Moonrise over the Rincon Mountains, Tucson AZ 2010
Do you have a plan for a retirement lifestyle or are you just planning on "traveling" for the rest of your life? If you don't have a vision or plan, you probably need to do a little research and even visit a retirement lifestyle coach seminar so that you can form a better image of life after retirement. And I am not talking about money...I am talking about LIVING! Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting next to a very interesting lady on my flight from Portland to Phoenix. She was a world traveler, an artist and a reader. She was reading a travel book that looked very interesting. She also had a financial magazine on her lap.
We talked a bit about this and that. The conversation turned to retirement. Evidently her spouse works a lot and does not like the idea of retiring. Locations for retirement came up and she stated that she didn't want to live in Vancouver, WA. when they retired. I told her that it had taken 10 years for us to decide to live part of every year in the state of Arizona. "Well," she said, "my husband is going to retire in the "State of Panic". Her husband had no idea what he was going to do with his time. "What do you do with your time?" she asked.
I think this is a very very important question everyone should ask themselves. Sitting down to die is not my idea of retirement. Giving up a very lucrative career that you love to live in the State of Panic is not a good thing either. And it is very hard to explain to a retiring person what they will do all day. Most retired people will tell you they have no idea how they had time to work! Tending to investments and other business can take a huge chunk of every day. The ever present books, home projects and that avocation you have always dreamed about can fill your life. In the end though, each individual has to make those decision about their life. You need to know that retirement is not much different than going to work...there will be days when you are not as enthusiastic as others. There will be adjustments. That is just the way it is!
Dee Casio on a website called Retirement Lifestyle Strategies has some wonder information. In the last paragraph of her home page she said:
Retirement can be the best time in a person's life or it can be a challenging time. This is such a personal decision, and it is really up to each individual to decide what their vision of retirement will look like.
Find out if you are ready for Retirement Coaching by taking the Retirement Coachability Success Quiz.That is why I think a retirement coach may be a good idea. I know that retirement is not a short road to the grave...I promise that if you approach this part of your life journey with the same dedication that you brought to the beginning of your career, you will love doing what you want every day. I promise you will not retire in the State of Panic!!! I promise!
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Links to retirement coaches (non-financial):
Embracing Your Retirement
Lifestyle Designs for Retirement
Eforoce
Revolutionize Retirement
The Retirement Coach
The Coach Connection (links)
The idea of a retirement coach is an interesting idea. Too many of us approach roughly one quarter to one third of our life with less planning than what our next car will be. Having someone available as a mentor would be quite helpful to a lot of folks.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love the "State of Panic" line.