By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau
Most retirement planning is solely focused on finances and attaining some magic savings figure that promises that you'll be eating filet mignon, not cat food, during your golden years.
The approach is flawed, say many retirement experts. Though salting away money for retirement is crucial, equally important is determining what will bring contentment.
That concept was one of Richard Laura's starting points when he started doing retirement planning workshops. The Howell, Michigan financial planner, a partner with Synergos Financial Group, recognizes the importance of and addresses emotional well-being in the non-financial retirement coaching that he does. He taps experience from his first career as a social worker to help clients marry the emotional and financial sides of retirement during workshops and in his book, Naked Retirement.
Whether you're a retiree or a pre-retiree, such non-financial retirement coaching could be the answer to navigating the murky waters of retirement planning. As Barbara Waxman puts it, "Coaching is a short-term tool to help people move forward." Waxman, author of the forthcoming book, How to Love Your Retirement, is founder and presdient of the Odyssey Group.
Picture Your Next Act
An array of boot camps, seminars, and workshops are available throughout the country that help people paint a realistic picture of what to expect in retirement. They also offer strategies for setting and achieving retirement goals and helping you to identify your paths to happiness.
Waxman differentiates coaching from therapy or psychological counseling, saying, "When there's anxiety that is triggered by the idea of retirement and people know what their worries are, coaching is a productive tool." But, she points out, people who can't conceptualize or clarify fears and have free-flowing anxiety may be candidates for therapy first.
Depending on the coaching program, you'll likely be asked to listen to lectures, complete self-assessment questionnaires, and participate in group or one-on-one discussions.
Potential topics include:
· When to retire ·
· Transitioning to retirement
· Outlining goals
· Envisioning the ideal venue and lifestyle
· Relocation and housing
· Working, consulting, and volunteering
· Changing relationships with spouses and friends and family
· Loss of identity and finding new purpose
· Emotional and physical well-being
· Structuring your days and weeks
· Uncovering passions and intellectual interests
· Healthcare access
And, according to Laura, considering some of these big-picture topics could start in your 30s, 40s or 50s. After all, he points out, rather than amassing money simply to reach a dollar goal, envisioning how you want to spend that money--learning scuba diving, going on annual European vacations, and so forth--may serve as a motivator to stash cash.
Creating a new identity
Laura breaks down retirement planning into several exercises. He starts with broad topics, such as asking people what an ideal retirement and ideal retirement day and week look like. He then helps participants zero in on the details.
He asks: "How would those ideals change if you were told you have only five years to live? If you were told you have only 24 hours to live, what regrets would you have?"
What starts to emerge are the core values of your retirement and the handful of things that are important. "From that foundation you can start making decisions," he says. Another exercise entails writing down everything you're curious about, whether it's sailing, Gothic cathedrals or global warming.
The purpose: "When people go into retirement, one of the biggest struggles is loss of identity," Laura observes. "By finding the things they're curious about, people start to create ways to rebuild their identity in a different way and to find things to fill their time."
Waxman adds, "When people are working and busy, they say it will be great to retire. But they don't really think about what that means." How people move from what she calls “success to significance" when work is no longer the anchor of people's lives is a common topic she broaches with clients.
Challenges emerge when people move from the role of, say, company leader and breadwinner to something else. "What's going to fill the space of that role? You often need to figure that out before you retire so there's an easier transition," she observes.
One of her tools entails asking people to assess where they want to invest their time and resources in retirement. "You see an investment advisor to look at your financial portfolio and how you're investing your money," she notes. Her exercise walks you through investing your time and energy. She asks people to look at percentage of time spent on categories, such as fun, personal growth, health, romance, and so forth. "We then divvy out how you'll invest in those areas," Waxman explains.
Another of Laura's exercises entails listing family and friends who are vibrant and fun, and drawing lines from those people to items on their curiosity list. The point is to identify people who share your interests and to foster relationships with them so that you can pursue activities with them.
And though coaching won't solve all the unknowns and challenges of transitioning to retirement, it does provide something of a roadmap and the tools and resources that can help you to clarify the next step.
Resources: Here are some resources to help you find retirement coaching.
· Discovering What's Next: www.discoveringwhatsnext.com/index.html
· International Coach Federation: www.coachfederation.org
· Naked Retirement: http://nakedretirement.com
· North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement: www2.unca.edu/ncccr/programs/paths/index.asp
· Revolutionize Retirement:
· Richard Leider and InventureCoaching:
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