"Will I have enough money in retirement?"

As a financial planner, that's a question I'm asked very often. My usual response is to ask another question like,"What will you be doing in retirement?"

From a quantitative point of view, we need this information in order to estimate the income need in retirement, a prerequisite to answering the question about having enough.

More important to me, though, is finding out if my client has a well-developed game plan for a full and satisfying life in retirement, and for making the transition from hectic work life to a (likely) more leisurely pace.

In our practice, we spend a lot of time with our clients in the years leading up to retirement to help them develop this compelling vision of the future, and the specific activities which will support it.

We actually refer to the target as achieving "financial independence" – the day when working for pay is a choice, rather than a financial necessity. We have found that this is a very useful mindset for people to have. It frees their thinking from "retirement" simply being an escape from work, and helps them discover their deeper goals for their personal renaissance.

For some people, this involves a change of career, but might include continued work. Others have so many hobbies, volunteer pursuits, grandchildren, travel or other compelling interests that they can't wait to free up the time to do all the things they love.

What we want to avoid is a retirement that lacks purpose and vision, where a person might long to return to work in order to feel productive or fulfilled.

(A close relative of this is when the first spouse to retire can't wait for the newly-retired spouse to go back to work. That reminds me to beg you to make this a shared vision, which is discussed over a number of years.)

Summer is a great time to be doing a trial run on activities of all kinds, which is a terrific idea. You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive, so don't dive into the next 30 years of your life without kicking the tires and smelling the leather.

I've been amazed over the years at the big surprises that some people have experienced when they do this. Folks who had a demanding work schedule and could only squeeze in one golf game per week couldn't wait for retirement, so they could play every day. It turned out they loved it for the first month, then found they got bored with it.

This is not meant to single out golf, as I have seen this phenomenon happen with other activities, as well. The reality is that there will be surprises, and it is often impossible to tell what will really rivet your interest after retirement, until you have experienced it and spent some months at it.

I know people who have spent weeks simply catching up on sleep. When this was combined with regular exercise and new physical activities, they found this active lifestyle – which they had never had before and would have never dreamed of pursuing - was the lifestyle for them.

However, don't let the expectation of surprises be used as an excuse to not plan. Start with closing your eyes and visualizing a great future – your ideal renaissance. Think about how you feel, who you are with, what you are doing, where you are doing it. How will you ideally renew yourself physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually? Will you share your knowledge and experience by mentoring or volunteering? Will you learn new skills? Will you sail around the world?

Barbara Bowes of Bowes Legacy Group wrote a fabulous article on this topic in her Winnipeg Free Press column Working World. I recommend you read it, if you are within ten years of retirement. Here is a link:

I will cut off now, and leave you to think and dream. Besides, I have to be at the starting line in a few minutes for the last of five daily races in the LOWISA (Lake of the Woods International Sailing Association) annual regatta. (I am test driving
retirement for a couple of weeks.)
On that note, congratulations to Commodores Fred Finlayson and Rob Eby for organizing an incredibly successful event, and to Sue and Bob Webb for once again showing us their transom in head-to-head competition.

Like all of us, we're still learning!