A Common Retirement Pitfall Ep. 104

When I was in college I loved riding road bicycles. One of the first full years riding, I rode about 3,500 miles. The next year I started racing. Some people didn’t have a base of previous mileage on their legs before they raced. 

From the muscle memory perspective,  I felt advantaged that I had done the training the prior year. I raced for two years and was able to win two races. It’s addictive. When we start physical activities, oftentimes we feel sluggish and it’s hard. But once we achieve a level of fitness our physical exertion takes less effort and becomes more enjoyable. 

After I quit racing and started spending more time on career aspirations, I quickly fell out of racing shape. When I got on the bike I felt sluggish and riding took more effort. I was still in relatively good physical fitness shape, but I was riding less. Naturally, it felt more burdensome.

Without having the time to ride 6 or even 7 days a week I wasn’t able to be in “race shape” fitness. I found it hard to ride my bike when I wasn’t in race shape. I robbed myself of the ability to enjoy something I previously had enjoyed because I did not make a mental transition to the next stage in my life.

When helping people plan for retirement, I’ve observed that some folks have issues transitioning to a retirement planning mindset. Some of our readers have been great savers and have accumulated enough money to fund their retirement but you may still be playing the game. You have not transitioned to the next life stage. 

Think about this: The Carolina Panthers are on the 5-yard line and up by 6 points with 30 seconds left in the game. Does Cam Newton throw a 5-yard touchdown? NO! He would kneel. The Panthers have won the game. Why would they keep playing?

When we continue playing the retirement accumulation game it may cause us to take unnecessary risks. The gains of the market over the last 12 years have become addictive like my aspirations for race shape fitness was.

The goal with planning for retirement is to figure out how to take income and distribution off of our accounts and how to make it sustainable. Figuring this out may allow you to have more peace of mind when deciding if now is an appropriate time to retire. 

 If something here has resonated with you, please forward this to a friend who may benefit. As always we would be happy to discuss your particular goals and objectives with you in a private comfortable settings. Call our office at 864.641.7955. 

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