The best habits often have applications in many different aspects of life.
We certainly feel that's true about our Life-Centered Financial Planning Process!
The transition to retirement is going to bring many changes, including how you feel about the relationship between your life and your money. But you can lean on the same principles that helped you secure your retirement to help you make that transition and enjoy your retirement more.
Let's review three cornerstones of Life-Centered Financial Planning and think about how we can reapply these concepts to living your best life in retirement.
1. Start planning early
The longer you let compounding interest and ROI work their magic, the more powerful those effects can be on your assets.
And the further out you identify major life goals and transitions, the more options you have to adjust and incorporate them into your financial plan.
Similarly, you can get a jump on retirement by running through our Retirement Coaching Program with your advisor. These interactive tools will help you envision the retirement that you want and start working towards it. We can also help you identify potential challenges that might be unique to your specific retirement timeline, such as covering health care before you're eligible for Medicare or preparing to start a new business.
2. Be consistent
In order to hit your pre-retirement financial goals, you were diligent about making consistent contributions to your savings and retirement accounts. You didn't let the news of the day on Wall Street distract you from your long-term vision. You stuck to your monthly budget. And when you did decide to splurge a little, you used that money to invest in quality-of-life upgrades and memorable experiences that enhanced your wellness, helped you grow, and deepened your most important relationships.
Whether you're planning to spend every morning on the golf course or volunteering at your favorite charitable organization, retirement gives you the opportunity to make consistent investments in the people and activities that make your life fulfilling. Our Ideal Week in Retirement tool can help you build out a new weekly schedule that’s challenging, rewarding, and hopefully fun. From there, you can work with your advisor to plot some of the bigger investments you'd like to make, such as bucket-list travel destinations or a cross-country move to be closer to your grandkids.
3. Diversify
Spreading out your assets among different types of investments helped you to grow your wealth over time, even as the market went through its periodic ups and downs. Diversification also gave you options when life happened and we had to make adjustments to keep your plan on track. And once you are retired, we’ll work together on a spending strategy that will coordinate and maximize all of your diverse resources so that you’re able to maintain your preferred lifestyle.
Keep your options open in retirement as well. If it turns out you’re more of a weekend warrior than an everyday golfer, add some new activities into the mix. Follow your curiosity to new opportunities for learning, connection, and growth. Try a new exercise routine or raise the bar on your current fitness goals. Throw a dart at a map and visit somewhere you’ve never even thought about travelling. Eat your way through all the cookbooks you’ve never had a chance to open and gain new culinary skills
The more purposeful you are about investing your time, passion, and money in retirement, the greater your Return on Life will be. Make an appointment to work through the Retirement Coaching Program and the rest of our Life-Centered Planning tools, and let’s start making meaningful investments in the second half of your life.
