Overthinking Retirement Income Planning

You can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine or scan Internet headlines today without seeing something about the challenges of retirement and new surveys about how unprepared people are. Yes, it’s a concern. But consider for a moment that, really, it’s a personal one.

You can solve your own concerns — you don’t have to tackle them on a national scale. To that end, break down your retirement income planning process into bite-sized steps, engage the help of financial professionals and do what’s necessary to start moving forward with planning for retirement. Then move on to the rest of your life, keeping retirement income planning on the peripheral.

When you’re actually in retirement, it’s important to stay on task but not obsess. Recognize that the first five years you may be working toward some of your long-awaited goals, like travel or starting a new venture. The important thing to bear in mind is that you probably won’t keep spending money at that same pace throughout your golden years. Those first few years you may run through some savings, but bear in mind that will eventually need to let up.

After a while, take a serious look at your retirement assets and review your budget. Is your retirement spending on track? Do you need to cut back or look at other ways to potentially increase your income?

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “5 things to think about on your journey to retirement,” from Vanguard, May 4, 2015.]

One of the keys to a successful retirement is to be realistic. If you never enjoyed golf before, that may not be the best use of your retirement years. Enjoy doing what you enjoy doing — it makes sense to keep it just that simple. If you always wanted to travel, start out by just thinking of one place you would really like to go. Focus on that trip; research it and put together a realistic budget based on how much it would cost for transportation, meals, accommodations, sightseeing, etc. It can be easier to work toward a tangible goal rather than an abstract idea.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “A Travel Planning Guide,” from BudgetYourTrip.com, accessed June 6, 2015.]

You may be familiar with the concept of creating problems that didn’t exist before by overthinking solutions or “helpful suggestions.” This is often combatted by the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” When it comes to retirement, careful and prudent saving and planning is best. The last thing you want is to not enjoy retirement because you’re too busy trying to figure how to enjoy it better.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “The impasse created by over thinking,” from PrimeTime Online, Feb. 24, 2015.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “8 Ways to Stop Over-Thinking and Find Peace in the Present Moment,” from TheMindUnleashed.com, Sept. 9, 2014.]

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that the brain operates most efficiently when people trying to learn a basic task use only the most essential functions.

In other words, there are parts of the brain normally engaged with high-level intellectual strategizing — for which there is always a time and place. However, using these particular brain functions can be detrimental when trying to learn or complete less complex tasks.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Why Overthinking Is Holding You Back,” from Huffington Post, May 14, 2015.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Don’t Overthink It,” from The Atlantic, May 2015.]

Whatever you do, try not to overthink it.  Planning for retirement is similar to how you’ve approached every other concern throughout your life. The more concerns you’ve had, the better equipped you may be to cope and problem solve. That’s one way to turn lemons into lemonade.

Another way is to rely on financial professionals, and that’s where we can help. Contact us for guidance, and we’ll help you understand the process.

We are an independent firm helping individuals create retirement strategies using a variety of insurance products to custom suit their needs and objectives.

This content is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided by third parties and has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual’s situation.

If you are unable to access any of the news articles and sources through the links provided in this text, please contact us to request a copy of the desired reference.

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