Talking to a friend recently who had paid off a loan not too long ago, Dallas came to a conclusion: no matter how old you are, there is always something new on the horizon in life. Life is kind of like a series of milestones – every time you do something, or achieve something, there’s something new coming.
For example, if you get married, the next step might be saving for a house. Then you might save to have kids. Then you send your kids off to school. Then eventually your kids leave home, and you start thinking about your retirement. And in each of these steps, or life milestones, there are things you need to think about financially.
However, these ‘steps’ seem to stop once people hit retirement. After you retire, and you’ve saved enough in your retirement fund, what do you do then? These logical progressions often seem to stop, and people deal with it in different ways.
Over the years, we’ve found there are two groups of people. One group is happy to retire, relax and do nothing. The other? They can’t stand sitting around with nothing to do. We see many people in retirement making big life changes like moving house, or buying a caravan, or going on an overseas trip – often because they have been waiting a long time to do these things, or simply because they need to take that next step in their lives.
We work with a lot of retirees and we see a range of lifestyles. Some travel, some garden, some build things in their shed. Some socialise. And some simply relax and enjoy the slower pace of life.
There’s no right or wrong here. And the reason people want to make sure they have enough money to retire with is to have a choice. Choice is important and being able to decide what your next step will be is exciting. Our point here is simply to start thinking about it early on so there are no big surprises once you hit retirement age. For many, it’s a great chance to start something new. It’s a new phase of your life, and it should be celebrated no matter how you choose to spend it!
