How to Ensure a Smooth Transition to Retirement | Boldin Office Hours

Hi everybody. So welcome everyone to this live session. Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Nancy Gates and I lead the services team here at Bolden. Our team focuses on delivering meaningful support to our users through educational live sessions such as today's live session, pre recorded classes in the classroom, our coaching service, our support via our chatbot, our robust help center, and our community engagement including our Facebook group and our subreddit. Today's session is a special office hours devoted to the topic of transitioning to retirement. This slide details the items we're going to cover today, starting with a little bit of housekeeping. Each of our sessions will begin with this presentation. Please also, as always, bear in mind that all of our live events here offered by Bolden are are intended to provide general educational information so nothing said should be considered specific investment, tax or legal advice Managing the transition to retirement can seem overwhelming, but it really doesn't have to be. Here at Bolden, we can help with questions like how do I ensure a smooth transition? Are there losses I need to prepare for? What impact will retirement have on my identity, my my sense of purpose? Are there ways I can increase my engagement in my community after transitioning to retirement and more A common focus when planning for retirement is how much you need to save. That's a lot of what we do in our planner, right? But have you considered the importance of being emotionally prepared for retirement? The most successful retirees take the time to prepare for the transition to retirement, emotionally as well as financially. Whether you're going to retire in the next few years or you're already retired and are trying to find new meaning in retirement. These are six considerations we're going to discuss today. You may not know this, but many new retirees are often surprised to learn that in addition to a lot more time on their hands, they sometimes face negative feelings they hadn't anticipated, such as lack of purpose and direction or isolation. For this reason, many psychologists recommend retiring gradually, going to a part time schedule or doing consulting work before stopping work altogether. The time you free up can be spent investigating new hobbies or rediscovering old ones, and help make the transition to retirement a successful one. This slide presents a number of tips and strategies you may want to consider. When we retire, we win back control over our daily life and discover, hopefully, a newfound freedom. There's no more boss, no more busy schedule or full inbox, and that can be really exciting. But even as we gain that newfound freedom, there's also much that we lose. As you transition to retirement, you'll want to give some thought to how you'll cope with these inevitable losses. For some, what's lost may seem not all that bad. Long commutes, Endless meetings, Performance reviews. Most people are happy to leave these behind. But for many individuals, especially those who define themselves by their careers, leaving behind the workplace is often very difficult. These are a few of the losses you might face as you make the transition to retirement. We're going to explore how you might minimize these losses as you transition away from the workforce. When we meet people for the first time, one of the first things we want to learn about each other is what do you do? And once you retire, instead of saying engineer or lawyer, you might be saying I'm retired. Take some time to consider what that will feel like for you. For some, it'll be just fine, but others will desire an answer that meets their need to have an identity and purpose. Once the work identity is no longer at the forefront in retirement, you'll be developing a new identity related to the things you choose to do with your increased free time. It might mean using your knowledge and skills to volunteer, mentor others or help your family. Or it may be exploring a new passion or hobby such as pickleball. Overall, in retirement, most of us will need something meaningful, challenging and fulfilling to feel satisfied. To ease the transition, start thinking about your post retirement lifestyle a few years before leaving your job. Explore new ideas, hobbies and opportunities and build some concrete plans around your retirement activities as you approach your retirement date. Experts say that it can actually take up to a year or longer to make the transition to retirement. At first, you'll want to enjoy your freedom, explore travel, etc. After a while though, many retirees find themselves craving some structure and take some time to thoughtfully develop a routine and schedule that will work for them. Of course, the beauty of retirement is that you have more control and more flexibility to do what you want. Planning your activities mindfully based upon your needs for meaning, purpose and connection can help you stay flexible and achieve the satisfaction you desire in retirement. A helpful mental exercise is to ask, what does an ideal week in retirement look like for me? The more time you spend thinking about this question, the more likely you are to have a fulfilling retirement. As you move further into retirement, you want to ensure you're allocating your time in a manner that meets all of your needs. And you may want to consider how each of these four categories impacts your daily activities and overall well being, as well as contributes to creating a fulfilling and enjoyable retirement. Here's