Silver Oak Insights

Approaching Retirement is More Than A Life Change, it is a Life Transition.

by | Aug 21, 2014 | Financial Transition & Planning

Transitions

 

YOU’VE JUST CELEBRATED YOUR 55TH BIRTHDAY. You muse that thoughts of “how and when can I retire” are beginning to circulate more and more frequently and loudly in your head. You find yourself beginning to mentally assess your current financial picture. The nest egg you’ve accumulated – is it enough? “Is my current investment strategy appropriate for my time of life? Am I saving enough? When and how can I ultimately make work optional?”

So many questions. Sometimes the worry feels palpable. Anticipating this looming transition evokes questions. Where to start? It is only natural to begin thinking about retirement (let’s call it your “Second Half” of life) with questions about quantifying the means to your end. However, the financial questions often drown out the anxiety which can hinder your decision making. Ignoring the emotional drivers behind the worry can and will impede your progress.

RetirementLet’s launch a new conversation now around your “second half of life” transition. For a life transition it is. Let’s begin with helping you to create a safe mental space from which to visualize what your life activities will be, along with the meaning and purpose for your money when earning a living is no longer your preoccupying focus. Let’s be “thinking partners” in this process. Even with 5+ years of work ahead of you, welcome to the anticipation phase of a life transition.

Navigating a life transition is very different from managing change, where the latter involves simply rearranging, replacing or reintegrating the pieces affected by the change. A life transition, involves a longer, internal “metamorphosis,” a life process wherein we are actually moving from one state of being to another. Not unlike a caterpillar’s challenging transition through its chrysalis passage to its emerging as a butterfly, a life transition is never a smooth, linear event. It’s often a disruptive experience. It calls for more than technical, quantitative planning skills on the part of an advisor.

In the 50 + age demographic, nearly all of us (all of the time), are either anticipating or in the midst some sort of life transition, and money is a key component. Retirement is just one example where we are often “at sea” in understanding and coping with the uncomfortably new feel of our surroundings. We find ourselves suddenly faced with having to make big decisions about our money that will impact us positively or negatively for the remainder of our lives.

Your situation is not unique, but finding an advisor with the expertise to provide effective guidance during this life transition is.

Silver Oak believes that transition expertise matters.

 This article is from the Summer 2014 TRANSITIONS newsletter. To view the full version, please click here to read more articles written from our advisors


Eric D Bruck

 

 

 

Eric D. Bruck, CFP®, has provided comprehensive wealth guidance since 1981. Eric’s clients lead successful but often complex financial lives, and appreciate that the true value of well-managed wealth lies in the quality of life it supports.

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