One day we all graduate from work, voluntarily or otherwise, and thus begins 14,000 days of “retirement”, something we have discussed here: https://www.townclosefp.co.uk/retirement-funds/
But what about the bit that comes before? There are two aspects to getting ready for your graduation – the mental and the financial.
The financial bit is relatively easy – a simple matter of maths. The mental bit needs more time and effort than you might imagine.
Working is often the easy bit – turn up each day, don’t break anything, go home, get paid, repeat. There are bosses, colleagues and clients queuing up to keep us occupied, we don’t really have to think about it, just keep our heads down and turn up and voila, money turns up at the end of the month. Your days are full of “purpose”.
Once that ends, what comes next is the complete opposite – we’re entirely responsible for setting our own schedule for the first time ever. That will be daunting and needs careful consideration.
Getting to grips with the questions below will give us a good chance of being mentally fit for the final third of life.
There are three golden rules:
- Start considering this 10 years out with a view to being “there” 3-5 years out.
- Don’t rush the answers – aim for reflective, not impulsive, responses.
- Keep your answers under review – the first answers are unlikely to be the final answers.
Some of these questions are similar, that’s deliberate. The aim is to look at things from different angles; changing the emphasis can result in new, and maybe surprising, answers:
- What do you enjoy doing now?
- How much time do you spend on them now?*
- What do you want to do more of?
- What would you like to start doing?
- What do you value most in life?
- How does what you do now match up with that?
- What changes should you start making?
- What do you want to do but are holding back?
- What do you want your legacy to be?
- What’s your purpose going to be?
- What will you do with your time?
- How will you co-ordinate with your partner?
* If you’re not spending time on something now, it’s less likely you will post-work.
The questions above supplement the “in retirement” questions you can find here: “14,000 days”.
The good news is you don’t have to face this alone. We are used to, and encourage, conversations with our clients exploring the points above.
To enjoy the last third of life we need to arrive financially fit but, more importantly, mentally fit too.