Julie Kern, CPA, CFP®, CDFA®
Book a no-obligation chat with Julie right now.
What are the psychological issues of retirement finance?
If you’ve spent your life—and you know you have—working hard and saving diligently, the idea of retiring can seem, well, alien:
All your life, you’ve been working. And saving.
Then comes retirement. And everything feels backward:
- You’re not working.
- You’re not saving.
- And yet you’re spending.
- You’re not adding to your savings. You’re drawing down on your savings.
For affluent savers like you, this isn’t a financial issue. It’s a mindset issue.
Let me weigh in, in my capacity as a CPA and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional who specializes in empowering people’s dreams in their next-chapter financial lives.
Back to the future
Remember, decades ago, when you were just about to graduate high school? What was the “disease” that you’d had as an eighteen-year-old?
Senioritis. Remember that?
Well, many people who have set a certain age, in their minds, for retirement, get a case of “senioritis” as it approaches. Put it this way: If someone’s had their sights set on retiring at age 65, it’s very hard to talk to them about, oh, the possibility of perhaps working until 67 instead.
But that’s only a small part of the equation. (Indeed, I’ve penned an entire article about “What to do before you quit your job and retire,” which you can read right here.)
The bigger part of this points up another analogy for me:
It’s the idea of “going out at the top of your game.” Like a great NFL quarterback who retires right after winning the Super Bowl.
That’s what you want to do, too—only with your career, and your life. You want to transition to retirement at the top of your game, in terms of your place in this world.
For many people facing retirement, the prospect of not working anymore feels like going off a cliff. The big worries:
- They could be bored to death.
- They could feel they have no purpose.
- They can worry that they won’t maximize the power of their investments—or minimize their tax burden.
Let me help you with the third one; that’s my profession. And while I’m no licensed counselor, I can certainly weigh in on the first two. I’ve worked with enough retirees to know that this is a big deal. After spending all those years at a career where you’re needed and valued, you now must find new ways to get that feeling of meaning, and value, and confidence.
It could be something as simple as volunteering at a food bank. There are retirees who become Walmart greeters: they don’t need the money. They simply enjoy interaction with people each day.
So just as you should leave your job at the top of your game—at the apex of your career and earning power—you want to continue to make a mark on this world. Be proud of your accomplishments. And do right by your family.
I think that any wealth management professional who looks only at the numbers, and not at the big-picture issues like these, is doing you a disservice.
There are lots of wealth advisors out there. You want to work with someone you bond with. You want a good fit. You want your years of hard work valued, and congruent with the financial and life plans you make going forward.
If this resonates with you, then give me a call. I’d be happy to learn more about your situation and your goals.