a breakdown of how to use each category in terms of health. What activities promote your physical and mental well being? Consider exercise, hobbies or social interactions that keep you active and engaged. How can you maintain a healthy lifestyle? Think about regular checkups, healthy eating habits and stress reducing techniques. What are your health goals for retirement? Do you want to travel more, do more hiking, biking, pursue a new hobby, or maybe just enjoy a more relaxed pace? Family how do you want to spend time with loved ones? Plan for regular visits, family vacations, or simply enjoying quality time together? What role do you envision for yourself within your family? Consider volunteering, mentoring, or simply being a supportive presence. How can you strengthen family bonds? Plan activities and events that bring your family closer together. Purpose what activities bring you a sense of fulfillment and meaning? Are there hobbies, volunteering or new interests that you can pursue? How can you contribute to your community or society? What are your passions and how can you incorporate them into your retirement routine? Overall, maybe you enjoy writing, painting, gardening or learning new skills. Look for opportunities in those areas. What are your financial goals for retirement? Consider your income needs, spending habits and investment strategies. How can you ensure a comfortable and secure financial future? Think about saving, budgeting and seeking professional financial advice. All of what we do here at Bolton what are your priorities for spending that retirement income and savings? Consider those travel ideas, those hobbies, as well as supporting loved ones and charitable organizations. A big part of having an emotionally successful retirement is staying connected to others. This is because maintaining social connections and being involved in a community can keep you socially active, provide a sense of connection, and give you an opportunity to discover new passions as well as learn from new experiences and people. In the past, your relationships may have been centered on people you knew through work, professional organizations, kids activities, etc. Which provided a sense of fellowship and being part of a community. As retirement begins, though, social connections may not entirely disappear, but they will change. Take some time to consider how you'll maintain social connections as well as create new ones. We all know that it can be challenging to develop relationships outside of work even before retirement. The good news is that once you're retired, you'll have more opportunities to meet new people. A few things you can do include joining an exercise class, scheduling a weekly walk and talk with another retiree or group of retirees, participate in or attend local choir or theater productions, journal, join a meditation group or a book club. You'll find that being friendly, inviting others, and making a small investment of your time and energy can set you on the path to meaningful relationships and in a fulfilling retirement. The options are endless. Hopefully these recommendations will help with the aspects of retirement related to transitioning away from the workforce. But before we close today, I want to touch on another important question which could probably entail a whole session in itself. What about that lifetime habit we all have of saving? Retirement entails a multitude of changes. One of them is moving from a sowing to a reaping mindset. The discomfort of transitioning to retirement can create a desire to exert more control, and some people actually double down on what they can control, such as their savings balances. While that might not sound like a huge problem, it can lead to dissatisfaction and regret. If you're struggling to spend in retirement, here are a few practical tips that can help you make this shift. The first step you can take as you try to become more comfortable with spending is to recognize the discomfort the change in mindset and habits poses to you. You've likely been saving your entire life, so it's completely normal to have this problem, but it's also completely okay to tap your hard earned savings to bring your retirement dreams to fruition. The next thing you might want to do is reframe your spending values and create a spending plan relevant to this new stage of life. While being a great parent in your 40s meant saving for college, being a great parent in retirement might look like planning a trip to get the entire family together. Instead of focusing on the present discomfort and desire for safety, you might even consider making a top 10 list of things you'd like to do that you would regret missing out on if you were to remain in a scarcity mindset and not do them. And finally, remember that net worth does not equal self worth. Ask yourself, what does a well lived life look like? You'll probably find that the answer has little to do with those savings balances. Preparing yourself mentally and emotionally for retirement can be challenging. There are plenty of financial and non financial adjustments you'll need to make to keep yourself happy and healthy. As you discover new interests and activities and secure your finances, you can look at retirement differently, taking advantage of time to do everything you desire along with the security and freedom you want. Fantastic. So thanks again for joining us. If you have any suggestions for future live events, I plan to do one on When's the best time to claim Social Security how to handle Health Care in retirement. Thanks so much for joining me today. Happy planning.