Long-term financial goals are important early in your working career to ensure a solid nest egg. As you near retirement, adjusting those goals to match your new stage in life can be equally important.

As we approach our expected retirement years, many of the goals that we set in those younger years have passed (and hopefully we crushed those goals by the way), and now we become laser focused on retirement-specific goals.

-Foundation for Financial Wellness

Video Transcript:

To get started, let’s get a quick recalibration done here. Remember back in an earlier lesson when we talked about the principles and importance of solid goal setting? Well, the same applies at this stage of life. As we approach our expected retirement years, many of the goals that we set in those younger years have passed (and hopefully we crushed those goals by the way), and now we become laser focused on retirement-specific goals. So, our one-, three-, and five-year goals should be consistently updated as we course correct and maintain control.

Like we talked about before in an earlier lesson, we are hopefully living by our budget. It is very difficult (and probably unrealistic) to build a retirement budget out of thin air and expect it to be accurate. 

Yes, our retirement budget is best built on the foundation of our pre-retirement budget. Some expenses will go away entirely, other expenses may actually go up (hopefully some fun ones!), and some new expenses altogether may need to be added. 

Regardless, the budget in retirement is mission critical. It should be aligned with your vision and values, and it essentially becomes your playbook for what is hopefully the most fun-filled, joy-filled years of your life.

Remember, if helpful, don’t forget to download the Foundation’s budgeting tool for this step.

OK - quick review again for you to decide if you have any decisions to make or actions to take.

Think through and then write down your first draft – it can be rough - of what a one-, three-, and five-year retirement goal might look like for you and your family.

As always, don’t forget to take advantage of your private counseling session. It’s included. It’s private. It’s confidential, and it’s always with one of our Certified Financial Wellness Counselors. To schedule your counseling session, simply click on the “Request Counseling” button.