retirement planning

3 reasons most retirees aren’t in a better financial position when they retire

Every year we talk to many people who are on the cusp of retirement. In almost all cases they could have ended up in a better financial position come retirement.

You might be asking why this matters?

Many approaching retirement are missing simple steps that could improve if not upgrade their retirement lifestyle.

We work 30 or 40 years to be able to enjoy the fruits of our hard work over that time.

To be able to use our time to do all the things we couldn’t while we were working.

Whether you plan to work in retirement or not, these are the three reasons most don’t end up in a better financial position at retirement.

Implementation…

retirement planning

If all it took to achieve a comfortable retirement was information, every person who did their own research would have full confidence in achieving a comfortable retirement.

Sadly, the research suggests very few are confident of achieving a comfortable retirement.

Over the last 12 months, over a thousand people have downloaded a copy of ENOUGH. A PDF book we gladly give away for free…

This book has absolute gold in it. It’s a simple framework to achieve a comfortable retirement with less stress and less confusion.

No fluff…no shiny objects…no outlandish claims and no product flogging…

How do we know?

We’ve been helping clients achieve a comfortable retirement for over 20 years by keeping it simple. It’s the framework we use to help every client.

It cuts out all the noise and confusion…

If you were able to follow it to a tea and implement the concepts in the book. There would be no more need to spend hours reading articles, researching or worrying about what was happening with share markets.

You’d have more time to focus on enjoying life…

The same could be true for every person who attended a Tony Robbins seminar. They should all be millionaires after attending.

I was reading an article the other day, stating that less than 5% of people who attend such events wind up finding the level of success promised in most of these self-help materials and events.

Look no further than Matt. He signed up for the book ENOUGH 12 months ago and read every email we’ve sent him.

Given the information he’s read, Matt should be in a solid position to retire in good financial shape.

However, the other day, he reached out and we had a brief chat…

As we talked through his situation, we could see things he should have been dong in the last 12 months.

While there’s things Matt can still implement, it’s the compounding effect of not taking action earlier.

Remember the last time you were in an airport?

Take one look at the bookstores in airports (nearly forgotten what one looks like). The biggest section is self-help…

Sure 95% of people who read these books will FEEL like they’ve made progress…

Maybe even made some major chances in their lives.

But if you follow up with them in two or three years down the road, chances are very little progress would have been made towards their goals or desires.

We’ve seen this with the book we give away for free.

It’s literally laid out everything you need to do on a silver platter…

Yet few take action.

It’s a phenomenon that’s repeated on a daily basis.

Just ask yourself why only a small percentage of people succeed with fitness and diet plans.

Why do only a few people succeed at elite level in sport?

Even fewer achieve ALL their goals.

You know the ones, the ones you lay awake at night dreaming about…

Why?

It’s easy to read and research till your heart’s content and feel like you’re more knowledgeable and making progress.

But learning isn’t implementation…

AND implementation is everything when it comes to achieving a comfortable retirement.

If you’ve spent time researching retirement on the internet, read books on retirement and consume retirement planning content like this blog. I’m willing to bet you are in the SAME place you were when you started consuming retirement planning information.

Here what the successful retirees do:

They invest in coaches or professional financial planners where the focus is on IMPLEMENTATION.

If you want to achieve a comfortable retirement your focus needs to shift from content consumption to the execution of what you already know.

“But Glenn, what if I don’t know what to implement?”

That’s why you need a guide, a financial planner, not a teacher.

I’m not bold enough to suggest that I can help before I’ve heard your challenges – and I urge you to be weary of any financial planner who sells their services without understanding your goals and what you want out of retirement.

But…

If you want some help identifying what you should be implementing so you can retire to the retirement lifestyle you DESERVE. Book a Retirement Clarity call with Glenn here.

Taking advice from false prophets

retirement planning

As humans, we’re attracted to the easy gain…

Which means we’re attracted to people promising the world.

Sometimes we don’t like doing the hard work…

That was Jack. He had been convinced by a prophet a number of years ago. The bottom was going to fall out of investment markets, they told him.

Cash out and wait for the market to bottom…

Here’s a secret…no one has a crystal ball to tell them what investment markets are going to do.

It was an investment newsletter.

In this case, Jack took action and sold out of all his investments and put it all in cash.

He waited…waited…one year passed…waited…another year passed and waited some more.

Until we met, and he’d been waiting for 2 long years.

