Retirement With Mental Nimbility
People need to have the ability to stay nimble in retirement-nimbility! This is the first article in a three-series post to discuss this topic.
Many of the people we serve have spoken and unspoken worries about Alzheimer’s and other related mental illnesses. They worry about losing it… whatever “it” might be. Elaine and I are in our early 60’s, but we have already given our children permission to confront either of us if they get any inkling that we are “losing it.” It can be very tough to see yourself beginning to decline mentally.
You might ask: “I thought Destiny Capital was a financial advisory business. Why are you talking about clinical psychology to me?” To be a successful financial advisory firm, we want to care for each client as a whole person. If you look closely at our logo, you will notice that the destiny part is in bold letters. The destiny of people is more important to us than the capital part. Our task is to harness the capital to support the DESTINY of each client.
Years ago a long-term client, a computer programmer and customer support person working for a Fortune 500 company, got caught in the “rightsizing” of the company. He received a severance package and a pink slip. This decision by his company put us right to work revising our planning for him. The financial forecast after these adjustments still showed significant deficits. It was time to get nimble.
He went back to school using some of the severance for tuition and received a teaching certificate. One of the local community colleges retained him to teach applied mathematics, knowledge obtained from his undergrad and graduate school degrees 25 years ago. The community college pays him well, just enough to bridge the gap in their financial plan. She thought: “If he has to work for another eight years, what would happen if I chipped in with some other kind of work?” So, she took a job coordinating a real estate agency.
After six years, their financial plan has closed all of the deficit gaps. During a planning review, we stretched out the ribbon, tasking them to cut the tape, beginning a long and circuitous route through retirement and financial security. They did it. They cut the ribbon, everyone applauded, mission accomplished! My clients, while happy, were really quiet. Finally, they looked up with tears in their eyes and said: “We never thought we would be in this place in our lives. And now that we are here, we have discovered something. If you want to stay young, hang around young people. They keep you mentally nimble!”
They went on to ask us to rerun the numbers, adding five more years to the working phase of life. Discovering one’s destiny is freeing. Neither of them worked the additional five years for money. The joy of continuing to be productive and to pour their lives into young people was fulfilling. They were now working to stay mentality nimble. Mental nimbility is an important aspect of retirement, one that adds to the quality of life. A successful financial adviser thinks about these elements of life.
Have any questions? We’re here to help!
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