How I’m Talking To My Mid-Career Clients About Redefining Retirement

More Americans are turning 65 right now than at any other point in our country’s history, which means that more Americans are thinking about their retirement planning than ever before.

When I consider this fact and its implications for future generations, I consistently return to the idea that the concept of “retirement” holds a meaning entirely different today than it did in the past. 

What I’m Telling My Clients

Rethinking What Retirement Means

When I discuss retirement planning with my mid-career professional clients, we hardly ever do so in the context of a “traditional” retirement: working in the same straightforward way for years and then, at age 65, immediately retiring and never earning another dollar again. (My head immediately goes to the TV dad that complains about grinding for the next 20 years so he can sit on a beach the day he retires).

Already, for many people currently in their 60s, the concept of retirement has changed. As life span and health span (the number of years a person lives in good health with a high quality of life) increase, people in their 60s seek to remain more engaged and relevant professionally. Furthermore, they have more time and energy to explore outside interests, passions, or avocations than people their age did in the past.  

Put another way, based on lifespans and health spans, 65 really is the new 45! 

Financial Independence Over Never Working Again

To my mid-career professional families, planning for “retirement” does not simply mean putting together a blueprint never to have to work again. Instead, when new clients mention wanting to “plan for retirement,” I know what they really mean is that they aspire to financial independence. We can define financial independence as being able to do what you want, with whom you want, for as long as you want, without being at the mercy of a paycheck. 

Given this, my job is not to tell my clients to save every dollar possible for retirement or to avoid the finer things in life until they are 75 (even if that’s how the role is perceived culturally). It’s to help them prioritize ways of spending today that will bring them the most joy, memories, and gratitude.

Defining Your Own Version of Retirement

Successful retirement planning is about striking the right balance between supporting your current lifestyle and saving enough to support your future income needs. It means mapping out what you want to achieve now and what you want to achieve in retirement.

It can mean aiming to retire at 60 or “semi” retiring at 55 and powering down gradually. It could mean retiring from your corporate job at age 55 and then earning money as a consultant for the next 10 years, as you can now take on clients, projects, and a level of time commitment that suits you. It could mean retiring at 70 (but because you want to keep working, not because you need to), or it can mean that your retirement age isn’t that important to you because you have other goals that drive you. It can mean committing to working in big corporate law for another 10 years, earning the high income that comes with it, before feeling comfortable enough to pursue what you really want to do. 

The Bottom Line

Simply put, retirement planning is a form of life planning. The sooner you start planning and saving for all your goals, the better prepared you will be for retirement… however you define it!