What To Do Before Retiring

Traditional retirement planning has it all backwards. You know the drill. You meet with your broker or financial advisor and map out a retirement savings plan designed to make sure you have enough money to retire. It’s all about “how much is enough to retire“. That is where the retirement planning process begins – and usually ends.

I believe that approach is misguided. You are far better served by painting a clear and compelling vision for your retirement first and figuring out how much it will cost after the fact. You want to begin the retirement planning process with questions centered around you and your happiness – not just your money. Below are the five essential pre-retirement planning questions in the appropriate order:

What is your vision for retirement that is so compelling you can’t wait to start?
Where will you live those dreams?
When will you make the transition from worker to retiree?
How much retirement savings will your compelling vision require?
What else must you consider to prepare for retirement?

Notice the order of the five questions. The what, where and when questions are the first step in retirement planning because they largely determine the answer to how much. What, where and when set the context for how much. In fact, my experience with retirement planning is it’s usually an iterative process. You begin with what, where, and when then figure out how much. Often, the amount of retirement savings required is unrealistic so you go back to the beginning and get creative with your what, where and when until it jibes with how much is realistically possible.

The truth is a little creativity with what, where, and when can make dramatic differences in how much. Retirement is not about the money – it’s about your happiness and fulfillment. If your broker or financial advisor makes it all about the money and not about your vision maybe that is because that’s how they get paid – to manage your money. They don’t get paid to help you create a compelling vision even though that is the most important part of a fulfilling retirement.

In my new article “5 Essential Pre-Retirement Planning Questions“ I explain the what, where, when and how much of pre-retirement planning, and I show you how to bring a little creativity to your retirement planning so that the focus is on your happiness and not just your money.