CUSTOMIZE…don’t minimize…
YOUR RETIREMENT©

"7 Paths to Explore Possibilities,Choices, and Your Future Happiness"

Diane B. Burman and Donald C. Strauss
CYR Publishing

INTRODUCTION

“CUSTOMIZE…Don’t Minimize…YOUR RETIREMENT”©

We know you are questioning your future and wondering what is around the next curve. There are lots of advisors telling Boomers how to prepare for their future years. Most of that advice is centered on one’s financial well-being, not one’s mental and emotional well-being.

When the authors themselves were debating what to do in their own retirement, they searched for advice and counsel from books and other sources. The vast majority of information available was centered on financial planning. It is well to heed this advice, but we felt that something was missing. Money is definitely important, but there is more to the retirement years. And, as we became more frustrated with not finding information that could meet our needs, we asked friends and colleagues what their experience has been on the topic of the non-financial aspects of retirement. We discovered that they too had been struggling with the same sorts of questions:

• How do I make better decisions about the future?
• How do I get my future “on track”?
• How do I adjust my housing to my changing needs?
• Who will I be in this new phase of my life?
• Will I be valued if I no longer work?
• Will I be fulfilled if I really “gear down”?
• How do I turn my dreams into reality?
• What will make me happy?
• Will my family and friends react favorably to my plans for my future lifestyle?
• How do I adjust my finances to correspond to my needs?

We then realized that people were hungry for information and advice about their future and we decided to meet this need with the creation of this book.

The authors developed over 80 exercises that you can choose to use in creating a future plan for yourself. These exercises are available to you so that you can pick and choose the ones most suited to your own life situation. No need to feel overwhelmed by the number of exercises. Some of these may not feel relevant to your experience or lifestyle. You can just choose to skip those and go on to others. We know you have limited time so we have designed the book and the exercises for self-discovery and as a catalyst to discussion with the important people in your life.

Both authors have extensive background in the field of human resources, and especially in career management and career development. As coaches and advisors to hundreds of clients over the years, we realize how difficult it is to manage significant transitions in one’s life. Moving into the retirement years can be an extremely challenging transition. Whether one chooses to continue working, to change careers, to try out the “leisure lifestyle” or to brave re-entry into a classroom situation, one may feel the fear of the unknown. In addressing the future years, one must face concerns, not only about finances, but also about new identity, structuring one’s time, making new friends and dealing with aging. How comforting it is to have a guide during those times.

Our goal in writing this book has been to help individuals deal with their uneasiness in attempting to answer some of the following questions:

• Who am I?
• Who would I like to be?
• Who are really my friends?
• Should I live near the children?
• Do I stay in my current home?
• Will I work or not work?
• If I work, should I work full time or part time?
• What do I do with my time?
• Is it all right just to enjoy the luxury of doing nothing?
• Should I have a new life purpose?
• Will volunteering satisfy me?
• Should I have a back-up plan if health or economic conditions change?

As people are contemplating retirement, or are already retired, these are the types of questions rattling around in their heads.

You are unique. No two people have the same backgrounds and experiences, the same dreams or aspirations. As individuals who also have had to deal with this transformation, we, the authors, want to help you attain your own customized happy retirement.

This book strives to be unique in that it:

• Is easy to read.
• Is easy to understand.
• Raises more than just money questions; it raises questions that drive your life.
• Makes you into a hands-on user, not just a passive reader through the use of 80+ exercises.
• Allows you to jump between exercises and chapters.
• Allows you to have fun and not feel constrained to complete all the exercises or chapters.
• Encourages you to work with friends and relatives, or perhaps a coach, in discussing and completing the exercises.

In the first chapter, “Envision Your Ideal Retirement,” you will be introduced to the chapter topics and invited to experience some of the exercises. This will help you get “your toe in the water.” “Envision Your Ideal Retirement” is the first of the “7 Paths to Explore Possibilities, Choices and Your Future Happiness,” i.e. the need to develop/envision a set of clear goals, a vision, or a specific dream for your retirement.

The remaining 6 Paths follow the format of the book and deal with: 1.The need to complete one’s “Financial Picture…Making it a Masterpiece; 2. The need to “Keep in Shape;” 3. The need to plan what “Being at Home” will look like in retirement; 4. The need to keep “Vitalizing Relationships” throughout your life; 5. The need to redefine work in retirement so it feels like “Work is no Longer Work” and 6. The need to deal with future leisure time so it is “Time to Do Good and/or for Good Times” (so it can include time for developing a creative lifestyle, volunteering, or traveling.)

