3 Reasons Retirement Planning Is Important for Your Future Happiness

Retirement planning is not just about financial security — it’s about the happiness and joy you’ll feel when you know you have a plan to reach your goals and live out your core values. 

Is financial security important? Absolutely. You wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy retirement without it. What retirement planning does is it takes your life goals and uses those goals to inform what financial security means to you and why .

Without this underlying foundation, it might otherwise be impossible to know when you’ve attained financial security. You risk being stuck in wealth-building mode, thinking you’ll feel better if you can just build in a little more “security.”

To be clear — this is not easy work. Determining the right threshold for financial security is different for everyone, and the emotional labor required to get comfortable with your specific threshold cannot be understated.

With the right financial planners on your side, careful retirement planning is more than just a financial strategy. It can help you experience more happiness, more fulfillment, and an increased sense of well-being in your golden years. 

Retirement is a time in our lives when we get to reap both the monetary and emotional benefits of a well-lived life. Here are three reasons why retirement is important for your future happiness:

Let’s dive into each of these in more detail below.

French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously wrote: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” While these words first appeared in a beloved children’s book, the sentiment is poignant for all of us. 

I’d like to take it one step further: A goal without a reason behind it is just a whim.

You see, there’s risk in setting financial goals if you don’t understand the reasons behind the goals. In other words, if you don’t know what the goals will help you achieve, they may simply be arbitrary numbers. Not only can arbitrary numbers be difficult to reach, but they’re also subject to change and increase if you do reach them. Consider the following example.

If you’ve decided you need $200,000 a year in retirement, why is that? Is it because you think $200,000 is more than enough to live comfortably, or is it because you know exactly what that $200,000 is going to afford you and why?

If you’re guessing about how much you think you’ll need to retire comfortably, you don’t really know if you’re undersaving or oversaving.

But if you know that $200,000 a year is what you need to pay the mortgage on the mountain cabin you’ve always wanted, cover first-class flights to Europe every year, and take into account any medical emergencies that might come up — then that’s a reasonable goal.

Retirement planning places your future well-being at the forefront. While it’s certainly not meant to sacrifice your current well-being and enjoyment, it balances what you need to live comfortably today with what you’ll need to live comfortably 10, 20, 30 years into the future.

According to the 2023 Fidelity Retirement Health Care Cost Estimate , the average retired couple aged 65 will need about $315,000 saved just to cover healthcare expenses over the course of their retirement. If you have a family history of cancer or chronic disease, those costs could increase exponentially. 

Retirement planning seeks to make sure the financial components of such diagnoses are covered. If or when you need expensive medical care, you’ll want to be free to focus on your physical and emotional well-being. Adding financial stress on top of that is a burden you don’t need to deal with.

Retirement planning may have an altruistic component as well. Believe it or not, retirement planning can have a positive impact on the world you’ll eventually leave behind as long as your retirement plan includes estate planning . 

Estate planning encompasses a holistic approach to estate taxes, inheritance planning, asset protection, and family succession planning. When the paperwork and big decisions have been sorted out ahead of time, the ones left to handle your affairs will experience a smoother transition. 

Comprehensive estate planning not only protects your loved ones — and prevents heated family arguments over your assets once you’re gone — but it also provides you the opportunity to leave detailed instructions for the legacy you’ll leave behind.

Whether you have specific charities or organizations you plan to support or want to give your descendants an edge toward reaching their goals, your estate plan executes decisions you would have made if you had still been able to make them yourself.

Ultimately, retirement planning is important because it gives you control. While we certainly can’t control everything in life, nor can we predict the future, we can make informed estimates about what we’ll need in the future and develop comprehensive plans to get there. 

At Five Pine Wealth Management , our team specializes in holistic financial planning , which is a fancy way of saying that we care about more than just your numbers. 

We care about helping you uncover what you truly want out of retirement and then figuring out what it will take to get you there. We care that your bases are covered in all aspects of your financial life — not just your investment strategy. And we care that you understand your retirement plan from start to finish so that you’re prepared to stay the course and make adjustments when necessary.

Serving clients in the Spokane – Coeur d’Alene area and all over the country, we’re excited to help you see how retirement planning can make a difference for your future. To get to know us and see if we can help, like our page on Facebook or fill out an inquiry form to schedule a free consultation call.

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