Most companies don't have a phased retirement program. They have a favor, worked out case by case between an employee and whichever manager says yes. Employers appear to be solving retirement transitions one person at a time. Here's what a real program requires, and why that instinct doesn't hold up.

The people who thrive in retirement didn't figure it out after they left work, they built the life before they got there. Retirement lifestyle planning means actively designing five dimensions of life: structure, identity, purpose, social connection, and health. It can't wait until your last day of work, because by then, you're already starting from scratch. Most people have a vague sense of when they might retire. Very few have started building the life they're retiring int