#425 - How to Plan Your Agile Retirement: Stage 1 - Your Vision

Retirement is a journey into the unknown that can be intimidating. This is why you need to build up confidence in your plan so that you can rock retirement. To build your confidence it is important to master the fundamentals which simply means that you must practice them over and over again.

Last week you learned to let go of the things that are out of your control and how to concentrate on working with the controllables by using an agile approach. This will give you the agency you need to prosper in retirement.

Today we’ll focus on developing an inspiring goal for your future. Over the rest of the month, we'll explore the pathways to get you to your goal. If you are ready to learn how to rock retirement press play now.

““Life is not a dress rehearsal–make it count. Don’t make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.”—Sam Altman”

4 roadblocks that could hinder fulfilling your vision

With retirement on the horizon, you are ready to jump right in, but there can be some things that could hinder your progress.

The paradox of choice

Who do you want to be when you grow up? This is a challenging question when you are already in your 50s or 60s. You have competency and interest in many domains at this stage of life, so it can be hard to choose what you want for your future. Or you may feel that when you set your goals they are set in stone since there's not a long time to change course. Don’t worry about this because you will change your mind. Life unfolds in twists and turns and plans will change. Don’t let the paradox of choice paralyze you.

Start retirement with a clean slate

If you are like most of us, your life has been organized around your work or children. When you retire, your commute disappears and your kids are will have been sprung. You can now design your life any way you want. Think about how you can start your new life fresh from a clean slate.

The accumulation mindset

You have been a good saver your whole life and at this point, you have built up your net worth. Having these assets is comforting, so it can be challenging to begin to use your savings. However, you chose to defer that income to provide for your life in retirement. Eventually, the balance in your retirement accounts will level off or go down. You’ll have to overcome the fact that your savings are no longer growing. It is important to get over your frugality mindset to enjoy all that you have accumulated.

Tomorrow is the day

We often plan retirement thinking about tomorrow. We think that tomorrow is the day that we will start x, y, or z. But it is important to remember that we are not guaranteed any tomorrows. To truly rock retirement you have to live for today. Today is the day to show up and pay attention to your life. Life is happening now, so rock your life today.

“ it is important to remember that we are not guaranteed any tomorrows.”

How to create a vision for your future

Before you begin to financially plan for retirement you need to create a vision for your future. One way to do that is to use the wisdom from those at the end of their lives to make the most of your own. Listen in to hear the top 5 regrets of the dying to help you make the most of your own life.

Have you given much thought to your values? Spend some time establishing your values so that you can envision building a life that is true to yourself. Once you have created a vision for your future you can create a plan to make it feasible. Don’t miss next week’s episode to learn how to create the pathways to reach your retirement vision.

“Before you begin to financially plan for retirement you need to create a clear vision for your future.”

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

[3:57] Who do you want to be when you grow up?
[6:05] Your life is organized around your work
[9:07] Tomorrow is the day
[12:02] A 3 step process to create a vision for your future
[19:10] How to bring these goals into a financial perspective

LISTENER QUESTIONS

[25:57] A question on the 4% expected return used in the Retirement Plan Live webinar
[29:43] Why use a 5% expected return rate?
[33:35] A question on delaying taking RMDs
[35:50] How I pick case studies for Retirement Plan Live
[40:03] What to do with an inherited IRA