The number one thing to set you up for living your best life in retirement

Are you thinking about your retirement all wrong?

Many heading towards retirement focus on things such as their investments, super, maximising investment returns and beating some index. Without consideration for the most important aspects of planning to live your best life in retirement.

But does this really lead to enjoyment in retirement?

For some maybe, for others definitely not…

Do you know what drives you in life?

What are the motivating factors that impact your decisions at key turning points in your life?

They are your values and they matter…

It’s our belief that no financial, investment or product decision should be made until you are clear on your values and what’s important to you.

Roy Disney once said, “When your values are clear you decisions are easy”.

You need a solid foundation from which to base your financial decisions. To align your financial decisions with what’s most important to you. To guide you in living your best life both now and through your retirement years.

Values are as individual as the clothes we wear. They guide our behaviour and allow us to feel fulfilment in life.

The modern lifestyle is busy for the soon to be retiree. Looking after ageing parents, perhaps children still at home, working and just living life. It means we are not always consciously aware of what our values are.

In fact, many rarely have the time to stop, think and consider what our values are. Nor do many have the right frameworks to work through such an exercise.

Not knowing what we truly value in life can lead us to make bad decisions, inconsistent with what we want to achieve in life. It can cause us to escape into bad habits or look for quick wins to uplift ourselves.

It’s easy to dismiss values too. We focus so much on what our society, culture or communities values instead and try to meet these expectations. Take one look at what’s on Facebook everyday.  We see glimpses of people having the best time…

We simply don’t spend the time to articulate what our top values are. And, it takes a lot of effort to know and accept what you value.

This will often lead to decisions being made that don’t lead us to live our best life. We hit key turning points in our lives and do what society or others expect us to do. Not what we want to do for ourselves or those we love.

For example, many of us from a young age are encouraged to save for retirement. We spend the majority of our lives working hard so that we can do all the things we want when we retire.

In fact, this is drilled into us so much that there’s research which shows we are saving more than we need for retirement, with many people leaving their retirement savings untouched or spending down only a little.

There’s a school of thought that suggests saving makes us feel happy and fulfilled. However, this is just a mask for what behavioural economics calls loss aversion. The observation that humans beings experience losses asymmetrically more severely than equivalent gains.

This overwhelming fear of loss leads us to make bad decisions, behave irrationally and, ultimately, give lawyers the job of bequeathing our assets to those we love.

Understanding our values can help us make better decisions. In the above example, it can help us reduce our fear of loss and turn it into a positive gain, by giving our money meaning and spending it on something that is truly important to us.

Our values help us define what success looks like for ourselves. And when we begin to live a life that meets our success criteria, we feel more fulfilled and happy – even if it means spending the savings we’ve spent years to create.

Values Matter

So, values matter to all of us. They are guiding principles or guardrails that can keep us on track to living our best life. And, when we achieve our goals we feel a sense of meaning and purpose. We feel good about ourselves and driven to continue to live a life full of purpose.

But defining what you value is hard. There are so many words to choose from. You’re often too busy to stop and wonder what really matters. This is where we come in…

Using a framework based on our eight dimensions of wellbeing, we can help you to uncover what you value in life. We work with you to determine a set of households values then set goals and tasks to help you live a life more aligned with your values. We also keep you accountable, helping you to make decisions that take you closer to achieving your goals.

And we measure how you’re going and help you see the successes and failures, so that we can continue to make the best choices for both now and in the future.

Top five values of people we work with…

If you’ve been reading these blogs for a while you’ll know we only work with people up to seven years away from retirement. We are a small financial planning business with over two decades of experience guiding people through this stressful transition.

Between spouses we find values can differ slightly, and that’s okay. Through our framework we are able to work with couples collaboratively to define the top 5 values for their household.

Here are the top values and some examples from real people:

#1 Become more active and healthy

Who would have thought? Money was not the top value people had.

Quite often we see people where their career or work has taken up a large chunk of their time. This means minimal time for focusing on their health and being active.

Whether it’s eating better, getting fit or just getting out and doing things. This was high on the list of what was important to them.

#2 Feel confident in my finances

Obviously retirement planning requires money to fund all the fun things you have planned. It would be a little unusual if this was not at the top of the list.

The fear of running out is a major concern for many heading into this new phase of life. Many want reassurance they are making all the right decisions to ensure their money lasts through potentially a 30 year or more retirement or at least last as long as possible.

They want to understand the numbers, what they mean for them in retirement. They want to know all the options so they can make informed decisions about their money.

This is something we collaboratively work with clients on. Helping to put all their options on the table. Exploring the pros and cons and working with clients to craft their feasible plan. One that gives them the clarity and confidence to bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to go.

#3 Master new skills or knowledge

There’s 168 hrs in the week, potentially 1,560 weeks, 10,920 days and 262,080 hrs in a 30 year retirement.

It’s the equivalent of most people’s working life…

Which means you’ve got to fill your days with something.

For some it’s taking on new hobbies and interests. Gaining knowledge in areas of interest. Learning new skills.

It’s a time for people to really explore things they never had time for while working. These are the things which will fill your days once you’ve exhausted the travel itch.

#4 Nurture my relationships

Having more time gives you the opportunity to spend more time with the ones you love the most. Family, kids and friends.

Working full time at times limits the time we can spend with people we care about. Retirement provides us all with the opportunity to put effort into spending time with those that are closest to us.

Often we see clients with friends and family spread wide and far. Time allows you to travel and see your friends and family often. Allowing you precious time to nurture those relationships.

#5 Support & protect those I love

More often than not, this involves being there for children emotionally and financially. Helping with the cost of weddings, getting into the housing market or knowing they can help if needed.

A significant pastime of many retirees is spending time with the younger generations, the grandchildren. Being there for them and helping their kids out.

As our clients approach and step into retirement, we are able to monitor their progress towards living out these values while making course corrections as life unfolds.

Your retirement GPS

Like a GPS is for your car, understanding what you value will assist in guiding every financial decision you make.

Many people have never had the time nor the framework to sit down with their partner and discuss what’s important to each other.

Our framework allows both partners to be actively involved in forming the household values in a safe environment.

We find it’s a positive experience for all who go down this path. We are yet to come across anyone who has not enjoyed and benefited from this framework.

While many may think financial planning is all about investing and investments, and, those aspects are important. That’s old school thinking.

Planning your retirement is so much more than that. It’s your life and the decisions you make today will either take you closer towards living your best life or drifting away from what you want most.

Many are simply lacking the frameworks and a methodical way to think through their retirement options with open eyes and the right information.

We work with clients to fully understand what they want to achieve in retirement. Laying out all the options and collaboratively working with them to craft a feasible retirement plan. At all times leaving them in control of the decisions.

If you’re someone who wants more clarity and confidence around your retirement. You want someone to help you lay out all your options so you can make sound financial decisions. So ultimately you can enjoy all the activities, experiences and memories you can squeeze out of retirement.

Book your Retirement Clarity Call by clicking here. We’ll hop on a call for a quick chat around the current retirement challenges you’re trying to resolve.

If there’s a good fit, we’ll book in a zoom call where we’ll complete a retirement audit to help you better understand your retirement gaps and brainstorm ways to close those gaps and retire with more confidence.

P.S. We are solely here to act as a guide to help you live your best life in retirement so you don’t have to worry about running out of money.

Glenn Doherty – CFP – Financial Planner | Retirement Planning Specialist |Retirement Planning Made Simple for aspiring happy lappers and avid travellers within 7 years of retirement

We work with people in Adelaide and around Australia virtually via zoom!

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