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Have Open Talks About Retirement Planning

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airport wall sign it only gets easier from here when retirement planning

I love reading the news. As I get older, I’m coming to appreciate well curated sources for news. One of them is Morning Brew. It’s a FREE daily news recap written in a very casual conversational tone.

Well, the Morning Brew team have launched a twice-weekly newsletter focused on money matters called “Money Scoop”. It’s a nice blend of proven money strategies and new money trends (like cryptocurrency). One of their recent articles caught my eye, “3 Questions to Ask Your Parents Before Retirement”. The article was focused on the conversation that younger people should have with their parents to make sure their parents are prepared for retirement.

As I was reading the article, I was reminded that conversations go both ways. So yes, if you’re a younger person worried about how your parents are preparing for retirement, then by all means – ask them. But if you’re an older person preparing for retirement, have you started sharing information with your loved ones?

We’ve talked before about estate planning and making sure that loved ones know your final wishes, but I think this is something different. Do you have enough money to sustain your retirement?

If the answer is YES, then great! That’s quite the achievement. Saving for retirement isn’t easy.

It does raise the question about how much you expect to pass on in terms of inheritance. And do your loved ones know? I mean, are they expecting an inheritance? I know individuals who will need an inheritance to buy their own home. If they don’t get it…well, they will be surprised. And possibly upset. Does it make some sense to have conversations about what you expect to pass on to heirs?

If the answer to the “have enough money” question is NO, well…then do you need to talk with loved ones about how you’re going to manage?

This is nothing to be ashamed of – not having enough money to retire. According to Synchrony Bank, the average American in their 60s should have 8-10 times their annual salary in retirement savings. That’s a lot! There are many reasons that individuals do not reach that goal including housing expenses, health care expenses, and education expenses. But it doesn’t change the fact that a person might need help. Waiting until the last minute to ask for money or resources isn’t helpful to anyone. Start thinking about how you’re going to approach that conversation.

Regardless of the answer to the retirement planning question, I realize this is a difficult conversation. It’s possible we don’t have all the answers. On some level, retirement is an unknown for many of us. We might not have the answers for a long time.

But talking with loved ones about our plans could help to put our minds at ease. The people around us know we’re okay. They know we’re thinking about our plans and taking all the right steps. And if we need help or guidance, that we’re comfortable asking for it. Better to start those conversations now.   

Bookmark This! The Estate Planning Edition

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let's disrupt aging sign

I know that all of these “special days” and “special months” might seem a bit excessive, but in some cases, I believe they might be helpful. For example, October is estate planning month. Let’s face it, we probably don’t want to talk about estate planning. So maybe having an estate planning month kinda reminds us that it’s important and we need to work on it.

Regular readers of Unretirement Project know that Keith and I have been writing about this topic for a while. We’ve been working on our estate plans on and off for a couple of years. Yes, that’s not a typo. Estate planning can be complicated. One document might not cover everything. So, if you’re looking for some resources to start your estate planning process, here are a few articles to get you started:

Loved Ones Must Know Your Health Care Wishes

It might take some time to figure out how you would like your health care treatment handled and who you would like to be your spokesperson. And then of course, there’s the decision of backups in case your first choice isn’t willing or able to take on this responsibility. The point being, the process of putting these plans in place takes time. The ideal time to do all of this is when you’re not under the pressure of having to do it.

Make a FINAL File for Your Loved Ones

Talking about illness and death isn’t fun. None of us want to do it. I remember every time we visited my father-in-law, he would at some point have the “When I die…” conversation. On one hand, you dread it. That’s not why you came to visit. It’s to enjoy his company. But when his health did start failing, we were prepared. And it allowed us to focus on making his final days comfortable versus worrying about papers, insurance, etc.

AARP Personal Estate Planning Course

The AARP Foundation offers a personal estate planning lesson book and record book for download. The documents might be a good way to start conversations like “Who should be my executor?” and “Do I need a trust?” The recordkeeping guide is just that – a place to record information in case someone needs it and you’re not in a position to tell them.

Estate Planning: 3 Important Takeaways

We found out quickly that you should have a Plan A, Plan B, and at least a Plan C when it comes to estate planning. It turns out that different states have different laws regarding things like taxes and executors. And if your will doesn’t follow the laws for your state, chances are the estate will be disposed by probate court. That could mean additional costly headaches for heirs and family.

Estate Planning: Remember Your Digital Life

Most of us can readily think of bank accounts, investments, and insurance when estate planning. But we tend to overlook who should be responsible for our digital streaming accounts when we can no longer Netflix and chill. Take a moment to think of the things you send to cloud storage, and you will see why planning for your digital estate is just as important as who gets your home or car when you’re gone.

