RETIREMENT PLANNING- IT'S TIME TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX

Neal A. Deutsch, CFP^®

Published in Rivertown Journal, March 2010

If you go from person to person and ask them their definition of retirement, it will vary as much as the color spectrum. Everybody has their own concept and vision of what it will look like once you don't have that day to day obligation to be at work. Some think about it from the day they start working (that's a lot of thinking!) and some don't think about it until a month or day before. What does this have to do with retirement planning? Well, retirement is what you make out of it. Where, when, how…within reason, it's all up to you. Here's the retirement story of two of our friends- you judge the coolness factor!

Hiram and Matilda Schlomer (as in Dragnet, the names were changed to protect the innocent. What's Dragnet? You're not ready to retire yet!) were from Pleasantville New York. Hiram was a career photographer belonging to the Photographers Union local something or other. Matilda was famous for her expertise as a party planner, from everything from street festivals to Bar Mitzvahs. Both were always free souls, met at Woodstock and continued to live the dream of someday attaining retirement. Hiram always said he was "saving with no attachment to preference" meaning that he knew he was saving for something later on in life though he just didn't know what. "We didn't know why we were saving- we just knew we were supposed to and would find out at some later date."

About four years ago while out to dinner one evening Hiram shared with me that he woke up one morning and figured it out. They went on to explain to me that it was time to use the retirement money from Hiram's 401(k) and Matilda's pension plan. It was time to take it on the road. In the next 6 months they planned the sale of Matilda's business, the giving away of just about all their possessions, selling the house, and when it was all over they packed up their old Volvo station wagon and set out- for no place special. At first I heard from them every month and then when the time was right I would receive an email from them from just about anywhere. All around the country, studying with the Dalai Lama, Egypt, India- well, you get the idea. They decided to do this for 6 months to a year…and it's been four years so far! Now c'mon…you know you'd like to try it! To me, the definition of retirement can be anything you would like it to be. Some become couch potatoes and some babysitters; some play the best golf of their lives. You can travel or stay at home to reflect on your 60 or so years of life or go back to school and learn something entirely new. You can work part-time or volunteer, and you can teach others that which you spent your life learning. The lesson here? Retirement is what you choose to make out of it. Most folks spend so much time getting to that magic date, but have not spent any time looking at what it would look like. It's not about planning but about dreaming- you worked so hard, raised kids, paid for college and a few weddings: now it's your turn. Anybody who knows me knows my theory on life: make it good- you only get one chance to go around in this body…don't waste even a day!

...And in case you were thinking of retiring without giving it any thought about what you want to do with the rest of your life, just remember- one of the dictionary definitions of to retire is "to put out of service…" Not quite what you were thinkin', huh?

If hearing from me once a month isn’t enough, come visit me in our new blog site at www.chestnutblog.com.  If you think I’ve got pearls of wisdom here…you ain’t read nothin’ yet! See you there!

Neal A. Deutsch is a Certified Financial Planner^™  & Registered Securities Principal, offering securities through First Allied Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.  Neal is President of Chestnut Investment Group in Suffern, NY, helping people with financial planning since 1984. Please feel free to call Neal at (845)369-0016 or email him with your questions at neald@chestnutinvestment.com.

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