When you hear the word “retirement”, what thoughts does it summon up?

In fact, go one further. Write down the first three words that come into your mind.

Then ask several of your friends and family to do the same. The odds are stacked against the same three words cropping up… simply because our situations as well as our mind-sets will vary so much.

Some of us look forward to the opportunities the years ahead promise, while others will see mostly (or, indeed, only) the challenges that threaten. Psychologists will tell you that a positive frame of mind can play a big part in whether we make the very most of our lives in general, and that is probably even more the case with our later years – when health issues can start to impinge… on our own lives and those closest to us.

So how positive were your three words?

We ran a survey of around 1,200 people some time ago looking for their one-word take on the subject and (if we’re honest) came up with a depressing set of results. Words like “fear”, “poverty”, “misery” and “illness” figured large.

This was in 2011… and I can only believe that the mood must have worsened since with the collapse in annuity returns, the decline in company pension schemes, the prospect of a much longer retirement given increasing life expectancy and the constant news about the poor treatment of pensioners in the NHS and care homes.

But surely this is thinking about retirement from the wrong perspective. And, in fact, when you drill down into the subject a rather more positive picture emerges.

Most of those taking part in the survey were in the middle or later stages of their careers and retirement still seemed a long way off. Their worlds centred around work, a growing family, scrabbling to take a few weeks precious holiday each year and, perhaps, seeing the plight of elderly parents. The end of a career that we enjoyed and perhaps defined us could be seen negatively, especially if we aren’t quite sure what is going to fill those gaps.

But here’s a thing. When we broke down the responses by age, many of the people actually IN retirement had a far more positive take on the experience they were actually going through. This, after all, is the generation that remembers what retirement meant for their parents and grandparents: often retiring at 65 after a hard working life and almost immediately dropping off the twig.

Life expectancy has risen significantly over recent decades: our later years are no longer a few years down the allotment or sat with pipe and slippers in a comfy chair… it’s an opportunity to use that time productively with all the things we had to park when we were chained to the nine to five.

Pretty much everyone has a hobby, sport or other interest – maybe theatre, concerts, cycling, travel, charity work… even politics. These are the things we enjoyed and tried to fit into our busy schedules whilst work and commuting filled most of our time… now we can expand on those interests.

So, retirement is not about the end of something (our career) but much more: the opportunity to spend much more time doing the things we love.

How about playing golf three or four times a week, taking six week holidays touring Europe or elsewhere, getting involved in the local community, horse-riding or motorsport – after all 70 IS the new 50!

For many, it’s a golden chance to send time with grandchildren – watching them develop without the broken nights sleep.

Of course there’s a caveat or two here. Poor health in later life may constrict our options. Financial pressures may mean we holiday in Bournemouth rather than Biarritz. Some people, through a range of circumstances, have not been able to save for their later life. But I would argue – as I mentioned at the beginning – that enjoying retirement is as much about attitude as anything else.

To me, retirement is an entirely wonderful thing – and we can make it a far more enjoyable experience if we have prepared… so that when we retire we have the funds to be able to be able to do these things. To take advantage we will find ourselves spending more on activities than we do while working, although we might be saving money on commuting and not having to take holidays outside of term time.

All this means that we have to make some sacrifices so that we have those funds for retirement by saving enough while we have time. And there’s the rub. By nature we want to enjoy ourselves to the full NOW because tomorrow we may be run over by a bus.

But if we believe that retirement can actually be our dream life on steroids… well, maybe we can unreservedly look forward to it and actually make that dream come true.

Many users of RetireEasy.co.uk tells us they discovered that they had more financial resources to enjoy their retirement years than they thought and that their future was truly a lot brighter!