For the last several decades, you have been working towards a goal to retire here in the Tri- Cities area. Years and years of your time have been spent rising early, possibly making the long and congested commute to the Hanford site, working forty or more hours per week, and at times sacrificing family and fun in order to do so. During the course of this time, you have done your due diligence; you have created a solid retirement plan and can transition with confidence. Now the time you have been counting down to for so long has arrived.
You can FINALLY retire from the daily grind that employment brings and relish in this new phase of post-career life.
Your Dream Retirement Vs. The Reality of Your Retirement
While daydreaming about retirement, you may have had visions of traveling to exciting, far off places, taking morning strolls along the Columbia River at Howard Amon Park, or perhaps getting really serious about some hobbies you never quite had the time to pursue while in career mode. You envisioned picturesque sunny mornings on the porch at home while enjoying a hot cup of joe, and leisurely going about your day.
However, now that you have smoothly transitioned and you see these daydreams come to fruition, your mornings may not play out exactly as you had envisioned. Once the initial excitement and fanfare of retiring weans, you begin to face the reality that the goal you had worked so hard for all these decades is no longer there to be your driving force, and now you need to create new goals and activities to keep yourself active and motivated. This realization can be tremendously overwhelming for some that are newly retired, and can leave many starting each day thinking, “Well, what now?”
A Great Retirement Plan is More Than Just Financial Planning
During the planning process for your retirement, you focused on the numbers. You focused on what you wanted and what you needed financially to be happy and to be able to live the rest of your life to the fullest. All of your number crunching and tedious financial planning has now paid off. The money part of your retirement happiness puzzle is solved. You know you will not run out of money. You know you can do what you want and live comfortably for the next 30 or more years. However, there IS more to life than money, isn’t there?
Planning for the extracurricular pursuits of retirement is what some fail to do, and only arrive at this realization once they are sitting at home on a Monday morning in Kennewick wondering “What should I do today?”
A Certified Retirement Transition Coach Can Benefit You
At The Retirement Solution, we’ve seen our clients experience this disconcerting feeling. We know that not only is your daily schedule going to drastically change, but that during retirement you will also go through mental, social, physical, and spiritual transformations, as well. This is why our firm partners with a Certified Retirement Transition Coach to help you find the non-financial tools and resources to further enhance your retirement experience.
As a Certified Retirement Transition Coach, Pete Finlon is inspired by the challenge to help those preparing for retirement bring clarity and purpose to the non-financial aspects of post- career life. Pete is available to work closely with you to provide insight to the ever-changing world of retirement transition and help you make the most out of your second phase of life.
Your Retirement Planning Questions Answered by Coach Pete – For Free
In May, The Retirement Solution planners partnered with Pete to bring a live webinar experience to you in the comfort of your own home. These webinars allowed you to really take a dive deep into some of your non-financial questions and concerns about how to fully embrace your newly retired life. It was a lively discussion that ranged in topics from considerations to make when deciding to downsize, to how to manage caring for your aging parents and your own children at the same time. Pete is available to answer specific questions from clients, and you may reach out to him here if you prefer a more one-on-one approach or a have a specific non-financial topic you would like to address: https://TheRetirementSolution.com/about/ask-a-retirement-coach/
After all that you have worked for and achieved, striving for post-retirement joy should be fun, pressure-free, and a consistent ambition that is flexible enough to adapt to what YOU determine you want to do next. In the next two pieces of this three-part blog series, you will have the opportunity to explore what some other retirees from Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, West Richland, and the surrounding areas are doing with their time to stay vibrant and connected, and also what fun and exciting things await your exploration right here in Eastern, WA.
We invite you to read Part 2 and Part 3 of our 3-part blog series to see how you can Retire Right in the Tri-Cities!
Your Plan for Retirement in Tri-Cities Part 2
Your Plan for Retirement in Tri-Cities Part 3