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How to Get Ready for Retirement – The 4 Freedoms

People often think of retirement as freedom from work. It’s the day they step away from their career, collect a gold watch, and set sail for the Bahamas. While retirement does usually include the opportunity to resign from the 9-to-5 grind, it also offers liberties people don’t usually consider. Here are four freedoms we encourage our clients to contemplate as they near retirement.

Financial Freedom

For many, retirement means no business to run or employer to work for. It also means no steady paycheck. The key is having a strategy for when the paychecks stop. We believe the essentials of a prosperous plan include a focus on financial sufficiency and growing income, even beyond your retirement date. Our goal is to make sure all the financial aspects are in order:

  • Budget – Is there enough for reasonable day-to-day expenses?
  • Income – Do you have an income strategy, and are you confident in it’s sufficiency? What if something happens? What if your spouse passes away? Will there still be steady income? Does your income grow – which it must!
  • Debt – How much is reasonable? How can it be paid off as quickly as possible?

Ultimately, the goal is financial freedom: to eliminate any concern or uncertainty of “having enough” to live your ideal lifestyle. By examining each of these crucial areas, we can help you understand the freedoms your finances will offer now and for the rest of your life.

Time Freedom

Pre-retirement, clients are usually responsible for something or responsible to someone. Post retirement, clients usually only have themselves to answer to. What follows is the ability to enjoy the freedom of time. How and in what you choose to invest your time in is entirely up to you. Whether it’s laying by a beach soaking up the sun or helping out in your community, retirement affords you the time to enjoy yourself.

Interest Freedom

While working, your interests and attention are often a result of your vocation. For example, if you’re an electronics engineer you probably spent your time studying and working on electronics. Post retirement, you have the opportunity to pursue your own interests, as unrelated or unusual as they may be. Want to be a Pinot Noir expert? Go for it! Want to understand the migratory patterns of dolphins? Spend the afternoon reading up on it. Once you retire, the expectation of being an expert in your field fades away, along with all the time required to maintain that status.

Contribution Freedom

Retirement isn’t always about sun-soaked trips filled with pina coladas and Tom Clancy. We believe people are created to be in relationship and to contribute to one another. So find a passion or cause, and reach out to support others. Use your time, expertise or finances to help people and to leave a legacy greater than your wealth. The rewards are simply tremendous.

We encourage our clients to plan for a rewarding retirement and a bigger future. For many, retirement is an end. The way we see it, retirement is just the beginning – a new chapter in your life. If you would like to have a conversation about your particular situation, or planning for these freedoms, please let us know.

Steve Booren

Steve Booren is the Owner and Founder of Prosperion Financial Advisors, located in Greenwood Village, Colo. He is the author of Blind Spots: The Mental Mistakes Investors Make and Intelligent Investing: Your Guide to a Growing Retirement Income and a regular columnist in The Denver Post. He was recently named a Barron's Top Financial Advisor and recognized as a Forbes Top Wealth Advisor in Colorado.

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. The performance data given represents past performance and should not be considered indicative of future results.

Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC.