By Roshan Loungani, CFP®, CRPC®
Retirement has changed drastically in the last generation. Before, you retired and lived a very short life. Now, it is not uncommon for many people to be retired for more years than they worked. This extra time provides a great opportunity to determine what track you want the rest of your life to follow. Up to now, you have spent your life providing for others and building your nest egg, now you can live life for yourself.
Planning is a key component to making this happen. If you don’t plan how you want to spend your time, you may end up with tasks you don’t want to do, people you don’t want to spend time with or watching too much television.
First, determine what you want to do by asking yourself some of the following questions:
1. What makes you happy?
2. What do you want more of in your life?
3. What do you want to spend your time doing?
4. Who do you want to spend your time with?
I have gone through this process with a number of my clients. In some cases we found that they were already doing what they wanted. In most cases, we found things they wanted to add or remove to their life
· For example, the following are true instances where my advice and encouragement.
· Helped a self-proclaimed workaholic begin taking multiple vacations a year;
· Gave an unbelieving client the push they needed to move where they’d always wanted to live and never thought they could or would;
· Set up swimming lessons for another who had always wanted to learn how to swim but hadn’t made the time
What you learn about yourself does not have to be as dramatic as any of the examples above. The crucial thing is acknowledging that when you retire, a change is coming.
Reinventing yourself is a process and it may take multiple attempts for you to discover what you truly want out of your retirement. The exciting part is that you can do whatever you want. This is your retirement and there are no wrong answers. Seize the day or sleep through the day. Whatever you decide, enjoy the journey and take advantage of the opportunity to reinvent yourself. engagement.