Keen On Retirement

How do you adjust your financial plan to cope with inflation, higher interest rates, and an up-and-down economy? Our most popular blogs and podcasts of 2023 all touched on that question in some way, especially from the perspective of retirees living on a fixed income. Our discussions also eventually arrived at a similar conclusion: you need to have a plan! Comprehensive financial planning puts tools at your disposal that can keep you on track for a successful retirement, no matter what’s happening in the outside world. And working with an experienced advisor, like my team at Keen Wealth, could potentially eliminate so much of the worry and uncertainty from figuring out what moves are going to keep your short-term needs and your long-term goals in sync.

Retirees often have a bucket list of places they want to visit, experiences they want to try, and far-flung friends and family they want to spend time with. But while crossing off bucket list items can be some of the most meaningful moments of retirement, you're probably not going to spend most of your retirement touring Paris or hiking the Grand Canyon. What you do day in and day out for those other 40-45 weeks of the year will probably have a bigger impact on how you feel about your retirement and yourself. Being intentional with your time can become a powerful habit that makes your daily life in retirement more meaningful. Try incorporating some of these retirement rituals into your new schedule and you might start to appreciate just how rich every day can be.

Retirees have earned every minute of R&R that they want to enjoy. But your favorite lounge chair probably isn't going to fulfill you all by itself for the years, if not decades, of senior living you have in front of you. The happiest retirees we work with at Keen Wealth find that sweet spot between taking it easy and being proactive about how they use their time. Try using some combination of these five ideas to experience more from life in your own retirement.

One of the reasons my team at Keen Wealth puts so much care into personalizing our comprehensive planning process is that there's no one path to a successful retirement. Yes, we often incorporate some tried-and-true strategies and tools, like diversification, downside volatility protection, and Monte Carlo simulations. But as we discuss on today's show, even professional financial advisors have to sort through a wide array of options to help folks find their optimal plan. When you're managing your finances on your own, those options can be overwhelming and, in some cases, a little dangerous for your money. After discussing four listener questions, I'd also like to share some exciting personal news and thank my alma mater, the University of Central Missouri.

Many seniors have a "retirement number" stuck in their heads. It could be a net-worth goal that you want to hit so you can live an affluent, carefree retirement. Or it could be an amount you want to see compounding in your savings account. Maybe you've run some “4% Rule” calculations or plugged your financial info into a free "Monte Carlo Simulation Tool" to figure out your probability of running out of money. Unfortunately, focusing exclusively on these kinds of numbers could be more harmful than helpful when it comes time to plan for withdrawals in retirement. I think discussing four different approaches to financial planning may help folks see the bigger retirement picture and feel more confident about how they will spend their money.

If you think about your comprehensive financial plan as a long flight from here to retirement, then risk and uncertainty are like the turbulence, bad weather, delays, and cancellations that all travelers have to deal with. Sometimes, these disruptions flash on our radar well in advance. Sometimes, they pop up at a moment's notice. But understanding how your retirement flight plan is built to avoid, absorb, cope with, and even steer clear of certain challenges can reduce stress and help you enjoy the journey a bit more. Let's talk about how my team at Keen Wealth approaches risk and uncertainty in our planning process and some strategies that can help folks stay on course for their dream retirement.