Planning for your retirementS
Retirement life or mid-life career planning

That’s right – retirements – plural! Think about it. When Social Security was enacted in the thirties the retirement age and the life expectancy were roughly the same. Since then so much as changed. Life expectancy is now in the late seventies, and if you live until then, chances are that you will live to be considerably older.

So, why do we say retirements? Well, one of the things that has changed is the average age of “first” retirement is now about 57. This means that many of us leave a job before the traditional retirement age of sixty-five but are not yet ready to fully retire. We may be seeking more freedom from set schedules, the desire to do something we have always dreamed of but never had the opportunity to pursue, or any number of other reasons. So, what does that mean for us?

For those of us in our fifties and beyond the role models we have had for retirement may have been parents or grandparents who simply retired at sixty-two or sixty-five, spent a few years keeping house, traveling or pursuing leisure activities and then passed on in a few short years. With the prospect of many relatively healthy, and for most of us financially fit, years in retirement, we need a new way to plan. Our retirement may be thirty or even forty years. The “new retirement” presents an opportunity for a purposeful life stage, which can bring the same kind of fulfillment that our previous life stages did – or the opportunity to capture the fulfillment missed in earlier life stages. Resources are now available to guide you through an assessment and planning process for a successful retirement or mid-life career change.

Generally, when we think of retirement planning in American, we think of financial planning for retirement. However, have you ever stopped to think about what you are planning for beyond just the number of years you are likely to live?

We believe there is a prerequisite to developing a financial retirement plan. Call it a retirement life plan or maybe call it a retirement career plan. You can greatly increase your chances of having a successful retirement life if you make a retirement life plan first and then make a financial plan or adjust the plan you have already made. Can you imagine how you could possibly make a financial plan without knowing how you will be spending – or making – money in your retirement years? It is possible that you will spend as many years in retirement, from your first career as you did in the career itself.

There are tools available now to guide you through the planning process. You can learn what the retirement success factors are and assess your readiness for retirement. You can create your own mission statement and develop a plan for the rest of your life – or maybe only the next career in your life.