He’d been sucked into what we call confirmation bias.

In other words, he’d been searching for information to support his own thoughts.

One of the many risks we see pre-retirees fall prey to.

Kudos to Jack, he actually implemented it but it cost him some $200k over those two long years. $200k that would have made the difference come retirement.

It’s something we see time and time again. Pre-retirees looking for an easy gain. Taking advice from false prophets promising the world…

Claiming if you follow them they will lead you down the right path.

We have to accept uncertainty exists and stop trying to figure it all out.

Instead of trying to predict the future or following these false prophets. It’s critical to create a roadmap you can follow to actively navigate stormy waters which will see you through any uncertain events.

Not seeking advice from a specialist retirement financial planner

Planning one’s retirement is a complicated exercise…

You’ve got to know your numbers.

Know how to invest safely.

Take the right amount of investment risk.

Know the right strategies to implement to improve your financial position.

Know the exact decisions you need to make along your retirement journey.

And ultimately, knowing how to manage your money in a way that gets you the most out of life.

The past is the past…

Sadly, there have been a lot that have had a bad experience from working with a financial planner. We’ve come across way too many.

All this has been led by financial planners focused on products.

Since the Royal Commission, the legislative framework for which financial work under has changed significantly.

Education requirements have increased significantly.

As a result, financial planner numbers have dropped from 30,000 to approximately 16,000 in the profession.

There is now a concern, there won’t be enough financial planners to meet the demand for financial advice.

Professional advice adds value in many ways…

If you go it alone, it’s kinda like flying your own plane. Without understanding how each switch works and how to fly, you’re lucky to get off the ground and if you do, it’s not going to end well.

You can’t afford to get it wrong as you approach retirement.

There is no second chance…

Professional advice can add value to your life in many ways:

#1 Financial – helping you make sense of the money you have and helping you identify the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls.

#2 Non-financial – helping you to maximise your lifestyle. To do all the things you want without having to worry about running out of money.

I only have to look at the last couple of new clients we’ve worked with. Financially we identified opportunities that were worth multiple six figures.

In two cases, after crunching all the numbers, two couples were in a position to retire earlier than they thought.

Meaning, they’d be able to enjoy their retirement lifestyle while they are fit and able. Rather than risk working longer and not being fit to do everything they wanted in retirement.

Choose a specialist in Retirement Planning… 

For many, choosing a financial planner is hard.

When planning your retirement, you need a specialist in retirement planning.

Consider the skillset and expertise to handle the problems and opportunities for your specific situation.

For instance, we only work with clients that are within 10 years of retirement.

Is the financial planner product focused or process focused? If their main focus is on product, this is a RED flag.

Another RED flag is that the financial planner is trying to predict what investment markets will do. No one can predict the future of investment markets. It’s critical you work with someone who will focus on the things within your control.

Is the financial planner an active thinker to help make decisions or do they simply follow a checklist?

The majority of the decisions you need to make are not crystal clear. It’s important to have a process to think through decisions in an organised manner. Do they help you with this? Do they walk you through the pros and cons of each decision?

One of our long term clients had a major decision to make about whether to knock down the house he was living in and rebuild or sell and purchase a new property.

We spend a number of meetings looking at all his options, does he knock down and rebuild? If he were to purchase another property how much would he need and would it suit his requirements.

What was going to be the impact on his retirement funding?

You need a financial planner that has a process to help you through these decisions.

Make the next smart step and contact us for your complimentary Retirement Clarity Call below to start managing your retirement plan the right way, today.


Glenn Doherty – CFP – Financial Planner | Helping people within 10 years of retirement achieve a successful retirement

We work with people in Adelaide and around Australia via virtual meetings!

Request a Retirement Clarity Call

An opportunity to talk through some of your challenges and questions you have around your retirement.

Achieve some clarity and maybe a roadmap on how you can achieve a comfortable retirement.

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Advice Disclaimer: Any reference in this publication to the provision of advice refers to advice of a generic nature, and should not be taken as product or investment recommendations. Before any action is taken based on the information provided, independent financial advice from a licensed financial adviser should be sought. Financial Freedom Project Pty Ltd ATF GA & DC Doherty Family Trust Trading as Jigsaw Private Wealth is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Exelsuper Advice Pty Ltd. The information contained in this publication is of a factual nature only and is not intended to constitute financial product advice. Information is current as at date of publication. This is an online information blog. It does not imply an offering of securities.

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