We recently received a lovely note from a retirement planning client, Judy.
I’ve not long returned from the closing night of the Italian Film Festival … with the British Festival book in hand. It looks brilliant! Lots more enjoyment ahead for the newly retired.
This morning while sitting in the gentle spring sunshine over a cup of coffee and the newspaper, I thought about how fortunate I was to be able to plan the rest of my day, and future retirement days. I feel like I have complete control over my time and so am open to spontaneity.
After working for over four-and-a-half decades, I had no idea how I would feel in retirement. However from day one there has been an overwhelming sense of freedom and happiness. There is now time to reflect and to fill my days with the things I enjoy: being active, learning, travelling, reading, spending time with friends, making new friendships and being open to as-yet-unknown opportunities.
What made this exciting lifestyle change feasible was the outstanding retirement planning and financial advice and guidance I received from you. It has put me in the best possible position to enjoy my future – advice for which I am extremely grateful.
Simply put: I love my new life!
Needless to say this is the sort of letter we love to receive! Judy came to us a couple of years ago at the age of 63 for some retirement planning advice. She had built up a solid superannuation balance over the years, but she had no financial strategy.
The first thing we did was spend some time with her to understand her situation and her post-retirement goals. These goals mainly centred around being able to spend time with family and friends, enjoy the arts – especially film – and do plenty of travel.
Together we worked out what level of ongoing income Judy would need to meet her needs. We then developed a conservative investment strategy that would provide that income while not exposing her to unnecessary risk.
What’s most enjoyable about reading Judy’s note is the confidence she has about the future. It’s one thing to develop a retirement plan. It’s quite another for someone with a non-financial background to understand an investment strategy and to feel assured about it. That’s what we always aim to achieve and it seems that we’ve been successful in Judy’s case.
