Keen On Retirement

Love may be forever, but even the strongest marriages go through their ups and downs. A recent study by the University of Bern analyzed data from more than 165,000 people, aged 20 to 76, to determine if there was a common trajectory to the satisfaction folks in long-term relationships experience.

Bob Buford's HALFTIME: Moving from Success to Significance offers a possible solution that's stuck with me ever since I first read the book about a decade ago. Buford was a successful cable TV exec who revaluated his priorities and made a very intentional plan for the second half of his life. I believe all seniors can adapt his three-part process to their retirement transitions and redefine who they are in a meaningful way.

I often describe the financial planning we do at Keen Wealth as a checklist-driven process. Using checklists does not just ensure that my team always has the relevant issues covered. It gives financial planning a structure that helps folks understand how their money is working for them.

Here are three things seniors should be thinking about as they plan for their second or third professional act.

Getting older isn't easy. Aches and pains can start to pile up and linger longer than they used to. Making necessary choices about estate planning can cause people to confront their own mortality. And transitioning into retirement can pose some significant financial as well as psychological challenges.

If you think this might be the year that you retire, ask yourself these three questions to see if you're both financially and mentally prepared.