On the Brink of Retirement: Four Planning Tools
The giddy anticipation I used to feel at the beginning of September has diminished over the years. The month used to feel like a new beginning, a time to plan and dream. And this year? I feel anticipatory tiredness as I face the next months, standing on the brink of retirement.
I retired last year. My husband inches closer to retirement every month. This is a year of transition for us. We need to finish renovating our island home, which will be our permanent home once we retire. We currently have two fully equipped houses, and soon we will have one. What household goods do we get rid of? And, how do cull treasures, junk and memories?
Are we financially prepared for retirement? I hope so, but markets have not been favourable lately, leaving me slightly anxious. I barely glance at our investment statements! I just trust my husband when he says we will be fine.
And then there are the uncertainties life throws at us every year. This year is no exception! When do I schedule life story writing workshops so construction noise will not impact online conversations? My daughter goes back to work in December; childcare availability is tenuous. Will I need to help out?
September is the month I usually purchase new Pilot fineliners, post-it notes, and a new planner. I block time to write a personal manifesto, set goals, choose a word for the year, and fill out various planning templates I have downloaded. This year, retirement casts a new light on my planning. I thought you might be interested in exploring four tools that are part of my planning repertoire this year.
Retirement Budget
In May, our retirement planner suggested we address our retirement income expectations. Our homework? Pull together a budget that focuses on three categories:
Necessary: All expenses we have to pay, i.e. food, medications, hydro, property taxes, etc.
Basic: Our lifestyle expenses living in British Columbia, i.e. cell phones, vehicles, dining out, etc.
Discretionary: Expenses you can cut back on immediately if needed, i.e. gifts, vacations, etc.
Sounds simple? Yes - but we still haven’t made a budget! We get side-tracked, usually heading out to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner as we realize soon this will be a discretionary expense. Or we end up laughing as we negotiate between necessities and basics. Is a bottle of wine a week a necessary expense? It is for me! And cars, do we need two cars or should one be discretionary? What about food - how we love to eat! Can we up the necessary food budget to include some gourmet ingredients for in-home cooking? All kidding aside, this budgeting task is not that difficult; we just need to commit to completing it!
Swedish Death Cleaning
Are you familiar with Swedish death cleaning? When I first heard the expression, I laughed. I envisioned funeral pyres floating out to sea, holding all the belongings of our elderly parents. I have blogged about helping my mother with her Swedish death cleaning, an exhausting process for her – and me – both emotionally and physically!
Now it is my turn!
Swedish death cleaning refers to the decluttering you do when you begin to reach the end of your life. Increasingly, however, people are embracing this process in their fifties and sixties. The purpose of Swedish death cleaning is to keep only the things that your friends and family will want after you die. Margareta Magnusson, the author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, writes - "A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.”
I will undergo this process because we need to minimize our belongings. I also want to ensure my daughters never have to endure this heart-breaking process once we are gone.
The Reverse Bucket List
My friend Tracy wrote a blog post about bucket lists on her website, Travel Bug Tonic. She has me rethinking bucket lists. Her post, A Bucket List Transformation, is well worth a read - full of research, quotes, and personal insights.
“I don’t have a problem with bucket lists. They’re probably better than nothing, but the worst part about a bucket list isn’t that it’s just a bucket list, but that it’s just a list. It’s a set of things waiting for you to check off. If you don’t get to them, you fail.” - Joel Runyon
Tracy re-imagines the concept of a bucket list and offers an activity to help you create a reverse bucket list. You start by writing down all your accomplishments, the things that make you feel proud. Give it a try!
Block Planning
I look at planning through a completely different lens now that I am older and retired. In our long-range planning, we want to ensure we are prepared for changing circumstances. Our island home should suit us fine for the next five to ten years! But after that? Our house is not accessible, and our property needs a lot of upkeep. The island has limited health services, and we need transportation to get to the grocery store and other conveniences. These factors are all considerations as we work on our ten-year plan.
And then there is the daily life of a retired woman. Retirement may be congruent with leisure, but I have already learned during this first year of retirement that too much idle time makes me stir-crazy! While I enjoy unstructured days and making plans last minute, I also need some routine. I enjoy not having a schedule, but I do want to get things accomplished. Some of you may be familiar with time blocking from your work lives, ensuring no time is wasted in your nine-to-five day. My block planning technique for retirement is much simpler and looser.
Steps:
Make a list of what you want to do during the week. Gardening, writing, walking, reading, leisure time, and time with my husband, family and friends are always part of my plan.
Think about how much time you want to spend on each. Consider, is this a daily activity? Or something you want to do at a specific time? My best writing time is in the morning, so I commit my early mornings to writing. Or do you just want to ensure you get 10 hours of weekly walking? Or maybe you have a goal of reading a book a week.
Print off a weekly template - or draw one by hand. Add the appointments and activities that are a must-do and need to be scheduled. I use coloured fine line markers for this, which makes it fun and easier to identify activities at a glance.
Then, begin putting in the blocks of time you have attributed for each activity. Voila, you now have a loose routine to follow - completely flexible because after all, now you’re retired!
Are there any planning tools specific to our later years that you would add to this list?