Navigating Retirement By Answering Better Questions

If I was retired, or preparing to retire, I’d want an awareness on the questions outlined below. My responses, and my wife’s, taken at various stages would be helpful as we navigate through the early years of retirement. Professionally speaking, what matters in year one of retirement may not hold the same importance in years five or ten. It’s not about arriving at retirement as much as it is reflecting through retirement on your choices and possibilities. This is what most investors miss.

What retirement means to you and your significant other is a continuously evolving definition that may be customized. Your desired experience is directly linked to time spent creating and prioritizing where you want to spend your time. You can do this both before and during retirement.

Retirement is not a money equation. There’s an overemphasis on having accumulated “X” number of dollars before you can begin. I don’t believe this definition is accurate. Why? Life is messy and never a straight line. Working longer, harder, for a predefined number of dollars in accumulated wealth isn’t the answer. Yes, there are some financial aspects that must be understood through retirement, but this shouldn’t be defined by how much you’ve got. A better definition exists.  

Where you choose to spend your time every day, how you control your schedule, the people you are hanging out with, this is a more real definition of retirement. For some, this means continuing to work doing what they enjoy. For others it’s learning new skills and trying new things. 

Here are the questions to answer and reflect on over time.

• What am I retiring from?
• What am I retiring to?
• What exactly am I doing with my time Monday through Friday?  
• What makes me happy and brings joy to my life?
• Where will my sense of purpose come from as I redefine who I am beyond what I do?
• How do my financials support the answers to the above questions? 

It’s not an accident that the financial question is the last to be answered. Money is a tool, but your time and what you choose to do with it is so much more important. Instead of focusing on numbers and accounts, what might be possible if instead you started prioritizing your time?

The real challenge investors face is following a process where they can routinely talk out loud by revisiting their answers to the above questions.

How many times have you asked yourself a question by talking out loud? For me, it’s quite a bit. Verbalizing a question or writing it down tends to help one better articulate what’s trying to be answered.

Now, with some thoughts and ideas, what about reaching out to people who may have answered a similar question before? What are their thoughts, rationale, process? What might be missing and where are the blind spots? 

What I’ve just outlined is the value proposition in working with a financial planner. Someone you trust who you can speak freely with. No judgement, just a series of evolving conversations over time. It’s not about the financial plan, it’s all about financial planning. Financial planning as I see it should be defined by ongoing conversations, questions, and reflections.

Retiring successfully and staying successfully retired requires planning. It’s these conversations that may lead to discovery and clarity so you may make the most of your time.  Life is short, so let’s get after it!

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