by Mike Bonacorsi
Mike Bonacorsi is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a professional speaker, author, and radio show host working with the baby boomer generation to help them become “retirement ready.” His book Retirement Readiness has received awards from Reader’s Reviews, the New England Book Festival, and Axiom Business Books. A 20-year veteran of the financial services industry, he serves on the board of the Financial Planning Association of Northern New England as pro-bono director and will serve as president in 2012. He is a member of the Life Planning Association (Boston) and the National Speakers Association and will serve as treasurer for the New England chapter beginning in May 2012.
The party last night was great! People you worked with 10, 15, even 20 years ago were there to wish you well. Even the head man from the regional office showed up. The stories about your career, the good and the bad times, went on all night. The new watch looked great on your wrist and the framed picture of the old crew will have a permanent place on the mantel. Yep, after 30 years at the company it was time to retire, but … retire to what?
Three months later, you’re having an early cup of coffee wondering what the day will bring. The big trip you and your spouse had been anticipating has come and gone, the few projects around the house are near completion. You’re fighting the urge to turn on the TV, with its ability to glue you to your chair for hours at a time. The daily chores have become just that — chores — and you’re bored already. Is this really what you thought retirement would be?
Most people think of retirement planning as a financial process, but it should go beyond that. With life expectancies extending 20, even 30-plus years past traditional retirement, defining and planning how you want to spend your time in your later years is just as important as how you spend your money.
So, how will you spend your time? Do you have a plan for your time or will you awaken each morning and wing it from there? Think about it — this is what you have been looking forward to, the opportunity to plan your time and truly make it yours! Throughout your working years, your career owned your time 9 to 5, five days a week; what precious few hours remained had to be divided up amongst time with your family, running the household, friends, and activities. There just wasn’t enough time to do all you wanted to do.
Now you have an open calendar, the opportunity to do what you want, and a chance to catch up on all you’ve wanted to do, but where do you start? To improve your chances for a successful retirement, I suggest you build your “lifestyle plan” the same way you would your financial plan.
Put your plan in writing — the commitment you make to a written plan is much stronger than you would make to a thought.
Be prepared to change, tweak, and adjust your plan as time goes on. Life is not a straight line, and a plan is never written in stone.
Share and discuss your plans with the person you will spend your retirement with, and listen to whatever plans he or she shares with you.
Begin with a list that contains all you want to accomplish. The list should be more than “clean the cellar” or “go on vacation.” It should include the specifics of your goals, what you want to accomplish, when you want to accomplish it, and why you want to accomplish it. The more real it becomes, the more you’ll want to complete it. Consider the resources needed to accomplish each goal and how you will deal with any obstacles that might hinder your success.
Once the goals have been established and laid out, the next step is to plan your daily activities. You have 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year — how are you going to use them? When you think about it, do we give time the respect it deserves? (It has more value than you might realize.) Once it passes, it cannot be recovered; a gold bracelet that is lost or gets sold can be replaced, but once time is gone, it’s gone forever. We need to use every hour as best we can.
As you think about your day-to-day activities, consider what you want to do each week or month. Some of your activities will drive you to accomplish your goals. If you want to write the great novel, you might schedule an hour each day to work on it. If one of your goals is to lose weight and lower your blood pressure, you could set aside time each week for exercise. If you aren’t 100 percent ready to walk away from the challenges of work or if you aren’t as financially comfortable as you want to be, then scheduling a portion of your week to work has to be built into your plan.
As I work with clients, I suggest creating an ideal month. A month seems to be a good time frame to cover activities that occur less frequently than on a daily or weekly basis. Again, start with a list of what you want to do and how often you want to do it. If you are a writer who has set aside an hour each day to write, then you might want to include time to exercise on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Time with your friends and family, time for chores, and time for yourself (quiet time with no one around) should all be part of your plan.
Planning your time is not new to you, but in the past you may not have had the luxury of creating your schedule around your wants or needs; now you can.
Once you have a plan in writing (rule 1) and you are prepared to make adjustments when necessary (rule 2), the next step is rule 3: to share and discuss your plans with the person you will spend your retirement with and to listen to whatever plans he or she shares with you.
Most of us have someone we plan on spending the next stage of life with — a spouse, partner, or companion. It’s important for you to realize that that person also has goals and dreams to work toward, and you need to put time in your plan to help him or her succeed at achieving theirs.
So, it’s the morning after your retirement party. Have you planned for your time as well as you’ve planned your finances? Remember, the success of your retirement depends on more than how much your 401(k) is worth!
Mike Bonacorsi LLC is a registered investment adviser. Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC.