3 power moves to make when retirement is around the corner

For those of you who can see retirement on the horizon, checking your portfolio and confirming a budget are key.

Money, however, is simply the tool for your next chapter and not the end game. It’s the vehicle by which you will support your life. What kind of life do you want to be leading?

Recently, my friend Susan talked to Marco, her significant other, about how excited she was to think about retirement. She said they would soon be free to do what they had not had time to do – things like travel, being with friends and spending time at their lake house. The more Susan talked, the quieter Marco became.

“Honey, is something wrong?” she asked him.

“Well,” said Marco, “I really hadn’t thought about making travel and our vacation home a priority. In fact, I was going to talk with you about selling the lake house. I’m not really up for all the upkeep we have to do every year on it.”

Susan was stunned. “What in the world did you think we were going to do in retirement, Marco?” she asked.

“Frankly, Susan, I’m happy to stay at home and play golf. I don’t want to go anywhere or see anyone. I’m content just to relax.”

You can imagine there were some critical conversations over the next few weeks, as Susan and Marco sought to come to an agreement on what their next life chapter would look like. At one point, Susan gave in on the lake house, even though she loved it dearly. However, Marco knew that every bone in her body screamed, “I resent this!” It was not going to be enjoyable.

Retirement should be a time of celebration. Yet many are not intentional in their planning to make the most of this chapter. In my work with CEOs, they often loathe contemplating retirement until they have cast a vision for that time and have ensured that all affected by this move are on board.

Here are three steps I use with clients that I hope you find of value:

Create a crystal-clear vision.

What do you envision your life will be like in retirement? What does a perfect day look like? What are the themes for your golden years? And what are the values by which you will shape this and live that life?

Susan and Marco had some deep conversations around this, as you can imagine.

At first, they couldn’t agree on what a perfect day would look like, so they chose themes upon which they could find consensus. These themes were meaningful connections, learning and health. Once they established these and defined what these meant to them, they did some brainstorming around the ways that they could achieve these together.

Meaningful connections, for example, meant quality time spent with people they cared about. They decided that family and close friends were who they wanted to share this with most. They also chose some core values by which they would make more intentional decisions together to support a great next chapter in life.

Create shared agreements.

Even if you are single in your retirement, you may have family and friends who will be affected. Who will be impacted by your decisions about your retirement? Your retirement life? Are there critical conversations that need to take place? Negotiations?

Again, Susan and Marco found a need to negotiate how often they would connect with others.

Marco was clearly a homebody who needed less connection, and Susan, a hungry extrovert, sought more. They identified ways in which they could create certain connective experiences with others.

Susan decided that in addition to this, she would select one or two activities that provided her with more. She also settled on a book club that also satisfied their theme of learning and golf at the local club with other women.

Lay the groundwork now.

Where can you begin to lay the foundation now?

This was harder for Susan than it was for Marco. Susan was a high achiever, and her connections were primarily met through work. She realized that unless she began to reach out and form other friendships, the first day of retirement would leave her feeling empty and lost.

She visited the country club and joined the ladies’ golf morning as a way to begin forming friendships, even though she still had nine months of work before retirement. This also appealed to the shared theme of health.

Marco had pledged to start exercising and knew that unless he took some first steps immediately to form a healthy exercise habit, this would feel more like a chore than something to enjoy on the first day of retirement. He found a rowing machine with some exercise programs on it and really took to it. Together, they supplemented these activities with walks in the evening to enjoy quality time together.

Even if you are not on the cusp of retirement, these steps are good ones to take as you think about finishing well in 2022 and look forward to kicking off a great 2023. Being intentional about how you live your life allows you to be in charge. It’s up to you!

Patti Cotton serves as a thought partner to CEOs and their teams to help manage complexity and change.  Reach her at [email protected].