friendships, hobbies, volunteering and community involvement that can be hard to fit in during busy working years.
In a county like Kilkenny, this is one of our real strengths. Plenty of people who retire here stay deeply involved in local life. (Read past issues of The Kilkenny Observer for examples.) They help out with clubs and organisations, spend time with grandchildren, do some volunteering or simply enjoy having more time for the things they care about. Those connections can make a big difference to how retirement feels.
The research also highlighted the importance of mindset. Retirement isn’t really an ending anymore; it’s the start of a new phase of life. The people who seem to handle it best are those who’ve given some thought to what they want that phase to look like. Work gives us structure, identity and routine, so replacing those things takes a bit of planning.
One comment from a participant summed it up well: people don’t simply want to get by in retirement; they want to live. Another spoke about the importance of being able to pick up the phone to a friend or meet someone for a walk or a coffee. Simple things, maybe, but often the ones that matter most.
Retirement readiness doesn’t build gradually over a lifetime. For a lot of people, it stays on the long finger until later years, when there’s often less time to make real changes.
That’s why it’s worth having conversations about retirement earlier than many of us do. Not because it’s coming tomorrow, but because having a clearer picture of the future can make today’s decisions easier and less stressful.
Financial security will always be important. But the real lesson from this research is that a good retirement is about more than the size of your pension pot. It’s about knowing where you’re heading, staying connected to people and community, and having something to look forward to when the working years are behind you.
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