Investing for retirement isn’t purely financial

One of our biggest financial worries is running out of money in later life. That’s why it’s so important to start investing early, to put enough money away, diversify your investments, control your costs and manage your behaviour.

But it’s a grave mistake to think that investing for retirement is all about money. Retirement is one of life’s biggest transitions, and if you don’t properly prepare for it, not having as much money to spend as you’d like in your later years might not be your biggest worry.

Don’t misunderstand us, retirement is hugely exciting. It’s your chance to live life on your terms, and to use your new-found control over your time to do the things you always wanted to. Planned well, it can be the most rewarding time of your life.

But, sadly, it often proves to be anything but. To quote Your Complete Guide to a Safe and Secure Retirement by Larry Swedroe and Kevin Grogan, “fewer than half of retirees enjoy their first year. Many experience symptoms of depression… [and] the segment of society with the fastest growing divorce rate is couples over 55.”

There are three crucial investments you need to be making in the run-up to retirement that have nothing to do with money at all.

1. Physical and mental health

Your parents and grandparents were right: if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. You’re far more likely to enjoy a long and fulfilled retirement if you really look after yourself. Developing good habits of nutrition, exercise and sleep will be hugely beneficial for both your physical and mental well-being.

2. Personal development

As the clock ticks down to retirement, we can be so focused on building our pension pot and achieving our professional goals that we forget about more fundamental issues. What do we really want from life? What are we passionate about? You can’t properly plan for, let alone enjoy, retirement until you’ve thoroughly considered and answered these sorts of questions. Investing time in yourself, in self-discovery and personal growth at this stage of life is critical.

3. Relationships

The quality of your relationships is far more important than the amount of money you have. Adjusting to retirement can take its toll on even the closest couples. Talking things through with your spouse about the changes and the challenges that you will undoubtedly face will help to smooth the transition. Being part of social networks and having plenty of friends outside work is very important too. So, if you’ve neglected this aspect of your life, now is the time to focus on it.

The importance of a retirement plan

You may be wondering what all this has to do with financial planning? Are these really the sorts of areas that financial planners are supposed to be interested in? The answer, emphatically, is yes.

Money is purely a means to an end, and not an end in itself. It’s an enabler. Its purpose is to support the life you want to lead. Working out what that life looks like, and then developing a plan to make it happen, is what financial planning is all about.

Yes, of course you’ll need reassurance from your adviser that you’re still on track financially. But far more important in the years before retirement is that you use your adviser to assess your priorities in life and to develop a life plan – not just a financial plan – for your life beyond full-time employment.

If you’re starting to think about retirement and haven’t yet engaged a financial planner, it really is time to take the first step.