Purposeful Planner

Persona Name:?The Purposeful Planner

Age Range:?mid 50s to early 70s

Planned years to voluntary retirement:?2 to 10+

Three words to describe:?analytical, gregarious, disciplined

Professional affiliations:?Healthcare worker (Doctor/nurse), IT practitioner, managerial role

Location/Jurisdiction:?UK, US, EU

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The Purposeful Planner is the final persona we identified through our interviews. These individuals focused heavily on planning their moment of retirement and beyond. Many of the people we ?interviewed were analysts. Purposeful planning is the analytical approach most favored by them.

As the name implies, Planners were very focused on financial security as a prerequisite to retirement.?Many had hired financial advisors years before they planned to retire. ?So, the trigger for some was when they had a very high probability of financial security into older age.?Paradoxically, some wanted to retire early specifically because they had adopted the attitude that there were no guarantees of living into much older age (80+).?Purposeful planners consider that one or the other of these situations will occur and plan accordingly.

It's worth noting that old age is still defined for statistical and public administration purposes as between 60 and 65.?Having one's age within this range is commonly a requirement to become eligible for senior social programs.?Governments have started re-examining this however, as more and more people in developed nations are living longer.?

Aside from financial considerations, their advice to other late career workers is to start planning a minimum of two years ahead of their notional retirement date. Some individuals planned around a specific work event so that they could see as many of their colleagues as possible or in conjunction with bonus season. In the US, the ages of 66, 67 or 70 were age triggers as social security and Medicare have both been revamped to provide incentives for people to work longer.??So, many had an age trigger or a work related date in mind such as the anniversary of when they started working or how long they’d been at a particular organization.?Our sample was skewed toward people who tended to stay on the same career paths (doctors, nurses, tech people) throughout their lives.

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The retirement planning for these individuals also placed an emphasis on making sure housing, legal documents, and many activities they planned to do after retirement were set up. These activities ran a gamut from new or old hobbies, to part-time work, to volunteering, to sitting on executive boards, to setting up LLCs.

There was a common thread, which was that whatever they did, they wanted to give back in some way, not in making more money or rising to higher and higher ranks.?Almost 100% of Planners – and of our other three personas actually – talked about two things:?first, giving back what they felt had been given to them in the form of mentoring & coaching and second being part of communities of like-minded people, interested in the same things.?One person, who was and is an avid hiker, joined the board of the local woodland trust, helping to ensure that they and others had a place to hike and enjoy being in nature. Another, who had been baking sourdough bread for quite some time, was already in a virtual online group that had baking sourdough as a hobby.?

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Some chose the time they wanted to retire due to certain family circumstances which they were able to anticipate – a spouse retiring, knowing that an elderly relative would need them, grown children being settled in full time work or at least finished with their training and education. The birth of a first grandchild was a trigger for some to begin the wind down process.?In other words, their social and family situations figured prominently in their thinking and their planning had allowed them more flexibility & freedom than those with shorter planning horizons.

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Interestingly, most Planners had extroverted, even gregarious personalities, and had friends from all parts of their lives, including work.?Since they had many interests outside work, they knew that the communities that formed around their hobbies and so on would be a source of new friendships & community.?They remain open to trying new things as their career and life success made them confident & they do not fear failure, but rather regard new opportunities as at least worth a try.

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All of these positive characteristics though, have a shadow side.?Many of these individuals grappled with the question of “who do I want to be after retirement?” This question arose from one of these interviews as this individual met with a mental health professional who posed this question to them, and it became a center point in their retirement path. This shows their strong ties between identity and work and how retirement is a difficult subject for them to approach, even when money is not the primary consideration. As mentioned, Planners all had long-term employment usually within a specific field and had very clear career paths from early on.?They were essentially giving up careers they truly enjoyed, versus escaping from work that was a burden.

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Some elements of context for this persona:

·????????Lifelong affiliation with a profession and/or type of company

·????????Life partner is not working or already retired

·????????Life partner also still working and maybe close to retirement

·????????Financially ready for retirement

·????????Retirement funds organized and full

·????????Married/single with grown children and grandchildren

·????????Healthcare, depending on their country of residence, carefully considered and planned for

·????????Good health, but beginning to feel the inevitable changes that accompany the aging process

Verbatims:

-???????“The question is not what will I do when I retire, but who will I be?” ?

-???????“I loved travelling for work, but as I got older, it became more and more tiring physically.?I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity and I’m satisfied that I’ve done enough, though I do still have plans to travel.”

-???????“I took time to research where I wanted to live for the community I would be a part of.”

-???????“My father died in his early sixties.?I’m not so much anticipating that will happen to me, as doing it for my Dad, who certainly had plans for his own retirement that he didn’t get to realize.”

-???????“Even though I am financially secure I found I had more to do professionally & looked for work that allowed me to contribute but on my own terms, balancing the satisfaction of working with the luxury of being in control of my own schedule.”

-???????“I would have stayed in my job & with my company– not for the money – if part-time had been an option.?It wasn’t, so retirement was the only option.”