Want to finally stop working and retire in peace. It's about more than quitting work and living off your savings in retirement reimagined. You'll discover how to have a fulfilled retirement that lets you enjoy travel, family time and freedom. And now here are your hosts, Ron Bernstein and Nicole Sullivan.
(00:24): Hi and welcome to the retirement reimagined podcast. My name is Nicole Sullivan. I am the co-founder of prism planning partners, and I'm a financial planner and I'm joined today by my wonderful partner and the managing member of our firm, Ron Bernstein. Hey Ron, how are you? Hey great, Nicole, how you doing?
(00:45): I am doing good. It is Monday. So, uh, the theme of work is a very timely one. when we're recording. Exactly. And I think too, you know, you know, and I've shared with a lot of people. I am expecting my first baby in a couple of months. And so this whole concept of work is just something that's gonna be on my radar for, oh God, at least the next 18 years, but probably a lot longer than that. Cuz now I have, uh, fun things like college too. start worrying about. So , it's been an interesting time, you know, especially coming out of a pandemic where everybody, yeah, I guess regardless of age is, you know, rethinking their, their passions and around work and how they can maybe better position themselves for bigger days ahead.
(01:30): Totally. And that's why I don't know for us, I think implementing more fun things, more creative things into work has been so cool, like doing this podcast. Absolutely. Um, is a great way to reach out to people and obviously kind of, uh, exercise a different side of our brains a little bit more. So I love it. And I, if nothing else we're, we're trying to encourage dialogue around this because you know, you can get caught up in reading other blogs about all this stuff, but it, it really makes sense to, to think through exactly what you're doing and hopefully, you know, we're creating that form here by, by doing this podcast.
(02:02): I hope so. I totally hope so. Very cool. Well, let's talk about the topic dejo, which is redefining work in retirement. And I think people who maybe are tuning into this might be thinking doesn't retirement mean I'm done working , you know. Yeah. I think we kind of define work at least in our scope as maybe retiring from your primary career. You're kinda breadwinning type career, but many people, regardless of, you know, how much you have saved regardless of age, we, we just find with a lot of folks that they want to keep contributing in some way, because they have a lot of energy
(02:43): And a lot of it is also contingent upon the type of careers that they have, you know, and, and they're departing cuz you know, being mostly involved in the service economy and us being a firm that, that plays in that space with age comes more wisdom. And, and I think people should recognize that there's tremendous contributions that can be made, you know, for folks who have something to share and, and, and to, uh, and, and that's why I, I, I really think the whole idea of redefining work and retirement is such a critical conversation to be having today because the economy needs folks to continue to be active.
(03:16): Yes. Oh yeah, absolutely. So, you know, big reasons for kind of thinking about work differently in retirement. The big reason I think is why do you wanna work? And I think, you know, Ron, to kind of what you have been saying in this episode and another, but you need to keep growing, you know, if you're not using your brain, if you're not stimulating your brain, it's, it's gonna decline. And I think a huge reason why many, many people wanna keep working regardless of your financial situation is just to keep the wheels in your head turning
(03:47): Yeah. Absent of, of working in retirement, you know, just for financial considerations that you just wanna make a few extra dollars maybe for a legacy or, uh sure. Or to do a few, uh, extra things that you couldn't do. Otherwise, this is probably as important. I is to continue to keep yourself cognitively in the game because it is a use it or lose it. It could be a very dangerous set of circumstances if, if you're not staying active cognitively.
(04:14): Absolutely. And, and, you know, expanding on that a little bit, you know, work provides so much more than a paycheck work provides routine. It provides structure, it provides socialization. Yep. It provides just a reason to kind of get up and, and get out and about in the morning. And so I think that it can be really, really challenging for people to go from working one day to nothing the next, you know, we've seen a couple of people, a couple clients of ours have sold businesses. And sometimes when these businesses sell, you literally go from being this crazy high powered busy executive on Friday to maybe not having a job and not having a place to go on Monday at first. I think it's great for folks you're getting caught up with life. You're getting caught up with the, you know, laundry list of projects around the house, but at some point maybe six months to a year, the you check off a lot of things on your list, you know, work and creating that structure for yourself can be a way just kind of help you get a little bit back in the game, I guess.
