SINGAPORE – Financial adviser Patrick Chang, 58, is championing a different kind of retirement.

He has written a self-published book about retirement, The A To Z Guide To Retirement Planning: Everything You Need To Know About Accumulating And Preserving Wealth For Your Golden Years (2016). He is now working on his second book, Retire Retirement, Welcome Protirement: The Essentials A To Z.

He is an advocate of protirement, a term coined in the early 1960s, defined as retirement from professional work in order to pursue something more fulfilling. A good protirement can encompass a new career or hobby that draws on one’s years of experience and expertise. Older people are encouraged to pursue their interests and mentor younger workers, sharing their skills and wisdom.

Mr Chang says: “In my interpretation, protirement is proactive retirement. Instead of stopping work altogether, waiting to reach the traditional retirement age, or being forced to retire due to circumstances, individuals in protirement actively plan and design a lifestyle that balances work, leisure and personal growth.”

This could take the form of passion projects, consultancy, freelance or part-time work, volunteering, fitness goals and lifelong learning, he says.

He got the idea for his second book on retirement while conducting anti-scam training workshops for seniors in recent years. The seniors, he recalls, were raring to share their knowledge, keep working and explore different interests, but they were unsure how to.

Mr Chang is preparing for his own protirement. He has been investing for his and his wife’s retirement needs for about 10 years. He is married to a 52-year-old executive at a freight forwarding firm and the couple have 16-year-old twins.

Having gained qualifications in life and career coaching, he aims to be certified in corporate team coaching soon. Now working in a financial advisory firm, he plans to run his own coaching business after he retires.

“Protirement is about having the agency to shape a new life beyond retirement. I’m looking forward to it with excitement,” he says.

He is among 25 working Singaporeans aged 35 to 75 across diverse socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities whom The Straits Times interviewed about their attitudes towards retirement. These included a part-time blue-collar employee earning $800 a month, a cleaner, a security services manager, as well as a law firm partner who makes about $2 million a year.

Delving into the psycholog...