You had been retired, so in another word you are no longer required to work, you must have work for a company or an organization for not less then twenty five years and at the age of fifty six in Malaysia you are retired and new young with additional qualification are recruited to take you place....You have to ask yourself why you had been retired at that age and my answer is that it is the policy of the country at this time in our history, before if was fifty five years and now it is fifty six years....Well eventually with life expectancy improving, who knows, retiring age would be extended further.....To me it does not matter when you are retired.....You must plan for your retirement and should not wait at the last minutes to safe for the rainy day....If you are a government officers, you are given a lump sum gratuity and then a monthly pension, just so that you could enjoy living and if you work for non government organization, in Malaysia you have your Employee Providence Fund, normally matured when your are fifty or fifty five and you are allowed to withdraw all this money you had saved.., If you are on this category you should not spend all your money in one go but instead should plan a monthly withdrawal of a sum you want and the rest you should invest in some fund, so that you would continue to have a monthly income as you retire on...... I am telling all this is because I found that some of my friends who once had good monthly pay working in the non government sector, spend all their EPF money when they retired and then find themselves without enough fund to continue living a modest life and because their income has reduced they try to make more money by going into business and this is not the right thing to do at that age, you are no longer productive like before and because business is not that easy, you soon find yourself in a situation where you get frustrated and depressed because the business is not doing well, your creditor chasing you and those that owe you for your service did not make payment in time...It all add to more depression....And remember at this age depression would led to stress and stress would lead to sickness and soon you had to visit the doctor often and this time if you are not a government pensioner you had to pay your own medical bill, which could be substantial if you want to be treated as the King or Queen like you used to get when you work for some big Business company that pay you big salary....Now that you had retired all those service are gone forever....And some of you who do not have a health insurance would have to pay all those hospital bill on you own, and this would drain of whatever saving you have had, thus add to more and more depression and frustration..... Other then paying hospital bill, your spouse still want to live the old life style of the "officer's spouse" or the "business executive spouse" and this would also add to the monthly bills that you had to pay....My advice to friends, remember that the moment you retired you cannot look forward to that monthly pay anymore,....Say you had been getting Ringgit Ten thousand a month and suddenly you are not getting it anymore....You would felt helpless and if you had not plan your retirement well...This is the first shock you would face, 'no monthly income' so do be careful of whatever lump sum payment you get, save it by investing in a mutual fund and create a monthly sorts of withdrawal of a appropriate amount and then forget living like before or going into business but instead live a modest life...By doing so you would be able to live well and enjoy life to the fullest.....For my friends we can never tell how long after retirement we are going to live and live a healthy life...So take heed and believe me you would not regret it and it is best for all of us in our golden age....