Retirement planning differs from other life planning which you have been doing. This new phase of your life typically involves:

• Seeing your financial picture shift from accumulating savings to spending your savings and perhaps living on a more limited or structured budget,
• Having uncommitted time available, not defined by or structured by your occupation.
• Finding that maintenance of health could become a larger factor affecting your activities over time.
• Adjusting to new demands or requests from others (particularly family and friends).

As you attempt to gain a new balance in your lifestyle, uncommitted time can provide an opportunity to gain true fulfillment in your retirement, or, in contrast, cause a sense of malaise and discomfort.

We realize that each person needs time to reflect, examine his/her unique current circumstances, explore future possibilities, evaluate different action scenarios and plan specific actions to attain a desirable lifestyle in this next phase of your life. We, therefore, encourage you to take your time with the exercises; don’t rush through them. Concentrate on the ones that make the most sense for you or the ones that seem most important at this particular time. Discuss them with the people in your life who are important to you and with those who could be most helpful.

Some people make decisions quickly based on their values and beliefs; others need to examine facts before making a decision. Both decision-making styles may benefit from the exercises and information in this book. Those who prefer facts and want to dig deep before deciding on an action plan will benefit from the information in the narrative portion of the book, as well as completing many of the exercises. Those who arrive at decisions quickly, may benefit from answering the questions in the exercises to substantiate or confirm their previously held opinions.

A DREAM + A PLAN + A DEADLINE + TAKING ACTION =
FINDING YOUR OWN PERSONAL FUTURE HAPPINESS

So here it is…a user-friendly compendium of materials that discusses the world of pre-retirement planning, covering an array of topics from looking at your savings and future financial well-being to evaluating your relationships, health or available time…facts wrapped around the need to do self-analysis…in distinct pieces (exercises) that you can do at your leisure, over time.

We hope you take the challenge and move ahead with your planning, finding the materials contained in this book to be both stimulating and insightful. In conclusion, it’s up to you… no one else can walk in your shoes or do what needs to be done to bring about the lifestyle that you will choose for yourself. Invest the time and thought and, be assured, you will be rewarded for having taken this initiative; so, get ready to customize your own unique retirement.

Diane B. Burman
Donald C. Strauss

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CHAPTER 1:  Path 1 

ENVISION YOUR IDEAL RETIREMENT

“Would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cheshire Cat.
“I don’t much care where…”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
“…so long as I get somewhere,” said Alice.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that if only you walk long enough,” sneered the Cat.
Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) English author,
mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman, photographer

Welcome to “Customize Your Retirement.”© We know that you have opened this book to find out more about yourself and discover ways to enhance the next stage of your life.

The book contains:

A set of 8 chapters that are intended to review the many aspects of retirement, as well as providing self-discovery “thinker tools” (exercises) to help you evaluate options, opportunities and plans for retirement. These chapters are entitled: (1) “Envision Your Ideal Retirement,” (2) “The Financial Picture…Make It A Masterpiece,” (3) “Keeping in Shape,” (4) “Being at Home,” (5) “Vitalizing Relationships,” (6) “Work is No Longer Work,” (7) “Time to Do Good and For Good Times,” (8) “Your Action Plan.”

In this chapter, you will have the opportunity to:

• Learn about how the book is organized and what to expect.
• Think about some of the challenges and choices that await you in this next phase of your life.
• Dream a little about what you’d like to plan for in your retirement.
• Create a vision of the ideal retirement for you.

Before we outline what to expect in your journey through “Customize Your Retirement”© we would like to give you some background. As a likely member of the generation labeled “Boomer,” you have probably read about the great demographic trend in our society; a great many people are retiring earlier and people are living longer. This presents wonderful opportunities for someone in your age group, and also many stimulating challenges. This may prove to be scary for some folks, but we are convinced that the more planning you do now, the less worrisome the coming years will be. The opportunity to find new outlets for your talents, to work in activities that will prove to be satisfying and fulfilling and to build strong relationships with those people who are most important to you, will fill your “second half” with purpose and meaning. WAKE UP AND DREAM is our motto and we have built “Customize Your Retirement”© to assist you in finding your own personal dreams and acting on them.

