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When is the Best Time to Retire? (Hint: It’s not when you think) Thumbnail

When is the Best Time to Retire? (Hint: It’s not when you think)

If you could perfectly time your retirement, when would that be? Today, we'll discuss the factors that affect when you'll retire and how you can take more control to retire on your terms.

Listen to the Episode

Episode Overview

Do I have enough money to retire? That's one of the most popular questions people ask financial advisors and usually it's a pretty straightforward calculation. Unfortunately, having enough money to retire is only one piece of the retirement puzzle.

Often times people forget the emotional aspect of retirement and how a lack of preparation in this area can derail what was otherwise a sound financial decision to retire.

Today, Bill tackles this retirement question head on and addresses the issues potential retirees need to consider to ensure their retirement years are fulfilling and meaningful.

Download the Transcript Here


Five Quotes From Bill in This Episode

  1. There are two "big picture" things to consider on deciding when to retire. From just a purely financial stand point the best time to retire could be argued to be never because you could always make more and have more resources. But in reality, having enough money to retire gives us the option to retire. So one side is the financial side, but the other side, I would argue is equally as important, and that's the emotional side of things, it's how do we feel about what things are going to look like once we don't have to go to work every day and what are we going to be doing with our time.
  2. When do people tend to get serious about planning their retirement? Typically, somewhere around five years out from retirement the light comes on and people say, "Why my goodness I need to go understand what's happening here," because they realize the reality of what has to happen, to get clarity on what it costs to do the things you want to do. This is one of those times when we're sitting down with somebody designing what the next half of life might look like, what would be exciting? What would be inspiring? What would you want to do? What are things from a stand point of helping kids, maybe putting grand kids through school, what you need to cover your baseline expenses, what medical costs might be.
  3. How long does it take to "get into the swing of retirement?" I've had the honor of seeing hundreds of people go through this. One thing  I can tell our listeners is that it does take a year or so to get in the swing of what this retired life feels like. And for many people, the first month or two feels like a long vacation.
  4. Plans change. I had someone who was diagnosed with a condition and was given just a few years to live. So we set up a program for that family to be able to spend way more than the 4% a year of principal "rule of thumb.". I'm here to let you know that the diagnosis was wrong. We're ten years later and that client of ours is perfectly healthy. Somewhere in there around year four or five we had to make some adjustments.
  5. How do you deal with "uncontrollable things?" While many things in this world are beyond our control, there are things we do have control of. I say control the controllable. There's no excuse for not controlling the controllable and having a plan for the things we can't control as those things come at us. Controlling the controllable issues and getting conscious of the things you should be thinking about will allow folks to truly go out and enjoy their retirement, enjoy the why, and not worry about the noise in the middle that's happening when you turn on the TV and you see that the world is coming to an end.

On when you should be worried...

If you don't have a financial plan that you're looking at and thinking about, people should be worried. They need to have a plan. If you do have a plan and you're following the plan and you're updating the plan, then you have the right to have a peaceful happy retirement.

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Got a question or comment? Email it to me and we'll get back to you. 


About Bill

Bill Keen is a CHARTERED RETIREMENT PLANNING COUNSELOR℠ and independent financial advisor with more than 25 years of industry experience. As the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm, he specializes in 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 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.

KWMG, LLC’s dba Keen Wealth Advisors (“company”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor located in Overland Park, KS. The company and its representatives may only conduct business in those states where registered or where excluded/exempt or from licensure. For registration information please contact the SEC or the state securities regulators for the states where the company is notice filed. A copy of the company ADV is available upon request. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where the company and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by the company unless a client service agreement is in place. This information is not intended to be investment advice or construed as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy and is for illustrative purposes only. Clients and prospective clients must consider all relevant risk factors involved with each strategy, including costs or fees, and their own personal financial situations before trading.

The views outlined in the book, Keen on Retirement Engineering the Second Half of Your Life, are those of the author and should not be construed as individualized or personalized investment advice. Any economic and/or performance information cited is historical and not indicative of future results. Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted.

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