Your Movie Never Ends…
it goes on and on and on and on…
Totally not sorry for the earworm, I told my sister how I was going to somehow fit the song ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by the 70's rock band Journey into this week’s post. She thought I was joking. 😊
Needless to say, I wanted to write today about the Journey through retirement. More specifically, the mental journey in retirement. Plus, Journey (the band) rules!
Now for the serious stuff...
We have a retirement problem in this country. This problem has nothing to do with money and more to do with the mental well-being of retirees. Retirement is an exciting new chapter but navigating it can be challenging. This post dives into the mental aspects of retirement, exploring the journey you'll take and how a financial planner can be your guide.
Many view retirement as a carefree time. Financial planning is crucial, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. Retirement presents many unique mental challenges as you redefine your identity, purpose, and daily routines. It's an adventure, but one that requires a roadmap beyond just finances.
We forget that retirement itself is simply a man-made invention. As a concept it is still relatively young. Sarah Laskow, with The Atlantic, wrote an article called How Retirement Was Invented tracing retirement to the 1880's where "the German government would create a retirement system, which provided for citizens over the age of 70 – if they lived that long." In the United States, the Social Security Act didn't come to fruition until 1935.
Both programs, when formed, were designed to the relative life expectancies at the times. Either individuals wouldn’t live long enough to claim these benefits OR when an individual was ready to "retire", the expectation was they would soon pass. A staunch difference compared to today, where we can expect to live 10, 20, 30+ years past our retirement. Cripes, we are now expected to live close to 1/3 of our life in retirement. So, the question remains, HOW are we supposed to live?
Well...
According to a recent unpublished independent research survey done by yours truly, over the past five minutes, by writing "retirement" into google images, I have concluded people living in retirement enjoy beaches, sunsets, and sitting (judging by the abundance of adirondack chairs, benches, hammocks, and beach chairs). [See my “retirement collage” below]
Who am I to argue with the number one search engine in the world? I LOVE all these things too! However, from what I've learned by living with and talking to people living the retirement lifestyle over that past 10 years, there is a WHOLE lot more.
Setting a retirement goal is an important step to the financial planning process. It provides planners like me with a time horizon to calculate how long we have left of our working income, present us with a starting point of new income sources (Social Security, Pension), and gives us a timeframe for how long we need your capital savings to last.
That's the numbers side of the retirement equation. And we all know how much I love numbers. However, as I've stated before, there is more to retirement than just numbers and Adirondack chairs. I remind new retirees there is a whole new adventure ahead with so many more decision points along the way.
Dr. Riley Moynes (when you have 15 minutes, check out his amazing talk linked below) discusses the 4 Phases of Retirement. In summary, Dr. Moynes identifies theses phases as:
Vacation Phase: The initial euphoria of freedom.
Loss and Lost Phase: Adjustment to a new normal, with potential feelings of loss and uncertainty.
Search for Meaning Phase: Exploring new passions and activities.
Reinvent and Rewire Phase: Embracing a fulfilling and purposeful retirement lifestyle.
Financial planning is a powerful tool throughout these phases. In the early stages, it provides security and peace of mind. During the "Search for Meaning" phase, it can empower you to pursue new ventures. A good financial planner understands the mental aspects of retirement and can guide you towards a future that aligns with your values and goals.
As a financial professional, I feel grateful to work with people who have been successful in all kinds of facets of their life. I like to remind them how in the past, throughout their lives, they've made all kinds of decisions along the way.
Retirement, however, often feels like a single, sharp turn. You leave your primary career behind, and a new chapter begins. But what then? Author and illustrator Tim Urban wrote a great New York Times Opinion Essay that resonated deeply with me. Though focused on lost time during the Covid pandemic, his core message applies equally to retirement: a vast expanse of life stretches before you, filled with potential.
We think a lot about those black lines: the roads not taken, the opportunities missed, the ones that got away. But most of us greatly underestimate the size of the lush green tree of possibilities that lie ahead of us.
We underestimate future possibilities for the same reason we overestimate the time we have left with those we love: our intuition is not very imaginative. It’s a human instinct to believe the life we’re used to is how things will always be, both the good parts and the bad.
Wallowing in regret carries an implicit assumption that we had agency in the past — that we could have had those other life paths if only we had made better decisions. When we think about the future, though, that feeling of agency often disappears, which can leave us feeling resigned and even hopeless.
But the life we’ll be living 10 years from now will largely be determined not by our past selves but by our present and future selves. If we imagine what we might regret down the road, it’s very much in our hands to do something about it now.
This is the good news about being a human. The time we have left with family and friends is not a law of nature like the weeks we have left to live. It’s a function of priorities and decisions.
To sum this all up, if you're nearing retirement or already navigating this new chapter, I'd love to chat. Together, we can discuss your financial goals and explore how I can support you in achieving a fulfilling and purposeful retirement.
Contact me today for a complimentary consultation. Let's discuss your vision for retirement and explore how I can be your guide on this exciting journey.
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