(05:15): Yeah. And you explore some of the reasons why you decided to retire in the first place and hopefully it wasn't a matter of you just saying, Hey, I've reached a certain age and, and I should be, you know, cuz this is how, you know, everybody else does it, but you know, it also, I think is important to understand that you're doing something you enjoy. And if there was a, a previous career that just wasn't doing it for you anymore, it, it provided you the flexibility financially to now explore other things. But please, by all means, you know, this is your ability to reboot. And you know, as you venture into that new space of retirement, you know, if you are exploring some type of, uh, work that it's something that really excites you and wants to get you out of bed in the morning.
(06:00): Absolutely. Yeah. Work in retirement should be fun. We like to tell people if you could have picked a different major in college, you know, what might that have been? And I think it's so fun. We've had, I'm just trying to think offhand a couple people, you know, maybe someone who worked in the sciences and built a really extensive career there, you know, found a whole new passion. I'm just thinking of one person in particular. And she's really been able to kind of use the creative side of her brain. Mm-hmm a lot more and it's been so cool as we work with clients for many, many years to kind of see what some of these, you know, second careers or even, you know, hobbies that people get really, really into could become a career. In some cases, people get really good at certain things.
(06:44): And if it's just something that you really enjoy doing, you know, to pass some time along then, you know, that's wonderful and even better, if you can make a few bucks at it. Yeah. But for you, you know, but uh, you know, it it's something that could be explored even well before you decide to actually officially retire because there is the aspect of, of gearing up for this and, uh, that could require some form of retraining or, you know, maybe going back to school, uh right. And, and finding things that, uh, just so you can, uh, hone in on these interests and then as well, perfect them.
(07:17): Absolutely. And kind of to that point too, you know, we've seen a lot of people maybe start projects, start consulting businesses, something like that once they've retired, all wonderful, but you know, wanna make sure that you're planning for those startup costs and things like that before you, before you go ahead and start something. Cause that's, that would be unfortunate if, uh, that broke the bank
(07:38): And there may be other ways too, to stay active within the industry that you are involved with, whether joining associations or just doing that consulting. And that would be a nice, easy way to transition as well. Even if, if, if you find that you're still passionate about what you do, but you just wanna redefine your role. Oh yeah. You know, a subtle way.
(07:58): Absolutely. Absolutely. There's no one right. Answer for how, you know, you can enter your retirement. I thought it was interesting, you know, you were talking Ron about how 65 is just kind of a arbitrary age that was randomly pegged and I know so many people anchor on social security or Medicare, you know, there's nothing wrong for continuing to work past 65. In fact, I think it's to be commended if you're able to do so physically.
(08:26): Yeah. I, I was going back and it was really exploring, you know, where we came up with age 65 and it goes back centuries actually. So, and it is very arbitrary. So please I would say, yes, I know social security, Medicare play into, you know, that financial freedom piece a little bit for some folks, but you know, with retirements extending, as we've discussed before possibly many decades, that there's just a lot of runway in which to operate with. So work can really serve a vital role in, in keeping you active as well as, uh, making sure your plan keeps to, you know, working for
(09:01): You. Yeah. Just so long as you know, you're not taking too much risk or doing anything to jeopardize your retirement, you know, some of the crazy crypto trading or house flipping or these things that require big investments. We, we generally like to discourage people from pursuing once they've retired, but you know, thinking all of these things through I think is important. Yeah. And filter a lot of what you hear either from other associates, friends, um, and also the media Right. Because Yes. Yeah. You, you got a little more time on your hands to delve into some of that. So just keep it in perspective. Yeah.
