Category
Vision Insurance
Robert Laura, 3 Nov 2024

Squinting in Retirement: Getting a Clearer Vision of Your Next Chapter

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Ever tried to make sense of the world and everything is blurry? It’s a strange feeling: straining to read signs, missing details, or feeling disconnected from what’s right in front of you. For many, that’s what an uncorrected vision problem feels like.

But this sense of blurriness isn’t limited to our eyes. As we approach retirement, the future itself can feel just as out of focus. Many people are surprised by how unclear this next chapter can be until they're in it. Just like with vision, the right focus makes all the difference.

Having a clear vision, both for your health and your life’s direction, is essential when planning for retirement. Yet, vision care is often overlooked in the process, despite it being critical for helping you fully experience and enjoy all this new chapter has to offer. Here are three areas where clearer vision — both literal and figurative — can enhance your life as a retiree.

Staying Connected

It’s common for people to feel isolated and disconnected in those first few weeks and months of the retirement transition. They lose immediate access to co-workers, daily interactions they took for granted. Despite promises to stay in touch, there's an immediate void that's hard to fill. Many people also tie their identity to what they do for work, so if they identified heavily with their workplace role, it can be challenging to feel connected to this new version of themselves.

This is why it's so important to develop and maintain relationships beyond the workplace. Moreover, it's important to avoid waiting until you are officially retired to figure out who you are outside of the workplace. Start before you get there to avoid feeling lost and alone in this new chapter.

As you think about how to build and maintain your connections in retirement, don't overlook a practical factor that can impact your ability to stay engaged: your vision. Whether it's reading with a book club, playing cards with friends, traveling to see family, or pursuing hobbies you've put off for years, healthy vision is essential for participating fully. VSP® Individual Vision Plans are designed with seniors in mind, helping you stay both covered and connected in retirement without letting vision care costs become a barrier.

Seeking Help

Sometimes we're too close to our own situation to see what's really happening. It often takes an outside perspective to recognize a problem and suggest steps to solve it, and the same principle can apply to retirement. People often think they have a clear picture of what retirement will be like and feel confident they can tackle it all on their own. In reality, retirement is actually one of life's most stressful transitions¹, with countless changes happening all at once.

Most people plan to replace their paycheck but not their routine, identity, or social connections, and don’t know where to look for help. The good news is that there are professionals like the Retirement Coaches Association who can help with lifestyle planning. But retirement planning isn't just about finances and activities. It's also about ensuring your health needs are covered, especially areas where you might have blind spots.

Seeking expert guidance in retirement planning is invaluable and can help you fix problems you didn’t even see coming. For instance, many retirees are caught off guard to learn Medicare typically doesn't cover glasses, contacts, and routine eye exams*, creating unexpected out-of-pocket expenses down the line. Fortunately, there are vision care specialists dedicated to helping retirees navigate these gaps. VSP Individual Vision Plans can help you understand your options and find coverage that fits your retirement lifestyle, because sometimes you need someone else to point out what you can't see for yourself.

Avoiding Assumptions

It's common for people to assume that retirement will be this happy place where everything automatically falls together and improves because you now have more time and freedom. But retirement isn't a feeling! It's a transition and process that takes time and work. Research suggests that it can take 12 months or longer to adjust to retirement, and 78% of retirees have seen someone struggle with the transition^². Those aren't statistics that make their way into fancy brochures or TV commercials, but that's real-life retirement!

This assumption trap becomes particularly costly when it comes to healthcare coverage, like for your vision. With Medicare open enrollment underway, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at your benefits rather than simply assuming you're fully covered. Many retirees only discover coverage gaps months later when they're paying out of pocket for glasses, contacts, or eye exams they thought Medicare would handle.
Don't let assumptions leave you scrambling to cover unexpected expenses down the line, especially when VSP Individual Vision Plans can complement your Medicare coverage and provide the peace of mind you need.

Bringing It All Into Focus

Retirement planning doesn't have to feel overwhelming when you have the right support and information. Whether you're working with retirement coaches or exploring coverage options, asking for help is always smart planning.

Just as the right prescription brings clarity to your vision, proper vision coverage helps you fully enjoy retirement. VSP Individual Vision Plans provide the clarity you need to focus on living your best retired life. After all, retirement should be about seeing new possibilities, not squinting through uncertainty.

^¹Retirement Intelligence, Laura, Robert, 2025, RetirementProject.org, Page 30

^²The Great Retirement Disconnect, Retirement Coaches Association, 2023, https://retirementcoachesassociation.org/research

*Check your Medicare Plan to see if your vision care needs are covered and/or if a VSP Individual Vision Plan is right for you. VSP Individual Vision Plans does not coordinate benefits.