Life-Centered Financial Planning Essentials: Why One Retirement Plan Does Not Fit All

Not all people retire well.

Some people can’t retire soon enough: their workplace, their coworkers, and their workload are literally killing them. On the other end of the spectrum, some people will never retire because who they are and what they do are inextricably linked. The reality is that most people fall somewhere in the middle.

Each person needs to work out a plan for life that best suits him or her. A good place to start is with a focus on the following:

   Retirement observations: What have your clients observed watching others retire?
   Visioning: Those that retire to something feel much better than those who retire from something.
   Examination of work: What lifestyle benefits were they deriving from their work, and what will replace these    benefits?
   Personal DNA: How will their natural personality wiring play out in this phase of life?

We’ve all heard the financial concerns for years. What we hear less about are the nonfinancial retirement challenges:

  • Sense of identity loss.
  • Social/relationship challenges.
  • Change/reduction in mental stimulation.
  • Psychological issues around not getting a paycheck.
  • Extra time to fill in the day.
  • Anxiety and/or depression.

These are the realistic, existential risks of retirement that humans must wrestle with. Add concerns about money, inflation, and uncertainty in our markets, and it is no wonder that more and more people are coming to the same conclusion—it works to work. Working doesn’t have to mean all-in, but instead as needed to meet emotional, social, and intellectual stimulation needs. It will be different for each of your clients. Some may meet these needs in 10 hours of volunteering a week, whereas others may never slow their full-time work week because their work energizes them.

We are all wired uniquely; one retirement plan does not fit all. We are wired how we are wired, and that wiring doesn’t magically get rearranged because we turn 65 or stop working.

Learn more in Life Centered Financial Planning: How to Deliver Value that Will Never be Undervalued, available at local or online bookstores as well as at mitchanthony.com.