What’s Your Apple Pie Retirement?

What's Your Apply Pie Retirement Look Like?

A Retirement Coach Can Help You Find the Right Recipe for Happiness

I love engaging people in conversation about retirement. It’s fascinating and provocative to hear people’s thoughts and dreams about what they’re hoping for in their second chapter. Interestingly, the further away from retirement you are, the bigger the dreams are. The closer it gets, the more concern I hear as the mist of reality drizzles down. I hear small, whispered concerns, sometimes an eye-roll. Some of the most common concerns I hear are:

* I’m afraid I’ll outlive my savings

* Do we remain in our current home or downsize?

* Should we sell, should we buy, should we rent?

* I know I’m not “supposed” to live my life around my children but I want to stay

 active in their lives…

* I’m afraid of starting from scratch

* I can’t believe I’m this age – I still feel so young; it’s depressing

* I’m so done with my job; I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next

 (blank) years

* I’m afraid we’re going to kill each other with all that time together….

These are rich, sincere questions and concerns and it’s brave to put them into words and share them. When I engage folks in these initial conversations, even though there are often no specific answers, the process of communicating and letting those wheels turn is experienced as a “relief” and a connection over a complicated topic. What I find most troubling, however, is the non-conversation: the person who laughs, waves a hand at me and says, “Ha, that’s easy, I have no loss of ideas and interests; easy as apple pie…..” or “I’ll figure it out when I get there….” Maybe, but statistically lots of people “get there” without having done their focused research, without having done their recipe comparisons or shopping, and now they are staring at a stove, a cupboard full of right or wrong ingredients and not a clue about how to proceed.

And, statistically, these people who wind up hungering insatiably for what their mind, heart, and spirit truly needs wind up in DIRE physical and emotional crises.

Retirement Planning is Your Recipe

I can say I love apple pie, but I can assure you that my version of the perfect apple pie can be strikingly different than yours. Crust, no crust, warm, cold, nuts, no nuts, Macintosh or Granny Smith; they’re all Apple Pie, but the slice that lights up my world may be an easy turn-down for you. Retirement is a unique time in people’s lives because there’s no right answer and the abundance of possibilities can seem daunting. For example, your financial advisor can tell you somberly, “You need to continue to work” but that may only be true if you’re dug in to live exactly the way you’re living now. Although the bottom line is math and numbers don’t lie, there’s wiggle-room to earn less and spend much less or continue the lifestyle you’re accustomed to by finding ways to earn income. You decide. And, if you don’t know how to figure that out, that surely is a conversation in which you need to put energy.

No one can tell you what your next chapter should look and feel like. Folks tend to gravitate to what they know and feels familiar; however, it’s really by having conversations, learning and being curious that you get to expand your vision and think outside the box. Conversation is the first step in exploring your possibilities, all the different recipes out there. It is the first tactical maneuver you can initiate to get the ball rolling NOW, before retirement, so that every slice of YOUR pie is irresistible.

My expertise is helping people transition through all the changes that life offers.  As a Retirement Coach, my job is to help you successfully create a fulfilling, exciting new chapter.  No matter where in the world you are or how busy your life is, the phone, Skype, FaceTime, and the internet make our meetings easy to manage – or we can meet in person in the NYC / NJ area.  Let’s talk about how we can work together!