How to transition to retirement

DavidAston
David Aston

Good piece by David Aston in MoneySense magazine on the big next step for baby boomers and anyone else with sufficient wealth or pension income to stop working full-time. David is one of the best financial writers out there and it’s little wonder he’s won awards that prove it. Note that one of his sources in this piece is Lee-Anne Davies, whose Agenomics blog you can find links for in our Longevity & Aging section.

He also talks to actuary Fred Vettese (author of The Real Retirement) and fee-only planners Money Coaches Canada and Daryl Diamond, author of The Retirement Income Blueprint. Both are also listed here at the Hub’s “Getting Help” section and you can find my review of Daryl’s book in the Reviews section here.

The three levers

My favourite line from David’s piece is “You can make adjustments by pulling on three levers: save more, work longer or spend less in retirement.”

No mention of Findependence although David has mentioned it in the past. Like most mass media outlets, MoneySense is sticking with the word Retirement. Hey, I couldn’t get them to change from Retirement to Findependence even when I was the editor–in-chief!

But also check out Sheryl Smolkin’s guest blog here at the Hub today: she chronicles her ten-year road to Findependence (yes, she used that exact word!) that occurred AFTER she took early retirement at age 54.

As I’ve often said, that’s way too young to retire and do nothing and Sheryl has doubled her retirement savings since her “first” retirement. As she says, it’s all about second or “encore” careers. As is also clear, she finds working on your own terms (aka Findependence) to be lots of fun.

I agree. Sure beats watching daytime television!