The Big Question #28: When Can I Retire?

Hello and welcome to this month's edition of The Big Question. I would guess that one of the top five most popular questions that we receive is, when can I retire? My answer: whenever you want. Now, perhaps that's not the answer you were expecting, and yes, it is said a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but truly, if you are okay with the reality of what retiring today looks like, then why couldn't you retire?

Now, if you are unable to live the retirement lifestyle that you wanted, enjoying the things that you wanted to do with the people you wanted to spend time with, then perhaps you are not ready to retire just yet. So what's to be done now? This is where the financial plan comes into play.

Once this question has been asked and the plan has been built, there are really only two outcomes. The first is yes, you are in great shape to retire today and spend the money that you want to spend. Now, does this mean that you must retire? No. What it means is that you've now achieved flexibility. Flexibility in choice and flexibility in decision-making. Maybe this means that you keep working today but spend more in retirement later. Or maybe it means that you start gifting more today and throughout retirement to those close to you or your favorite charities. Or maybe it means none of the above, but more simply that you've attained peace of mind as it relates to your finances and the path that you're on.

In the second outcome, you aren't ready to retire. Now, in the event that you're not at your quote-unquote number, as some call it, by building and reviewing the financial plan, you've also achieved a couple of really important things. First, you've confirmed that you've got some work to do, which is great; you didn't pull the plug and start retirement before you were in a comfortable enough position to do the spending that you wanted to do. That's an incredibly important thing to know before making any sort of irreversible decision. And second, you now know the path, the path and the strategies to employ between now and your target retirement date to put yourself in the best position possible for a great outcome, the path to achieve your flexibility.

Either way, this is yet another reason why financial plans, plans that are regularly updated, are so important. Without them, it's really just a guessing game or a gut feeling. And when it comes to something like retirement, I'd argue it's worth a little more certainty than a gut feeling. Thanks again for joining me, everyone. Until next month.