5 Ps of Retirement Planning

Retirement Planning for Expats is a specialised area that goes far beyond the financial planning.?There are considerations that rooted mortals would never need to engage in, yet when you Google ‘retirement planning’ it is all about the finances, and rarely about the life!

Why Plan?

Do you really want to spend the first couple of years trying to figure out who you are, what you are going to do, and where you want to do it??Or do you want to hit the ground running, with a plan in place and the motivation to make it work?

There is no such thing as a traditional retirement these days.?Many expat retirees are younger than their non-mobile counterparts, thanks to the age limit of working visas in many countries.?Expats who have traveled the globe will not be content with gardening in the allotment or sitting in a rocking chair watching the grand kids play. But how should you start thinking about Life-in-Retirement??

I have developed the Five Ps for Life-in-Retirement Planning, to get you started!

The Five Ps of Life-in-Retirement Planning

Passion

Your passion will need a review.?It has probably been your work, your family, the challenge of international life for as long as you can remember.?What happens when that comes to an end??What excites you? What motivates you? What have you always longed to do, if only you had time??The time to ignite your passion is before you are counting the days to retirement!?

Invest time in a hobby, try out different things, find something that motivates and excites you.?It is this passion that will have you looking forward to retirement with joy, rather than dreading the day.

Purpose

Who will you be when you no longer identify as an expat, an active participant in a mobile workforce of like minded people??

Without your title or position in life, how will you introduce yourself? Without a purpose in life, a reason to get up in the morning, the realisation that no-one is relying on you any longer can hit you like a tonne of bricks.?Your purpose may be linked to your passion, or something totally separate such as part-time work, setting up your own business or volunteering.?The time to work this out is NOW. If you introduce yourself with your title, and feel lost without it, there is some work to do on finding the 'who' you will be when you no longer have that safety blanket.

Physical

When planning your retirement, you need to be realistic with your expectations of what can be done ‘at your age’. Regardless of how young you are when you retire! ??If your passion in life is to climb Mount Everest, then you’d better plan it well before – and tackle that first! Leaving it ‘until you’ve settled into retirement’ will probably not work so well.

We are not necessarily living a great deal longer, but we are certainly healthier than our parents and grandparents, and will be able to do more, for longer. However, a tiered plan to stay physically active is a great idea, starting off with the energetic adventures and gradually winding down to tending the allotment when that time comes – rather than starting to work on the allotment and thinking you can climb Mount Everest ‘later’!

People

What sort of people would you like to be surrounded by??Do you want to be close to family, old friends, or have the opportunity to create new friendship circles?

As an expat, your social life will revolve around your work, your children’s friends’ parents, and other expats.?But what about in retirement??What happens when you stop being an expat and have to integrate into a community unaccustomed to a constantly mobile network of people??This question alone could determine whether you chose to live in a remove village, or a vibrant city!?Careful advance planning and a deep dive into who you want to be around can throw up some interesting alternatives!

Pastures New

This is a particularly important consideration for expats who have spent most of their working life overseas, moving around the world.?The sudden need to base yourself somewhere, without the support system offered by your work or other expats can be terrifyingly complex.???You might be planning a new destination for retirement, or a ‘return home’; each comes with its own set of considerations and complexities. The decision to retire overseas can seem exciting, and logical at first, but fraught with challenges as you get older - healthcare not the least of them.?Lonely too, if family are far away.?

Have you really thought through all the ramifications of your decision to chose a particular destination to retire to?

This is just a start of the discussion!?Life in Retirement does not simply reveal itself in a couple of tentative conversations.?It deserves some serious consideration, particularly as you hope to have a good few decades to enjoy your new life and freedoms.?

When was the last time you gave it some thought?

For an in-depth review of where you are now in your planning, and what areas of life still need some work, message me and let's set up a 90-minute appointment to highlight the missing links. From there, you can determine whether you need my support for longer, so you develop a clear plan over a couple of weeks rather than putting it off for a few more years.

Book into my diary using this link, and let's get started: https://go.oncehub.com/CarolineTapken