WEBVTT

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want you to picture something with me for a second.

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Imagine you're at a friend's house and you sit

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down on a wooden stool only to discover one of

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the legs is shorter than the other. That feeling

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of being totally off balance and a little unsettled.

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Now it's a bit like when you enter retirement

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without a stable base. I mean I like to think

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of a successful retirement. as a three -legged

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stool now all the three legs need to be of equal

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length and strength and neglect one and you're

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going to be wobbly so today i'm going to run

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through the three legs of our retirement stool

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the three things we need to give equal thought

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and consideration to before we hit that retirement

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button so let's talk about the first leg you

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probably guessed it money And it's rarely the

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short leg, is it really? In fact, it's usually

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that one leg that gets all the attention, often

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at the expense of the other two. Now, we've all

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seen it. Someone who retires with their finances

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in perfect shape, but a few years later, they're

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wondering why they're feeling so unsettled. And

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they focus so much on the money that they've

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actually forgotten everything else. I think even

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when people do spend a lot of time on financial

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planner, There are a couple of common mistakes

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that most people make. Come on, Pink. The first

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is pulling all their money out of the market.

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I mean, let's say you've got a typical contributory

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pension. It's probably been earning you a healthy

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7 .7 % per year on average. But when many people

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retire, they take their entire pot to buy an

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annuity. It might only return 4 .7 per year rather

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than 7 .7 per year. Now, don't get me wrong.

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Annuities have their place. I'm a big fan. They

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can provide a rock -solid guaranteed income,

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actually protect you from market downturns. But

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for many people, a smarter approach is to convert

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just enough of your pension to an annuity to

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cover your essential living costs. Leave the

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rest invested 7 .7%. This way, you get the security

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of a base income while still having potential

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for a much higher return on the rest of your

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money. I mean, a good financial advisor can actually

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help you figure out the right balance for your

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own personal risk tolerance. So if you can, it's

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definitely worth speaking to one. So the second

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big money mistake is not sticking to a budget.

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I mean, I've seen it happen a lot. People look

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at their savings and they think, oh. I've got

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£300 ,000, that's £10 ,000 a year for the next

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30 years. Sounds great on paper, but when they

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actually get into retirement, they start spending

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£20 ,000 a year, and suddenly, 15 years later,

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their pots run out. Creating a simple budget

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isn't that hard, and monitoring it takes very

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little effort, really. I mean, if you're interested,

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I've actually got a free spreadsheet that can

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help. Just go to our website, it's at www .townsretire

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.co .uk and the link's in the description below.

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Okay, let's talk about the second leg of our

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stool, health. I've heard too many stories from

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people whose retirement was completely ruined

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by an illness that arrived in their early retirement

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years. And this often leaves them wishing they'd

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retired a bit earlier so they could have enjoyed

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it while they were still healthy. Throughout

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our working lives, we look forward to holidays

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as a time to completely let go, to lounge on

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a sunbed or chill in an armchair and indulge

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in the eating and drinking we want while we're

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on holiday. Retirement isn't a holiday, it's

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a new life, new rules. And sometimes the first

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three months of retirement are crucial. They

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can set a pattern and create routines that become

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really difficult to break. So right from the

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start, you need to have a plan. Think about how

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you'll incorporate exercise into your daily life,

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how your diet and eating habits might change,

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now that you're not tied to that kind of fixed

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nine -to -five time breaks that you get. Now,

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a proactive plan will stop you from falling into

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bad habits. As we get older, our bodies need

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different things from exercise. You might find

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that you replace some of your cardio work with

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strength training to improve bone density i mean

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it's a great idea though to have a chat with

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your doctor about how you might want to make

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any adjustments to your workout plans but the

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good news is you can have a lot more time in

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retirement to fit your exercise in and one of

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the best and most accessible forms of exercise

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in retirement is walking which i'm doing now

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with a little extra time on your hands you might

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actually find you can maybe walk to the shops

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instead of taking the car or maybe get a bike

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for longer journeys. If you were on a typical

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nine -to -five schedule when you were working,

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you may now discover that some other amazing

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off -peak fitness classes that now perfectly

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fit your new routine. Now, I know where I live,

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for example, all the Tai Chi classes are during

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the daytime. I could never get to them whilst

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I was working. Let's talk about the third leg.

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Did you guess it? relationships. Okay, so let's

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picture someone in our community who might be

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lonely or isolated. I'll just give you a second

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to picture someone. So how did they get into

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that situation? Did they lose a loved one who

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they'd previously spent all their time with?

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Did their friends all move away? It's often hard

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to pinpoint why people ended up so isolated,

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but we need to make a plan for ourselves to make

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sure that we don't end up in a similar position.

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I mean, giving up work is more than just giving

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up a salary. It's leaving behind colleagues.

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It's a lack of structure, lack of daily routine.

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And this is where many of us lose our way. You

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can't just sit and wait for the phone to ring.

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You have to be proactive. What are you going

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to do to keep a rhythm to your days? That'll

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help you maintain or even deepen your relationships

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with friends and family and your community. Now,

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some of us get hit really hard by this loss of

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status when we leave work. We go from being,

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you know, head of this or manager of that to,

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well, what? But, you know, a great way to engage

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with your local community is to volunteer, maybe

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at a local charity shop or even take a paid shift.

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another shop in your community but many of us

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find this difficult if we somehow felt that our

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pre -retirement job had a high status i mean

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it sounds silly right because actually the people

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who work in our local shops are the beaten heart

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of of our communities i mean they're vital to

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keeping it vibrant but being there in a different

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role can feel strange i mean if you've never

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worked in retail before the key is to try something

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that challenges you. I mean, if you're only doing

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things within your comfort zone, then your world

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could end up shrinking and your confidence might

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shrink right along with it. Now, another hub

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for the community is the local pub. It's a great

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place to visit, but a terrible place to spend

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all your days. I mean, you see people there on

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a Friday night having the time of their lives,

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but popping to that same pub, at 3 .30 on a Tuesday

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afternoon and you'll often see regulars who you

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know look far from sociable really and with that

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our three legs are complete and they're all of

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equal length because we've given them equal thought

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right now I'm a few months into my own retirement

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now and I'm absolutely loving every minute of

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it but I am so glad that I did this planning

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up front or I might have become a little too

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familiar with homes under the hammer i hope this

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has given you some food for thought and i hope

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you follow along on my journey see you on the

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next one