How To Reach Your Retirement Goals

When I was a practicing investment advisor I specialized in retirement planning. I would meet with my clients, review their savings and investments, and discuss their goals. Our discussion would involve how much money they wanted in their retirement and how I could help them by managing their investments. If my clients were already retired we would discuss maintaining or creating the necessary income given their current investment and saving situation.

Saving for Someday
Because my objective was to help people reach their retirement goals, I would ask them about their goals as they related to money. The interesting thing is that most of the time the goal was about accumulating more money or increasing the return on their money or paying less tax on their money so they would be able to accumulate more savings (investment capital).

Now, I knew from the other group of clients who were already retired, and from my financial training, that we could work backwards and figure out how much income these pre-retired clients needed, then calculate how much investment capital it would take given certain returns on their investment, tax rates and inflation assumptions to achieve that income goal.

Lump-Sum LogicI remember very clearly the answer I would frequently get when I asked both retired and pre-retired clients about their income goals: "Just tell me how much I'll have and I'll figure it out from there".

The majority of people were looking for someone to tell them how much money they'd have so they could then live their life inside those parameters. Yikes!

Life Goals First, Then Money GoalsFast forward 10 years - I no longer manage money for clients, but help them take control of their life by understanding the world of money. I am constantly amazed at how foreign most people find this concept: figure out how much money you need in order to live the life you want.

More Money Is Not A Real Goal
Retirement planning, investment planning, financial planning is about reaching your goals - your goals. It's not about figuring out how much money you have now - or will have later - and living your life inside those walls. No wonder money is so frightening and stressful for so many people: if your primary decision criteria is about making sure you can 'pull something together' so you can make some sort of life for yourself, I think I'd be terrified of making a wrong decision or losing what I had, too.

Three Strategies to Shift Your PerspectiveGive yourself a gift - start to apply these 3 strategies to your financial life. You'll be amazed at how simple little shifts in perception will produce far better results.

1. Stop talking about retirement and instead talk about financial independence, which is all about having the income you want and need to live your life outside of work… the way you want to live it. What do you really want to do and how much will it cost - per month?

2. Whenever you make financial decisions, think in terms of what the impact is to your income: how much income will an investment provide, or how much income will it take to support a purchase?

3. Make sure your financial advisors also understand an important and missing component to financial success: income planning.

Now watch your progress. As your clarity grows around what's really important to you, and you focus on what it really takes to reach those goals - the opportunities and strategies to make it happen come your way.