Why Retirement is a Dumb Goal

Retirement is a dumb goal.

This sounds crazy coming from a Certified Financial Planner that focuses on helping clients reach their financial goals.

I absolutely think “retirement” or “quit working” is a dumb goal for most people.
I much prefer your goal be financial independence which gives you options. Options to work less, options to use more of your precious time on things you love to do, etc.

I love what I do. I’ll never retire, but I continue to find a life/work balance that makes me happy.  Sound attractive?

Life is too short to not be happy, especially since so many hours of your life are spent working. If you don’t really like what you do for a living, find something else. What if you could change what you do, earn a lot less money, but make it just fine financially for the rest of your life? It may be possible and you just don’t know it!

Many people stay with their “less then ideal” job because they think that’s the only way they will ever be able to afford to retire. Most people want to retire from doing something they dread rather than having a vision or an exciting plan for what they want to retire to. Sure there are a handful of places you’ve dreamed about traveling to, but you could see those in less than a year or two, then what????

What if you could quit your current gig tomorrow as long as you made a portion of what you currently make for the next 10 years? Would you jump at that opportunity?
Life is short and then you die. What are you waiting for?

Can you afford to do this? That’s the million dollar question most people are speculating about.  Unless you work with a specialist that can help you project your life plan (income needs and resource analysis) when will you feel confident that you can walk away from your current income?

Tomorrow’s are not promised to you. Most people don’t realize this until they are close to death. I’m reminding you that our clocks are all ticking, we just aren’t told ahead of time when our time will run out.

We should wake up and look forward to how we will earn our living most days. Agreed?

Any idea what percentage of people retire and then go back to work because they are bored out of their minds? I bet they wish they had done something they enjoyed for all those prior years rather than counting down the days until they could quit. Do something you like and then it won’t feel like work at all.

How about we start by doing more of the things we enjoy and less of those we don’t. If those things cost money, so what, you may work a little longer so you can afford to do the things you enjoy more often.
My mother is a great role model for this as she is a high school substitute teacher and still works 3-5 days a week. It’s not about the money, but the fulfillment. She realized she liked doing this many years ago and the “work optional” mode fit perfectly with her travel plans.

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you had more than enough money to retire? If you didn’t need more income, what would you do?

By titling my blog, Life Planning Today, it should be obvious I feel strongly about life planning and how money integrates with your plans. Balance between living for today and planning for tomorrow’s is the track I like to talk about.
As more and more of my peers have an eye on financial independence I remind them they may be able to get out of their current “rat race” position and live financially happily ever after sooner then they ever imagined. 
In most cases, finding new work or a much lighter load at their current firm, with reduced pay is the key to success.

• It buys them time for their current savings to grow,
• Gets them closer to social security age
• Most importantly, it frees up their time to do more of what they like to do – and hopefully they shed the work duties they didn’t like.
• Often times the income at this point just needs to cover the bills without any more saving. If that’s the case the nest egg is able to grow as long as the income is coming in.
  Keep Working.

I just heard that within a decade most cancers will be curable!

Longevity should be part of most people’s plan. It could get pretty boring to not work for 30 years…
Golf sounds great, but if you play 3 days a week, that still leaves 200 days a year to fill.

I see marital stress when couples look at what they’ve saved after they get done helping their kids out with college and paying their mortgage and property tax bills for many years.
“Where’d all that money we earned go? Why didn’t we save more?

Let’s lower marital stress level by finding a job we enjoy and want to keep working at for many years. Even if you earn a fraction of what you were earning, you might be pleasantly surprised how your life plan works out financially.

Let’s review your situation and I’ll show you what I mean.

Let’s look at some “What if” scenarios:

• “What if” you quit your job tomorrow and earned only 50% of your current income for the next ten years – would this work?
• “What if” you stopped making money at age 62 rather then waiting until age 65 to retire? I did this for a client that didn’t like where she was working and showed how she could afford to get out three years sooner than she thought…. reward for me – HUGE thank you hug!
• What if you quit full-time job today, but worked at Starbucks 20 hours a week (health benefits), could you make it?
• What if you took a year off, traveled the globe than went back to work…
• Create your own “What if” and let’s take a look at it together

I want to bring more happiness into your life today and peace of mind regarding your financial future. You deserve it.

Shoot me an email [email protected] or call 630-942-9007 to discuss.