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Do you work for the money?
For the fame? For the love of the game?
For your family? Out of a sense of duty?
…to scuba!?
We all have our rhymes and reasons to do what we do. Your reasons might not make sense to me. They don’t have to! We each get to choose.
Retirement is no different.
We all want different things from retirement. Your goals and mine might differ. Heck – your multiple goals might even conflict with one another!
We talk past one another when we fail to realize how widely our goals may differ. Your goals will dictate your smartest path. My path might look different. Both paths can be correct at the same time.
Below is a partial list of the many varied retirement goals that I can think of. Some might resonate with you. Others will feel foreign. That’s the point.
- Maximizing total wealth.
- Maximizing how much we spend in life.
- Minimizing our stress.
- Minimizing some “probability-of-failure” metric
- Making life as simple as possible.
- Minimizing how often we have to think about money.
- Smoothing your standard of living.
- Protecting against the “worst case.”
- Avoiding outliving your money.
- Avoiding dying with too much.
- Maximizing your healthy years.
- Minimizing regret.
- Maximizing flexibility and optionality.
- Leaving a legacy.
- Retiring as early as possible.
- Minimizing lifetime taxes.
- Protecting a surviving spouse.
- Preserving independence and dignity.
I’m sure I’m missing dozens. But that’s a good start.
Your retirement decisions might look totally different from your friend’s. You both look at each other like you’re aliens. Why would you make THAT choice?!?!
Yet both of you can be correct. Different strokes for different folks.
What’s your biggest retirement goal?
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