Estate planning isn’t the sexiest activity, but it’s a necessary one. We want others to know our final wishes and we want them to respect them. The best time to put these plans in place is when you have the time and the budget to do it.

You Can Always Unretire

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airport sign change is in the air to show you can unretire

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

I saw an article on NPR titled “These Older Workers Hadn’t Planned to Retire So Soon. The Pandemic Sped Things Up.” It’s a good read about the question that some individuals faced during the pandemic – is it time for me to retire?

My takeaway from the article was that there are many factors that go into the retirement decision. It could be our health. Maybe money. Or it’s possible we’re just tired. And all those reasons are fine. But just because we made the decision to retire, doesn’t mean we can’t ever unretire. Athletes do it all the time. In fact, that’s where the name of this blog comes from. We don’t have to officially retire unless we want to.

While being retired right now could be perfect, a moment could arise when you might want to think about unretiring.

Your old boss might ask you to come back. It’s no secret that organizations are having recruitment challenges. A common strategy to finding candidates is to start calling former employees to see if they’d like to return. Keep in mind that the opportunity might not be at your same job with the same pay and benefits. And on some level that could be perfect.

Oh, and if the boss doesn’t call, no worries. You can apply if you’d like to be reconsidered. Of course, the organization will check your personnel file to see if you’re eligible for rehire. But there’s nothing wrong with expressing an interest to return. If your old company isn’t hiring, you can look at other organizations. Bottom line – there’s nothing wrong with going back to work.

Maybe you’d like to turn a hobby into a side hustle. There are very talented people who bake cakes, make jewelry, clean driveways, etc. They don’t want to go back to a “regular” job. They’re happy doing their hobby. But maybe it’s crossed their mind that it would be nice to make a little money on the side. Possibly just enough to cover their expenses.

If you’re planning to start a side hustle, make sure that you’re set up to run a business and accept payments. The last thing you want is for your hobby to turn into a hinderance. The good news is there are often local resources or online resources that can assist at little or no cost.

A volunteer gig turns into part-time work. We’ve talked before about how volunteerism can be a great way to give back during retirement. Well, not-for-profit entities need employees too. The organization already sees the great work you’re doing as a volunteer, and they might ask you to consider full- or part-time employment.

This could be wonderful way to combine your passion with getting paid. But I can also see the opposite happening. Some people might find getting paid for something they did previously as a volunteer to be less fulfilling. Ultimately, you know you and will have to make that decision.

As a human resources professional, I am wondering how many people who retired over the past year or so will entertain the idea of returning to the working world. And what that “work” will look like. The important thing to remember is that unretiring is perfectly acceptable. Make it what you want it to be.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of New York, NY

Unretirement Is About Change

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wall art flowers and box with saying creativity is contagious like change

I came across an article on Fast Company titled “5 Steps to Finally Making Changes in Your Life”. It’s a good read worth checking out. And it’s good timing to think about change.

During the pandemic, an increasing number of Americans have retired or started thinking about an earlier retirement. Many people are looking for a new opportunity, possibly toward an encore career. All these decisions can make sense depending on your personal situation. The thing they all have in common is change.  

Back to the Fast Company article, one of the steps that I found interesting was “choose an enjoyable path rather than a highly effective one”. It reminded me of that old saying “the journey is the destination”. When we’re thinking about changes, especially big changes, it’s a good reminder to choose an enjoyable journey. But what does enjoyable mean? I think that’s the part that will take some reflection.

TIME means different things to all of us. When we’re talking about change, is it better to take a long journey with small adjustments along the way or a short one with a big change? Does it depend on what the change is? Maybe a move to an encore career can happen quickly but the journey to full-time retirement could be slower.

FINANCES are something that we must deal with all the time. If we’re talking about change, we must ask ourselves if we can afford the change we’re thinking about. It’s possible the answer is “yes” but only if we make some modifications to our lifestyle. That means we have change on top of change. Are you ready for it? Maybe making some money decisions will change the time component.

PLACE is another area that means different things to each of us. In this case, I’m talking about location. Are you where you want to be when you make this change? Or do you need to move to start the change? During the pandemic, I’ve seen many people evaluate their living situation and decide that change is necessary. Moving is expensive, so making a long-term commitment to a place could be important.

PARTNERS are the people who will be taking this journey with you. They could be family or friends. If we’re ready to make a big decision, are they ready to join us? Will they be supportive? Is it going to be enjoyable for them? Keith and I often talk about what our life will look like if one of us decided to retire and the other person didn’t. Those conversations need to happen, or the enjoyable part of the journey might not.

RESULTS should be flexible. I’m a big fan of Lewin’s change model which is basically three steps:

  1. Unfreeze, which is recognizing the need for change.
  2. Change, meaning develop a new habit/routine/etc.
  3. Refreeze, which is settling into the new normal.

