Retirement: Sprint or Marathon?

Today we’re going to discuss the retirement journey and whether or not it should be viewed more as a sprint or a marathon. And this is going to ring true for those who are preparing for retirement, but also for those who are already in retirement. You know so much time is spent day dreaming about that retirement journey and that first day when you actually wake up and don’t have to go to work. It’s a great thing to think about and prepare for and prepare well for. However, you know that journey is one that we need to put time into preparing and planning for. Phillip C. McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil once said life is a marathon, not a sprint. So what does that actually mean and how does that relate to your retirement journey? You know obviously a sprint is a short race, a short distance. One of the most common distances or most popular distances really with sprinting is the 100 meter dash. So not a very far race. Most people could probably walk or job 100 meters. Whereas a marathon, it’s 26.2 miles or if you really want it broken down into meters for you, it’s 42,195 meters. So a lot more than a 100 meter dash. So when you’re thinking about the retirement journey and trying to relate that or compare that to the analogy of a marathon, just like with a marathon, it can take months and for some people even years to train and prepare their body for a marathon. I’ve actually personally ran a lot of marathons, including I’ve ran the Boston marathon a couple of times. And for Boston, you have to qualify based on a time. So they look at your age and they tell you what time you have to be under to even qualify for the Boston marathon. So that takes a lot of planning and training that goes into that to prepare your body to physically do that. It’s not just your running regiment and training plan in that regard, but your diet and sleep schedule. So it’s very involved. And to get the most out of your retirement years, you need to view that journey, that planning more like a marathon than a sprint. And like I said, just like you’re training for a race or a big marathon, it takes dedication and planning, so will your planning and preparation for retirement. You know a lot of families spend a lot of time planning for their vacation every summer. You know, let’s say they’re taking a two week vacation, they might spend 20 hours that year planning for that vacation, determining where they want to go. Where are they going to stay? Whether it’s a hotel, Airbnb, how are they going to get there? Are they driving or are they flying? Planning their meals for their vacation. Planning what activities they’re going to do once they’re there. So it’s a lot of time, energy and effort that goes into that, say two week vacation for their annual family getaway. And if you look at your retirement, let’s say you’re retired for 30 years, that’s really more or less 1,560 week long vacation. The reality is many people spend more time planning their annual family vacation than they do preparing for their retirement. But however, most people would agree that preparing for their retirement is important to them. So why don’t more people spend more time planning well for their retirement? For some it’s overwhelming and they don’t even know where to start. Just like for example of someone who hadn’t really ran much or had never ran over a couple of miles, then decided they wanted to run a marathon. Where would they start? How would they even begin that journey? And that’s why it can beneficial to sit down with someone like myself or another Financial Advisor here at Centennial Wealth Advisory to be able to help you plan to retire well. We have helped thousands of clients navigate the journey toward and in retirement. We’ve seen common mistakes. Things that were overlooked that we’re able to help them with. It’s similar to a coach who is working with an athlete, right? If a coach has worked with thousands of athletes, they’ve seen the journey play out in their lives, in their training. They’ve seen mistakes that have been made. And it’s not different with us working with our clients. We’re able to help you plan to retire well because of all of the people who have come before you that we’ve seen and helped as well. Reviewing your investment accounts is a big piece of this puzzle, but we also need to look at other areas: your health care needs, your estate planning needs, taxes. So with health care, when was the last time you had that reviewed? Are you sure you have the appropriate coverage for yourself? With estate planning, what happens when something happens to you? Where is your family going to be? How is that going to work for them? Have you reviewed that recently? Taxes, we want to make sure you’re not paying too much in taxes as well. We would like to sit down with you and help you review these items and help you plan to retire well.