Ten Vital Elements for Creating and Living a Fulfilling Retirement.

While we often talk about the financial aspects of retirement, it’s equally important to consider the emotional, mental, and physical facets that accompany the retirement phase of your life.   This posting is about the top ten things to think about as you prepare to retire for a fulfilling retirement.

1. Have a Life Purpose: It’s natural that many of us, during our working lives, identify our life purpose alongside what our job is. So, if you are a corporate executive, that’s what you identify as your purpose. Once you retire, of course, that phase of your life ends, and you need to find a different meaning in this new phase of your life.  Here are a few examples of life purposes:
   1. Traveling around the world and exploring different cultures.
   2. Supporting your community.
   3. Fighting for a social cause like climate change.
   4. Being a positive, supportive person for your loved ones.
2. Find your Passions: As you retire, identify and pursue your passions as best you can.  Some include Bike riding. Swimming, feeding the homeless, raising money for charitable causes, etc.
3. Adopt a Positive Attitude:  A positive attitude can make a difference, both in the quality of your life and how long your life is. It’s been found in academic studies that having a positive attitude can add up to seven years to your life. As you move into retirement, it is vital to work on maintaining a positive attitude.  Ways to stay positive include identifying areas to change. being open to humor, surround yourself with positive people, and practice positive self-talk.
4. Build Financial Security:  The primary key here is matching your lifestyle to your available resources. Having a good financial advisor can help identify your resources and whether your lifestyle matches the resources you have at retirement.
5. Give Back to Others:  Evidence supports that giving back to others can benefit you. It has been found that retirees who spend a good bit of time volunteering have the benefits of lower mortality rates, higher functional ability, and lower stress. Consider volunteering, at least with some of your time, throughout your retirement.
6. Create and Maintain Healthy Relationships: Many of our most substantial relationships are with those we work with daily. Consider what those relationships will look like after you retire. Having friends and family that you can interact with is very important as you move into retirement.  Examples include using dating apps to make friends. sign up for a class, and discover local events.
7. Continue to Grow: Staying mentally active as you transition into retirement is essential.
8. Have Fun: This may be obvious, but focusing on having fun as you retire is essential because you will have health benefits as you age.
9. Focus on Your Well-Being: Good nutrition, an exercise plan, and a healthy amount of sleep can contribute to good health as you age in retirement.
10. Create a Retirement Strategy: While having a diversified investment portfolio is essential, it’s also important to have a diversified portfolio of activities you’re doing into retirement.  I would encourage anyone not yet retired to start envisioning and thinking about what their life will look like in retirement and try it out for size even before they retire. If you think about moving to another state, try spending time in your desired location before you retire to ensure that it fits what you want to do in retirement.

If you have additional questions about the above or otherwise, feel free to reach out to us or click the link below to start your strategy to find out what’s right for you.