Lifestyle Planning

By: Terry J.Colton, Ph.D., Worldwide Lifestyle Planners Ltd.
RPAC-BC Chapter President

What is Lifestyle Planning?

Lifestyle Planning is preparing for the experiences of life.  Today, much of it is focused on the Retirement Lifestyle Planning for individuals nearing retirement - 5 years or less away - but the process can be applied whenever lifestyle changes are contemplated.

Professional advisors are trained to impart their expertise on financial and estate planning matters. 

Too often the focus is on assets/money/assets/money/assets – you get the picture.  Lifestyle Planning is a necessity no less than Financial Planning, and it too involves choices.  Planning for lifestyle changes and also for the psychological adjustments that accompany them results in smoother and happier life transitions.

Charting the Course

Lifestyle Planning involves navigating through a number of steps:

1. Clarify who you are – your attitudes, values, hopes and dreams,
2. Identify future goals and objectives – short and long term,
3. Identify problems – relational, attitudinal, financial, personal,
4. Establish goal alignment – others may be part of your future,
5. Set time frames – when will you do what,
6. Review the process periodically.

Lifestyle Issues to Consider

In our workshops on Retirement Lifestyle Planning, we focus on fundamentals such as:
Housing - will I stay in my current home, will I move to less expensive accommodation, will I move to more expensive accommodation, will I renovate my home, will I buy a winter residence/vacation property?
Travel – will I travel extensively, will I travel occasionally, will I visit family members often, or infrequently?
Leisure - will I play a lot of golf, other sports, attend many sporting/entertainment events, spend money on hobbies, eat in restaurants frequently, entertain often?
Family ties - will I help support family members, will family members help support me, will I leave a substantial estate, a moderate estate, no estate?
Business/employment – will I work part time, start a business, sell my business?
Community involvement – will I do more volunteer work, will I do less, how will my income stream affect my charitable donations, will I include my favorite not-for-profits in my estate plan?
Major purchases - When I retire, I will need to buy…? I would like to buy…?

Changing Relationships

Perhaps a more important question than, "What are you doing after work?" is the question, "Who will you be doing it with?" Relationships will change dramatically after retirement. Some of the people who played a major role in your life while you were working, won't be around in your retirement. The time spent at work won't be there anymore but some of the people, particularly family, will be around. How will your time, your relationships with these people be affected?
I'm reminded of the Sr. VP who once told me, many of the men who retired from his industry went into unfamiliar territory - the home environment. They found it so uncomfortable that they went to the one thing they knew well - the bar and within 2 years of retirement, half of them had died - what kind of life is that?

Balance – The Best Perspective

Most of all, Lifestyle Planning is about balance. How can we achieve balance in our lives, especially when changes occur? Balance between what we want to do, what we need to do and what those significant others in our lives want and need to do.

This is the process of Planning your Lifestyle be it for the golden years of retirement, job change, re-location, new relationships or any change that may dramatically alter the way you now live. Take some time to plan this major life event. Encourage the significant people in your life to participate in helping you plan your retirement lifestyle in advance of the retirement day. Plan ahead because tomorrow will be here sooner than we realize!