Just to get you in the mood, see how much you know about the world of retirement by choosing true or false for each of the following statements. The answers will follow each statement. We think you will be surprised.

1. About 2,500 individuals are reaching age 60 every day.

(False: About 8,000 reach age 60 daily.)

1. About 40% of those retiring plan to work in retirement.

(False: The most recent statistics show that 79% plan to work in retirement.)

1. Retirees look forward to living a “Life of Leisure” in retirement.

(False: Most Boomers want to make a difference in retirement, i.e. volunteering, accomplishing an unfinished dream, working in some capacity, gaining fulfillment, etc. )

1. Social Security is not the primary source of income to most retirees.

(False: Today Social Security is still the primary income source for retirees.)

1. Most people who are contemplating retirement plan to relocate to a new residence within a year or two of retirement.

(False: Most entering retirement remain in their present residence and favor being close to their children.)

1. Most Boomers will have pensions when they retire.

(False: Most Boomers will not have pensions.)

1. Most retirees can finally relax from family caretaking responsibilities beyond caring only for themselves.

(False: Most retirees will need to help their aging parents, adult children, grandchildren, or other family members.)

1. Most retirees retire at age 65; and only once.

(False: Most Boomers and others soon to retire will retire before age 65 at least once, then return to the workforce, retire a second and even perhaps a third time.)

1. Men have an easier time retiring than women do.

(False: Men have a substantially more difficult time retiring because they lose their occupational identity and the scheduling of their day that revolves around their previous occupation. It has been said many times that men need to learn how to use their Leisure Time in retirement.)

1. Planning for the day one could be disabled or hampered by poor health is a major consideration in planning ahead.

(False: Individuals fail to really plan for a future hampered by poor health; they tend not to purchase long-term care insurance because it is viewed as being so expensive.)

1. Most retirees have a pretty clear vision of what they will do when they retire.

(False: Typically those planning retirement in a year or two plan vacations and travel, but not whether they will work, or how they will use their unscheduled leisure time on an ongoing basis. Further, they usually don’t carefully examine the amount of money they will need to live on over the years to come.)

1. Those planning retirement generally have sufficient insurance to address their future needs.

(False: Typically, they lack sufficient long-term care insurance, insurance for burial, and in many cases sufficient coverage for their medical needs.)

1. “Monte Carlo simulations” for investment and retirement planning and other calculators are best left to experts for advising perspective retirees on how to manage their portfolios.

(True: They should use a professional financial consultant to advise them from an independent perspective. And, if you do not know what a Monte Carlo simulation is, don’t worry. Financial consultants should know. But for your information, it is often used to determine allocation of retirement funds and how long these funds will last.)

1. Not having enough money to live on in retirement is the single biggest concern for prospective retirees.

(True: Money is a major issue that needs to be addressed as it really does impact choices. Imbedded in the statements above are other considerations that also impact one’s lifestyle choices; issues such as one’s new identity, planning for future health needs; housing choices; using one’s time; maintaining and building quality relationships; etc.)

So, how did you do? Was this exercise informative? Were you aware of some of the trends taking place in the larger society? Now that you are warmed up, we would like to introduce you to “Customize Your Retirement.”©

Retirement…Whose definition is it really?

Retirement is an interesting word to define. It is so dependent on an individual’s life situation that we would be hard-pressed to try and establish parameters for this very elusive concept. The root of the word literally means “to pull back” and, as we are all finding out, now that the life span has lengthened considerably and people are remaining healthy much longer, very few people want to pull back. The leisure lifestyle, which was prevalent in previous generations, is almost going the way of the Edsel. For instance:

• A colleague of ours was finishing up his projects. His wife had technically retired 18 months before. Now he is down to the end of one project, and she has been pulled back into work. He said that she still wanted more. So, he said… this is her retirement, not mine, and we are out of synch, but this is important to her.
• Another two friends who were executives at a large corporation retired at age 40. Retired? They don’t need to work for financial reasons. One had a child, and is doing things pro bono, but is now also earning some money; the other has started two businesses since his retirement 2 years ago.
• An aunt of ours, who was widowed recently, decided to change her lifestyle and share her house with her widowed sister and together they would run the house as a bed and breakfast. This allowed them to enjoy each other’s company, as well as maintaining a source of income.

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