One of the things that I like about the model is the implication that there’s always something unfreezing. While I believe it’s important to make good goals and work toward accomplishing them, it’s okay to change your mind. If you decide to retire and then decide to unretire, that’s totally cool.

Anytime we’re thinking about change, it makes sense to ask the question “How can I make this change an enjoyable one?” Honestly, that doesn’t mean that everything will go perfect. There could be some unexpected bumps along the way. But if we plan for an enjoyable journey, it’s very likely that we will have more things go right than wrong.

P.S. Speaking of change, regular readers of Unretirement Project have probably noticed that we’re publishing articles less frequently. All is good. We’re healthy. The reason for our irregular schedule is because I’m writing a book. Actually, the better way of putting it is that “we’re” writing a book because it ends up becoming a family event. Ha.Ha. Anyway, I’m super excited about it and promise to share more details later. But taking on the commitment to write a book, means that we need to shift other priorities. So please stick around and enjoy the articles…just a little less frequently for now.

Look For Home Safety Concerns As You Age

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Clue logo looking for home safety concerns

While we’re just starting to see some drops, prices for new and existing homes have steadily and significantly increased during the past year. Construction materials – particularly lumber – are in short supply. It only makes sense that home remodeling projects have increased as well. Some individuals might opt for a renovation instead of a home purchase.

There are lots of reasons that individuals and families are evaluating their housing situation. It’s a good reminder that at some point in our retirement planning, we should start asking ourselves some questions about where and how we want to live.

  • Do I want to stay in the same city? Or try someplace new?
  • Should I move closer to family?
  • Do I want to live in a house? Or a condo?
  • What are the home features that are important to me in where I live?

Maybe one of the more important questions we should ask is “How will my home needs change as I age?”.

The New York Times recently had an article about “Aging in Place Comfortably and Stylishly” that talked about how people are thinking about where they want to spend retirement and how they want to live. I was reminded of some of the questions that Keith and I asked ourselves when we made the decision to move to North Florida.

In The New York Times article, they mentioned an AARP app called HomeFit. It’s a free augmented reality app that can scan a room and suggest improvements to help with safety and mobility risks. The app is an extension of their HomeFit Guide, a free publication available in multiple languages with tips to make your home comfortable and safe as you age.

One of the things we tried to focus on when building our current home is being able to age comfortably, safely, and stylishly in our home. In fact, this is something we continue to think about. For example, almost every home we’ve ever lived in had really tall ceilings – like 20+ feet. Not this house. For safety reasons, we don’t want to be climbing on ladders when we’re older. And our home still looks nice – at least we think so.

I did some playing around with the HomeFit app and it provided some safety suggestions to consider when it comes to making sure that rooms have good lighting and aren’t arranged in a way that would encourage a slip or fall. I don’t know that I have to act on all these suggestions right away; but as we’re decorating, it’s something to keep in mind.

Regardless of your age, having a safe and comfortable home is important. Apps like HomeFit can help us think about design elements that are both stylish and safe. And as we make long term decisions about our living arrangements, we can plan not only to have something beautiful for today…but safe for our retirement.

Retirement Planning: It’s About More Than Just Not Working Anymore

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wall art everything is figuroutable like retirement planning

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing older workers to examine their job options. In an article on CNN.com, an economist mentions that young workers’ participation in the labor force has almost fully recovered, while older workers and women are recovering more slowly. I’m sure this has prompted individuals to say to themselves, “Am I ready for retirement?”.

Making the decision to retire involves more than simply deciding not to work anymore. It includes financial planning (Do I have enough money?), healthcare planning (Can I take care of my medical needs?), and emotional planning (Am I emotionally ready?). Over the past year, we’ve written about some of these topics and we thought it might be helpful to have them as a reference in one place.

Retirement Planning: 5 Reasons to Have a Stop Working Date

It’s very easy to simply pick the government’s age for collecting Social Security as your retirement date. But if I had a dollar for every person who turned 62 or 65 and said, “I’m not ready yet.” I would be retired right now. LOL! No one is holding you to that date. It’s simply a placeholder for planning. And retirement planning is important.

Retirement Success: We Need to Learn About Happiness

Happiness means knowing what will make us happy. In our retirement life, we will often have to deal with trade-offs. For example, we can travel often but our accommodations might be economy. Versus traveling less but more luxuriously. Or we can retire earlier but it means downsizing and paying off a mortgage. Or we can work longer, but it means becoming a freelancer or contractor without corporate healthcare insurance. For us to make good decisions, we need to truly understand what makes us happy. 

5 Ways We Can Bridge Our Retirement Gap

Statistically, we know that people are living longer. The challenge is that we’re not financially preparing to live longer. The financial shortfall between how much we need for retirement and how much we have has been labeled “the retirement gap”. The retirement gap is a global retirement planning issue and it’s growing, especially in the United States. The bottom-line is that individuals need to prepare for retirement because Social Security wasn’t designed to cover 100% of our retirement expenses. 

