The Four Pillars to a Successful and Happy Retirement

When helping clients and their families make the transition to retirement or work optional years, I have discovered that there are four key pillars to a happy and successful retirement:   

• Health
• Relationships
• Reliable and Consistent Income
• Retirement Road Map 

Key Takeaways: The Four Pillars to a Successful and Happy Retirement

Health

Physical and mental health are key to a long and happy life.  Almost everyone I know who is retired takes their health very seriously, and has a plan for the following two areas:   

• Physical Health: During 20 to 30 years plus retirement, to be able to do the things you wish to do, you must stay fit. This not only involves a plan to stay active but also a diet plan. 
• Mental Health: Maintaining mental health is crucial during retirement to maintain and keep your independence as you age.  

The Active Years:

The first 10 to 15 years of retirement are what I call the “active years” and you will want to do the things that require physical health. Activities such as travel, hiking, skiing, or really anything that requires you to move around.

Relationships

The key to a long and happy retirement is your relationship as follows:

• People: Once you stop working, you must have a plan with whom you are going to spend your time. The most successful retirees I know have done this well. They have a network of friends, family, and community organizations, and spend time making new friends to do the activities they enjoy.

• Places: Coming up to retirement and during retirement, you must determine where you are going to spend your time. This would include where you plan to live, your travel and vacation home plans, and an eldercare real estate strategy as you age.

• Pursuits: On average people spend 2,000 hours a year working, and once you stop you must replace that time with something.  Successful retirees have a plan to replace the time spent at work with activities such as community involvement, travel, family time, sports, physical activities, volunteering and hobbies.  

 

Reliable and Consistent Income

Since many retirees can expect to live 20 to 30 years or longer in retirement, creating a lifelong income and cash flow plan is not only critical but crucial.

This strategy must be developed from the financial assets they have accumulated over their lifetime to create a retirement cash flow process.

If you have a decumulation strategy in place, knowing that you will not outlive your income, it helps to remove some of your financial stress.  It allows you to live your life and navigate the inevitable ups and downs of your life and the investment markets easier.

Retirement Road Map 

A Retirement Road Map is important to help you make financial decisions as it will help to align your sources of capital with what is important to you. With a strategy in place, whatever happens in the markets, the world, the economy, or your life, you will have a basis to be able to make adjustments.

To align your sources of capital with what is important to you, and what your family wishes to accomplish, your Retirement Road Map should outline your strategy in the following five key areas.

• Retirement Income Planning – creating lifelong income
• Investment Management – smart investment strategies
• Smart Tax Strategies – reduces the tax you pay today and in the future
• Estate Planning – efficient transfer to the next generation
• Risk Management – ongoing review of risks to your strategy

 

To create your Retirement Road Map, you can either do the research and do it yourself or hire a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) as a guide to your changing landscape during retirement.

Ongoing Review

Throughout retirement you will want to review and update your strategy in the four pillars:

• Health
• Relationships
• Reliable and Consistent Income
• Retirement Road Map 

 

Some books that may help you with your planning are: 

• The Four Phases of Retirement: What to Expect When You’re Retiring
• The One-Page Financial Plan
• Values Based Financial Planning 

 

Retirement Planning is an ongoing process, not an event, and all four pillars must be reviewed and adjusted annually.

For more information, you can refer to Preserving Wealth: The Next Generation – The definitive guide to protecting, investing, and transferring wealth by Jack Lumsden, MBA, CFP®

For your FREE Copy CLICK HERE

Have Questions?

If anything above isn’t clear—or if you’d like to talk through any of it—let’s set up a quick call or virtual meeting. 

Book time with us HERE

Looking forward to helping you stay on track. Best Regards, Jack Lumden, MBA, CFP® Financial Advisor, CI Assante Financial Management Ltd.

Jack Lumsden, MBA, CFP®, is a financial advisor at CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. with over twenty-five years of experience. He focuses on helping those transitioning from their working years to retirement, creating lifelong income and cash-flow strategies from accumulated financial assets.

A Burlington resident, Jack enjoys staying active and coaching high school football. He values family time – attending sports events with his son, Connor, and country music concerts with his daughter, Paige. He and his wife Sandi, also love to travel. Jack holds a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MBA from McMaster University, and he is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional.