Defining Success in Retirement

We think about it. We daydream about it. And some do a better job than others in planning for it. What am I describing? Well, it’s your retirement of course. Things people think about when they plan for retirement are: What age should I retire at? How much money do I need to have? And where will my income come from in retirement? These are all good questions. And your financial well-being is a key component of your retirement strategy. And I am going to discuss your investments and how much that plays into your retirement journey as well today. But there are other key areas that lead to successful and fulfilling retirement. Some of these include not just your financial health but your physical health, your mental health, your emotional health, your sense of purpose in retirement as well as learning to continue to challenge your brain. Stretch that mental muscle in your retirement years as well. You might be asking yourself, why would a financial advisory firm talk about anything other than money? Well we want you to have a successful and fulfilling retirement. And there is a lot more to it than just your finances. AARP published an article in 2022 that said that over half or 57% of retired adults never thought about planning for their emotional health in retirement. They said nearly one half or 46% of retirees haven’t considered planning for personal fulfillment in retirement. So obviously again, like I mentioned earlier, finances are a big part of your retirement journey. A couple common questions we get from clients with regards to their investments is: How much is enough? And a really big one is: Will I have enough enough in retirement? Questions we like to ask our clients though in our meetings are: What do you want the money to do in retirement? What are some priorities that you want to achieve in retirement? And specifically, what are your financial needs versus your financial wants? Obviously when you hit your retirement age, you’re going to be looking at what are my expenses going to be in retirement and what are my income sources in retirement? With regards to your income, this could be a pension plan through your employer, it could be rental properties, it could be income from your investments or bank accounts or other sources of income you might have. With regards to your expenses, I mentioned a second ago the wants versus the needs. So with the needs, these are your food, water, shelter, some clothing, those are your basic needs. So are going to need the money to cover those expenses just to survive in retirement. Now, your wants, they might be something more along the lines of basic things still, like streaming services for your television or even cable TV, magazine subscriptions, things like that. Or they could be more luxurious ones. You could want to have a second home. Maybe you would want to spend the winters in Florida, buy a really nice luxurious boat. These are all wants, not necessarily things you would need to survive in your retirement. In addition though to the financial piece, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of other things that factor in to you having a successful and a fulfilling retirement. One is your physical health. Research shows that even those who become physically active and adopt a healthy diet late in life, dramatically lower the risk of cardiovascular illness and have a lower death rate. So obviously, the physical exercise, whether you’re doing it now, it’s not too late to start. And your physical health is very important in retirement. Because what’s the point of having the money in retirement to do things if you don’t physically feel up to doing them. In addition to that, I mentioned earlier you know your mental and your emotional well-being are very important to having a satisfying and enjoyable retirement. The National Poll in Health Aging has ran polls from 2018 through 2023 that have consistently shown that feeling isolated from others, feeling a lack of companionship and having infrequent social contact were strongly associated with poor physical and mental health among older adults. An then the last two areas I want to touch on briefly with having a satisfying and fulfilling retirement is your sense of purpose and the importance to never stop learning. So the sense of purpose, you might find that from your hobbies, whether you like to garden or go golfing, for a lot of people though it’s more than that. They want to feel involved in their community or through their local church or with their grand kids. And that gives them more fulfillment and sense of purpose in their retirement years. Here at Centennial Wealth, we believe you can have a retirement experience that is fulfilling and one in which you can thrive. We would like the opportunity to help you plan to retire well.