Is It Possible to Flunk Retirement

In today’s business world, we appear to be much more accepting of failure than ever. Billionaires like Sir Richard Branson and Spanx founder Sara Blakely remind us that it’s okay to make mistakes. But I can see how people could feel different about flunking at 20 than flunking at 60. We have to view our unretirement and retirement as a journey. A journey that starts early in life. Will there be stumbling blocks and changes along the way? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean we’ve flunked life or our retirement. It does mean that we need to find ways to adjust.

The Pros and Cons of Being a One Car Household

One of the things to consider in retirement planning is transportation as in, “How much do you want to drive?” The answer might prompt you to take some action like moving from the suburbs to a more walkable community. Or maybe downsize vehicles to something smaller and/or more fuel efficient. Or you might do what we did and simply become a one-car household.


Should You Keep “To-Do” Lists After You Retire

As a person who likes to plan, I make lists. Granted, all of my lists aren’t created equal. For example, I plan our meals using lists. It helps us save money on groceries and we don’t waste food. I also have a list of small tasks that I need to complete during the day like “buy tickets to see Bohemian Rhapsody on Friday”. I can’t imagine when I retire that I would stop making those types of lists.

Regardless of where you are in your retirement planning process, making sure to think about all of the aspects involved in retirement is important. I’d like to think that anyone considering retirement wants to know they’re as ready as they can possibly be for the future. 

Can Remote Work Be a Way to Phase Into Retirement?

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Right now, older workers are trying to make some decisions about their future careers and asking a number of important questions. Can I continue to work onsite? Maybe it’s time to retire? Or should I think about transitioning to an encore career? These are all very valid. There’s one other question to consider: Is it possible that remote work might help me achieve my retirement goals?

I recently listened to The Retirement Wisdom podcast, “Can Working Remotely Beat Ageism?”. The guest for this episode was Kerry Hannon, author of the book “Great Pajama Jobs: Your Complete Guide to Working from Home”. I will admit that the title of the podcast gave me a bit of discomfort. As a human resources professional, I hate the fact that ageism exists. But the realist in me understands that it does. And sadly, that it’s not going away overnight.

In the podcast, Hannon says that one of the biggest benefits to working from home is beating ageism. For organizations and individuals. Organizations can have older professionals work remotely and not worry about whether that person fits in with the younger members of the team. Older workers can benefit from being evaluated on their performance results and not how they look or act. 

Again, let me say that I hate, hate, hate ageism. And I particularly hate that Hannon’s remarks have some truth in them. But instead of thinking about remote work as a way to beat ageism, is there a way to think of remote work as part of a phased retirement strategy? Organizations benefit because they are able to keep skilled workers longer. Older workers can benefit by being able to still contribute while (possibly) downsizing to their forever home, commute less so they can fulfill caregiving responsibilities, and continue to save for their financial future.   

But working remotely doesn’t mean easier work. If you’re intrigued by the idea of using remote work as part of your phased retirement strategy, here are a few things to consider:

Do you want to be an employee or a freelancer? One of the first things you have to decide is how you want to pursue remote work. If you’re working for an organization that allows working from home, then great – you could be set. And if you don’t or you’re currently looking for a new job, do you want to make remote work one of your job must-haves? 

Do you have enough workspace? I mentioned earlier that part of your retirement strategy might be moving to a smaller home. If you’re planning to work from home, do you have the space to do it? In our last home, Keith worked in the dining room. With our new house, he has his own space and that’s important. 

Can you setup your workspace with equipment and technology? Once you have a designated workspace, you’ll need to think about what it takes to be productive. When we work in an office, we take for granted that we will have a desk, chair, and computer equipment. With high-speed internet. Getting the remote work office setup you want could involve spending some of your own money. 

Are your skills current? I believe working from home involves some different skills. A couple that immediately come to mind are technology and time management. You’ll want to take an inventory of your skills and decide if there are any you want to update or add. And you’ll want to find ways to gain those skills while working from home. If you’re accustomed to taking a class at your worksite, now you might read a book or take an online program. 

Are you mentally and emotionally ready? I’ve worked from home for over a decade. Socializing is different. You don’t have people to collaborate with all the time. There are distractions and temptations all the time. Some of them are fun (like cute panda videos) and then there’s doomscrolling. You have to figure out how to not snack all day and when you’re going to exercise. All of this contributes to the work from home experience.

Regardless of what’s going on with the pandemic, remote work has been increasing in popularity for quite some time. Is it possible to take advantage of a growing trend and make it a part of your retirement strategy? Possibly, but it takes planning so you’re ready when the opportunity presents itself.