What Should You Hold Onto—and What Should You Let Go Of—in Retirement?
In financial planning, we sometimes refer to your working years as the "accumulation years." A large part of your time is spent working and earning so that you can support your family, achieve milestones like buying a house, and secure your financial future.
But during those years, you're "accumulating" more than money. You're gaining relationships, hobbies, interests, skills, experiences, memories, and, yes, possessions. By the time you reach retirement, your life is probably as full as it's ever been.
Too full, maybe.
As you move through the various stages of retirement, your identity is going to change along with your interests and priorities. And part of change is letting go so that you can make room for new people and new experiences that are going to make every step of your journey more fulfilling.
What May Be Worth Holding Onto
We all approach change differently, with various levels of resistance and commitment.
Some retirees hold onto their current lives, and their current selves, so tightly that they work far longer than they really need to.
Others wake up on that first Monday without work, wipe the slate clean, and start fresh.
In my experience, it's usually best for seniors to take an approach that's somewhere in between. A truly resilient retirement needs a solid foundation to support not just your initial shift away from work, but all of the other changes, planned and unplanned, that you're going to experience in the next couple of decades.
So, as you start to think about what you'll need to build that foundation, ask yourself: Does this still support the life I want? Or am I just holding on because it once did?
In addition to gimmies like your family and close friends, things you'll probably want to hold dear include:
Work Relationships: When you leave your job, you're also leaving a social network you probably spent almost as much time with as you spend with your loved ones. Some of those folks may be genuine friends. But without work, you'll have to be more proactive about reaching out and scheduling time together.
Healthy Routines: The structure of your 9-to-5 forced you to be intentional about your time. Some new retirees struggle to replicate that structure without work and let exercise, three healthy meals, and time for hobbies slip away too. Keep the parts of your routine that got you moving before and after work and you might have an easier time filling the middle of your day.
Meaningful Hobbies: Couldn't wait to get home from work every day so you could spend an hour at your crafting table or chipping golf balls in the back yard? In retirement, you can spend more time doing the things you love.
A Sense of Purpose or Contribution: Your job didn't just provide money. It provided meaning and purpose. Seniors who don't feel useful can experience a lack of drive and energy that leads to depression. Teaching, working part-time, and volunteering can all be ways to repurpose your skills and passion.
Financial Guardrails: Following your financial plan to retirement took discipline. You deserve to enjoy your money now that you're here. But don't treat your nest egg like it's a winning lotto ticket.
Traditions That Still Bring Joy: Holidays, birthdays, and annual trips can keep your year rooted in the people and experiences that matter the most.
What May Be Worth Letting Go
On the other hand, retiring can also make seniors more aware of things they've been doing for years, not just out of habit, but because of inertia.
Other familiar parts of your life might start to feel like anchors that drag you down or pull you towards an identity that just isn't yours anymore.
If you can feel that backward momentum, you might want to let go of:
A House That’s Become Too Much Work: The kids are moved out. Half the rooms are empty. The grass still needs to be cut. That leak in the roof still needs to be repaired. And that ache you're starting to feel when you're going up and down the stairs won’t get better with age.
A Second Home That Creates Hassle: Your lake house was a wonderful, easy getaway for your family. But now that your kids have their own families, you're not using it as much as you used to. When you are there, you spend more time fixing things than relaxing. And when you and your spouse want to vacation someplace new, you feel guilty about "wasting" your old home away from home.
High-Maintenance Possessions: Extra vehicles, expensive professional clothes you don't need anymore, and collectibles cost space, money, and time. Separate them into three piles: Keep, Donate, Throw Away.
Open-Ended Financial Support for Adult Children: Helping your loved ones can be a very rewarding part of your financial plan. But without limits and guardrails, your generosity might be perpetuating your kids’ bad financial habits and putting your own long-term financial security at risk.
Overly Complex Investments or Accounts: During your accumulation years, your money might have spread across multiple accounts, especially if you worked for several different employers. Once you retire, it's almost always best to consolidate and simplify. Scammers will have fewer potential points of entry. Your advisor will have a clearer picture of what you have and how to maximize its value. And your spouse or heirs will have a much easier time following your wishes should you become unable to speak for yourself.
Old Definitions of Success: It's not about promotions, new clients, and big sales anymore. As you let go of being a CEO, doctor, or engineer, focus on succeeding in other roles: spouse, grandparent, volunteer, mentor.
The Need to Control Every Financial Detail: If you replace your work hours with doomscrolling on social media and obsessing over the cable news market ticker, you're putting your money at emotional risk. You may not be adding money to your plan in the same way anymore, but the plan is still there, still working, and still supporting you.
Toxic People: Your most precious resource in retirement is time. Don't waste yours on old friends, acquaintances, or even extended family members who flood you with negative energy. You can still care about people and stay in touch without seeing them every week.
Discern, then Decide
Retirement is an emotional experience. And sometimes our emotions cloud our better judgment.
If your house is feeling too big and too unmanageable, don't call a realtor. Call a family meeting.
If you're sick of seeing that fishing boat in your driveway, don't throw it up for sale online. Ask yourself why you're not spending more time on the lake.
And if you and your spouse are struggling to reconcile two very different visions of retirement, don't go looking for divorce lawyers! Set aside time to have open conversations about what you both want and build a better retirement schedule on the common ground you discover.
When you do decide to clear away things that no longer deserve your time, money, energy, or attention, you're going to have more resources to devote to the things that you want more of. Keen Wealth's comprehensive planning process can provide you with frameworks that will clarify your options and empower you to make more rewarding decisions about retirement.
About Bill
Bill Keen is a financial advisor with over 30 years of industry experience. As the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm, he focuses on providing personalized retirement planning designed to help people thrive before and during their retirement years. With a passion for educating others, Bill regularly blogs about retirement planning, hosts the podcast Keen on Retirement, and has contributed to Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Yahoo Finance, and other publications. Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Bill and his team work with clients throughout the greater Kansas City area and across the nation. To learn more, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit www.keenwealthadvisors.com.
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