This article could easily be titled Why I Don’t Like the Word “Retirement”. To me, the word "retirement" suggests some sort of finish line at the end of a career. It assumes that you are going to slow down, check out, and put your feet up until it all ends. That never really resonated with me.
What we see with so many of our high-achieving clients is that once you’ve crossed the line of “enough,” the question changes. We aren’t playing the retirement game of, “Do I have enough?” We embrace the mindset of, “What keeps my fire lit in every season of life?”
This is what we talk about at the heart of the Envizion More process. Today, I wanted to look at a couple of the sources of fuel we see that keep our clients’ fires lit.
Spheres of Influence
To me, there is no currency like influence. Influence isn’t bought or won through force. It’s created by the investments we make in others in each sphere of influence we have. If we get disconnected from others, a lonely life is a passionless life.
As a part of the financial planning process, we encourage our clients to ask who they want to make intentional investments of time and money into:
- Kids
- Grandkids
- Ministries
- Organizations
- Mentor opportunities
The more intentional we get here, the more purpose we find in our lives. And yes, this is a financial planning conversation.
Peak Earning Years
This is a unique one. Most people recognize that there is a unique opportunity that comes with their peak earning years. We are able to accelerate wealth creation in so many cases. We see this as a unique focal point of the planning process, and we often use the word stewardship to describe it. How do we make the most of our peak earning years, and not just financially?
One executive client we work with had already crossed the financial independence line. His lifestyle and retirement were fully funded. He wasn’t interested in coasting to the finish line. In this instance, we showed him that while he could retire today, what would it look like to work for another 5 years (until he was 60) and fund $2-3M of charitable giving? In just 5 years! What an incredible net impact! What leverage of his peak earning years!
Everyone’s Envizion More looks different, but we want to think differently about earning power when we aren’t focused on a “finish line”.
Post-Traditional Income Years
If you haven't caught the theme yet, we don’t lose this sense of purpose when we exit our careers. Many of our clients take a non-linear approach to work, including partial retirements and professional mentoring. Others continue to be active with their time, volunteering for great causes or being available to support grandchildren.
While many of these conversations are rooted in a financial conversation, the focus is on the why of the dialogue. We want to be instigators who help our clients better articulate and act upon their definition of a meaningful life.
Redefining Retirement
Perhaps the word “retirement” no longer fits. What if we stopped thinking about retirement as an endpoint and started thinking about it as an opportunity to envizion more?
More possibilities. More impact. More legacy. The question isn’t, “Do I have enough?”
The real question is: What would it mean for you to become the one who changes everything for those who follow?