(09:37): And I think, uh, the final thing we wanted to just make sure we touched on today is personal growth through work in retirement, you know, and we talk about how you wanna keep using your brain so you don't lose it, especially, you know, maybe not right away at 65, but obviously wanna keep your cognition good through your eighties and nineties, because a lot of folks are more fortunate and able to live that long now. But I think we define retirement here at prison planning partners as being your time, your time, your freedom, your financial ability to kind of do what you want and not being beholden to a boss or to your kids or to just as many defined obligations. You know, it's funny because I'm kind of my, I personally myself, I'm mentoring that age of, uh, obligations. You know, I've got baby on the way, big obligation work, mortgage spouse, all these things. And for a lot of our 60 year old clients, you guys have all done that, you know? And so how do you control that time?
(10:39): I, I would say this, I mean, optimally, if you're in a situation where you're continuing to work because you want to, not because you have to, that would be a wonderful, uh, way to springboard into something because that opens up a lot of different opportunities and it doesn't necessarily require you to have to continue to work per se for a living. However, you can get into some other wonderful things like serving on a charity board or yes, uh, doing volunteer work and stuff like that, which has really wonderful benefits, you know, and giving back to the community, uh, and is also, uh, keeping you mentally and socially in the game.
(11:15): And I think there's just so many, you know, ways that you can help, especially as a healthy person in your sixties, seventies, eighties, you know, granted some, some people, you know, God bless their, their health maybe is not as good and they're not able to contribute as much. And that's totally, I'm not here trying to say everybody has to work because some people are, you know, physically and maybe mentally unable to do so. And you know, that's totally fine. And I, my heart goes out to you, but you know, I think if you're able to do something and contribute in some ways, especially in the earlier parts of retirement, I think it just can be really beneficial.
(11:49): It's really the one time of life, I think, because you've always given of yourself to your career, to your family, that you can now turn the tables and, and be a little more selfish, you know? Yeah. Start delving into things that you've been putting off that you would really love to do. And if you can channel it in a, a way that it's constructive, where it can benefit other folks and yeah. Know the better, if you can make a few dollars at it, like I said, great, if not, no big deal, but really just continuing to chart your course and to feel as though you're still living with a purpose.
(12:24): Absolutely. I think that makes great sense, Ron. Yeah. So if this whole concept of work and retirement and kind of just, how do you create that structure for yourself in retirement? Sounds a little bit daunting. I wanted to let you know about a resource that our firm has. It is called the week in retirement planner, and I will make sure to link to it in our show notes, but what this planner is a, an open week, morning, afternoon, and evening for seven days a week. And what we challenge you to do is fill out how you would ideally spend an average Monday afternoon or an average Thursday morning. And we have all kinds of ideas, even tips that our real life clients have used when kind of filling out their example weeks in retirement. So, you know, we'd encourage you to just download this, check out some of the other resources on our website, which is prism planning, partners.com. We have a blog, we have a host of videos, eBooks, a tremendous amount of resources. So would love to, uh, encourage you to visit our website and check some of those things out.
(13:29): And if I can just share one more great idea is do it with the spouse. yeah. You know, because that's a really important thing. See, you know, we're, you're aligned versus not, uh, because that may be very telling as well, you know, as far as having a happy, successful retirement. Oh, and Ron, you're gonna, I'm so happy you brought that up too, because this is a really nice dovetail into our next episode. I think a lot of people are gonna be interested in this one. We just retired and my husband is driving me crazy. Or my my, my spouse, my wife, my significant other is driving me crazy what to do when all of a sudden it's you and your honey at home, 24 7.
(14:12): And we discussed taking this topic on. So I, I, I, you know, I'm very excited that, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna approach this one. Absolutely. And I think it's something we've all maybe learned a little bit more about, especially in the COVID times. So yes, it'll be a good one to talk through. So, so stay tune anyway. Yep. Thank you all so much for listening today. Thank you, Ron. It was great to talk about this and we will catch you all next time. Take care. Thank you, Nicole. Talk to everyone. Bye
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