Your Retirement Identity Will Change More Than Once

A recurring theme in my series of blogs about The Adaptable Retirement is that your financial plan has to account for a constant that seniors often overlook.

Change.

As you near the end of your career, I doubt that you have the exact same goals, relationships, and interests that you had when you started working, or when you and your spouse first met.

What you do every day has changed. Who you do those things with has changed. How you spend time when you are and aren't working has changed. Your body and health have changed. Your understanding of the world and other people has changed.

In many ways, you’re a different person with a different identity.

And this continual process of growth and renewal doesn't stop when you stop working.

Retirement Has Different Stages

Just retired?

Welcome to what I like to call your "Go-Go Years"!

Many new retirees feel a rush of excitement at the beginning of retirement. They feel free, energized, and healthy enough to start tackling their bucket lists.

So they go! Vacations, long afternoons on the golf course, spontaneous day trips with their spouses, any and every excuse to spend more time with their grandkids.

Some lucky seniors might have the means and the mobility to "go-go" for decades.

But, for most, the Go-Go Years are followed by a period of "Slow-Go." Here you might start to find that going up and down the stairs and taking the garbage to the curb is a hassle, let alone 18 holes of golf. As your body begins to slow down, your priorities might begin to shift as well. You might want to spend less time in an airplane and more time with friends and family, or volunteering at your local homeless shelter.

Eventually, "Slow-Go" slows down to "No-Go." You might start spending more time at home. Or you might relocate to be closer to friends and family. Some seniors might need to spend time in a retirement community or an assisted living facility. And your priorities will probably shift yet again as you focus more of your resources on wellness, comfort, and legacy.

What Can Change Your Retirement Identity?

The short answer: life.

The longer answers are different for everyone. Sometimes changes happen gradually, and sometimes they happen all at once. But all seniors should anticipate these common triggers:

• Health and Energy: Even if you remain generally healthy, you probably won't be able to "go-go" forever. Your energy level will eventually dip. Illness or a joint replacement might make hiking or riding your bike too hard. In the "Slow-Go" years, the athlete and adventurer might change into a reader, theatergoer, volunteer teacher, or professional mentor.

• The Health of a Spouse: One unexpected diagnosis, one slip and fall, and you could suddenly find yourself in the role of full-time caregiver. The transition to widow or widower can be just as unexpected, and far more challenging.

• Grandchildren and Family Responsibilities: As your family grows and changes, you might find that you want to devote more of your time and money to spending time together and supporting the next generation.

• Changing Interests: Lots of weekend warriors dream of playing golf or tennis every day. Then they retire and discover that playing on the weekends was plenty. With more free time to explore, play, and follow your curiosity, you might find new interests that are more fulfilling at this stage of your life.

• A Desire to Contribute Again: After a few years of an "endless vacation," some retirees feel a lack of drive and purpose. They might consider part-time work, volunteering, teaching, joining a board, or starting their own company.

It's important to remember that if you experience these kinds of changes, or if you need to adjust your retirement plan to a new reality, that doesn't mean you've "failed" at retirement. It's just life continuing to happen. And if you have a retirement plan, both you and your plan will have options to adjust as needed.

Your Spending May Change With Your Identity

Planning for your life in retirement isn’t a "one and done" process, and neither is planning for how you'll spend money. As you move through different stages and experience different changes, your financial priorities and strategies will evolve as well. Trying to force your 80-year-old self to stick to a budget you set in your 70s will just lead to frustration and worry.

For example, what happens to all of the money you budgeted for travel during your "Go-Go Years" once you've visited all your bucket list destinations? Or once you're not able to get around as easily as you used to?

Maybe, at that point in your retirement, filling your calendar with travel doesn't feel as important as it once did. Instead, you might use that money to relocate closer to your grandkids.

Some new retirees buy a vacation home, a camper, or a fishing boat. But, a few years from now, if you're getting less use out of these things than you're spending in taxes, insurance, and upkeep, you might decide to sell them. Maybe you decide a better use of your money is to upgrade your home theater or build a big backyard deck where you can host parties.

As you get older, you might find that spending money on things you never would have spent money on before isn't just practical, it's more convenient. Paying someone else to push your lawnmower or pull weeds will give you more time and energy to enjoy your garden.

And as you revisit your legacy planning, you might decide that setting aside gifts for after you’re gone isn't as rewarding as helping your child buy their first home, paying for your grandchild's college education, or supporting a cause that improves your community.

Give Yourself Permission to Change

If you cling to old assumptions or goals that no longer feel important, then you're spending on the past at the expense of your present and future.

Again, change isn't failure. It's growth. You're allowed to change your mind, let go of activities -- and people -- that drag you down, try new things, and follow your bliss.

At least annually, you, your spouse, and your financial advisor should discuss these four questions to make sure that your retirement plan and your life in retirement are still aligned:

• What still gives me energy?

• What feels more like obligation than enjoyment?

• What matters more to me now than it did five years ago?

• Is the life I’m funding still the life I want?

As your answers to these questions change, your comprehensive financial plan needs to be able to adapt as well. Working with Keen Wealth can help you embrace change and make more empowering decisions about how you spend your money and how you’re living your 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.

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.

The Amazon Best Seller ranking listed on marketing materials is specifically referring to Best Seller rankings for the Kindle Top 100 Paid Lists under the subcategories of: Budgeting and Financial Risk Management, based on data as of September 5, 2019 and the second edition under Financial Risk Management on October 26, 2022. Amazon rankings although relevant on how a product is selling overall doesn’t necessarily indicate how well an item is selling among other similar items or similar item categories. Amazon may choose the most popular categories or subcategories within which an item has a high ranking to determine its best seller rankings. These rankings are updated hourly and as a result, should be expected to fluctuate as such. Keen Wealth Advisors and Amazon are not affiliated entities. 

The Steve Sanduski Advisor Network, Belay Advisor, LLC and other third-party contributors to our blogs and podcasts are not affiliated with Keen Wealth Advisors.

For additional details on Keen Wealth Advisors, please visit https://www.keenwealthadvisors.com/important-disclosures.

20260902-5889514-18788370