TRANSCRIPT:

Many spend their entire working lives yearning for retirement, but in our dreams of the golden years, we often overlook potential pitfalls like relocating to the wrong place or lacking a fulfilling social life. I’ve put together a list of the top regrets of retirees so that you can consider these items as you dream about your retirement and look forward to living the best retirement.

Hi, I’m Hunter Brockway, founder of Boca Retirement Strategies. Here to guide you to a successful, stress-free retirement while spending more and avoiding being killed in taxes. I want to see everyone living the best retirement possible. The essence of a fulfilling retirement lies in envisioning it beyond mere numbers on a calculator. So, when you envision your retirement, consider some of these top regrets of retirees, which can include (but not in any particular order):

Moving to be near family. In today’s work age, people don’t stay in one job for an extended period of time. Often, people job hop and move to accept new jobs. Retirees regret when they pick up their lives and move closer to the kids and grandkids, but then the kids move again with the grandkids in tow. You may not feel like moving every few years, especially when you’ve got established routines, places you like, and a social circle, which plays an important role in retirement. That leads me to number two on the list.

Neglecting social connections. Retirees lament not staying in touch with family or friends or failing to nurture a vibrant social life. Building and maintaining social connections can enhance longevity and cognitive health. The next regret is waiting too long to retire when they were ready. It may sound weird to you now if you’re more than a couple of years from retirement, but we spend our whole lives working and saving. Flipping that switch in our brain to say, “Okay, I’m going to stop receiving income from an employer and instead spend down my savings” can be very difficult. One of the number one concerns of people retiring is running out of money or outliving their money. Have a retirement income strategy in place to make sure you remain independent and maintain dignity in retirement and can withdraw money during a multi-decade retirement of rising cost of living, regardless of the ABS and flows of the market, like our guardrails approach to retirement income.

Of course, you don’t want to retire too soon if you’re not financially or mentally ready, which in a way can play into the next regret, number four.

Retiring from something and not to something. When people get fed up with work and retire just to stop working, but with no real plan of what they want to do in retirement, they sometimes feel they’ve lost purpose and sometimes even become depressed. If you truly love to golf every single day or lie by the pool every single day, all the power to you. But envision your retirement and live out a retirement that fulfills you. You’ve worked your whole life for this.

Another regret is overlooking alternate work options. We can take some of the same lessons from the last point. Some people enjoy keeping their minds sharp and a routine through potentially part-time or consulting work. The one great thing from the pandemic is the growth and the ability to work remotely in consulting-level work. If you’re retiring, chances are you’ve become an expert in your field, and someone, somewhere, is willing to pay for that expertise.

Number six on the list is waiting too long to seek professional help. Now, I’m biased on all of the points in this video because I want to see people living their best retirement, so this one’s no different here. But yes, if you seek help from a financial planner a few years after you’ve pulled the trigger on retirement, there are not as many planning opportunities or options. Not to say we don’t help people in that scenario because we do. However, the optimal time to receive the most planning benefits is a handful of years out from retirement.

Last but not least on the list is not living with intention. One of my favorite quotes is, “Smart men learn from their mistakes, wise men learn from others’ mistakes.” So get out there, live your life with intention, and consider other retirees’ regrets when dreaming about your retirement and live your best retirement.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay on top of the latest planning. If you want to know more about how we help our clients live their retirement to the best, you can schedule a brief chat on our website at bocaretirement.com or send us an email at contact@bocaretirement.com.

Enjoy your successful retirement, and thank you for watching. Bye.