When can you retire?

Today, we’ll go through an important 3 question checklist to make sure you are ready and successful in your retirement.

When can you retire? 3 Question Checklist

Resources:

• Click here to watch our video on “Top 4 Tax Planning Mistakes to avoid in Retirement”
• CNBC article: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/10/85-year-harvard-happiness-study-found-the-biggest-downside-of-retirement-that-no-one-talks-about.html

Full transcript:

SPEAKERS

Anthony Saffer 0:00

When can you retire? Today, we’ll go through an important 3 question checklist to make sure you are ready and successful in your retirement.

Hey, there it’s Anthony with One Degree Advisors and we want to help you have confidence in your retirement.

No one wants to be forced back to work after not planning properly for retirement. Today, we are going to give you a 3 question checklist so you can confidently move into retirement at the right time, but also so you can successfully navigate the retirement transition.

With each of these 3 questions on your checklist, you can improve your standing as you prepare toward retirement, or even if you are already retired, you can continue working on these 3 things.

These 3 questions focus on your relationships, your time, and your money – and they are all interconnected to have a successful retirement.

Question number one, are you connected?

In 1938, Harvard researchers embarked on a study that continues to this day to find out: What makes us happy in life?

When it comes to retirement, the study showed: Retirees don’t miss working, they miss the people.

A CNBC article referring to the study said,

“As participants entered mid- and late-life, the Harvard Study often asked about retirement. Based on their responses, the No. 1 challenge people faced in retirement was not being able to replace the social connections that had sustained them for so long at work.

Retiring can be a big social change. Whether you are close to the people you work with or not, there is likely some interaction that can be lost from your daily life.

So, Invest in your relationships starting today. While we are all wired differently, introverted or extroverted, we are generally built for community. That interaction is often underestimated as people work so hard to financially prepare for retirement.

Invest in your connections outside of work through church, your neighborhood, or even hobbies.

Try to have a realistic view of what time spent with family and friends might look like and invest in your connections to make for a successful transition into retirement.

If you are new to our channel, welcome. We hope that you will subscribe as we want to help you have confidence in your retirement by sharing our real-world experiences helping people to and through successful retirements.

Question number two, are you retiring to something or retiring from something?

The financial preparation, as we are going to discuss in #3 tends to get the most attention, but what about your time?

I will say that many of our clients do enjoy their retirement.

Often, they comment that they are just as busy now as when they were working. And, while busyness in itself is not the goal, it speaks to a certain level of activity and also hopefully fulfillment and purpose in that activity.

So, I don’t want to overdramatize that you need to have all your time mapped out. You don’t. But, having some direction as to how you will spend your time and your focus can be really helpful.

Your connections may play a role in answering this question as investing in your relationships can certainly provide purpose and meaning.

Additionally, ask yourself:

How will you organize your time?

What brings you purpose and fulfillment?

What serves a need?

Maybe these questions are addressed with volunteering, spending time with family, or perhaps working part-time.

We have had clients who work part-time, maybe in a consulting role. It’s often great because they earn some income, stay connected with colleagues, and they don’t have the stress of the everyday grind. And, maybe you’ll work part-time at something totally unrelated and enjoy whatever that is.

If you are married, these are good discussion questions with your spouse.

As an aside, – your health is another big part of life and may have an effect on your retirement decision – in some cases, health can force people to retire, but certainly choosing to retire while you are still in good health is ideal. Invest in your health and fitness for quality of life.

Question number 3, are you financially ready?

When we talk about retirement planning, this is the one we tend to think about. Rightfully so because it takes time to prepare your finances.

You’ll want to know:

Have you correctly calculated your living expenses?

Can you sustain your income to meet those needs?

Have you accounted for inflation, taxes, emergency expenses, and more?

While there is a lot to think about when it comes to your finances, this is where a financial plan can help answer those questions.

I like to think that a financial plan puts the puzzle together into a beautiful vision of the future rather than a bunch or random pieces that don’t make much sense apart from each other.

But since things in the economy and investment markets are always changing and your priorities and circumstances change too, a financial plan is a dynamic process that can adapt. It’s not just a binder on a bookshelf – or at least it shouldn’t be.

Saving money in taxes can also go a long way when to comes to making your money work for you in retirement. We just recorded a video: The Top 4 Tax Planning Mistakes to Avoid in Retirement. We’ll post that here.

Again, this is Anthony Saffer with One Degree Advisors and we wrote a free downloadable guide called Five retirement mistakes to avoid. This can help you dig a bit deeper to make sure your retirement is successful. We’ll go ahead and post the link in the notes for you to download. And please leave your comments as to what questions you’ve addressed to have success in your retirement. Thanks for watching.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The One Degree Blog

Not signed up yet? Get weekly financial insights right to your inbox.
Subscribers also gain access to our private monthly client memo.

This does not constitute an investment recommendation. Investing involves risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Consult your financial advisor for what is appropriate for you. Disclosures: https://onedegreeadvisors.com/solutions/#disclosures