Clayton and Helen first met Conrad at a Retirement Planning Seminar. They were both winding down their careers and were anxious about giving up their “paycheques” when they finally decided to pull the plug on work. They felt that they had decent enough pensions and managed to save a considerable amount of money over the years. The problem was, investments were spread out among a couple of banks, a life insurance company and an independent mutual fund representative. They really weren’t sure if it was invested properly or if it would be enough. They had no overall plan, and found it difficult to monitor things when they were so spread out.
Their anxiety wasn’t just about the money. In fact there was a much bigger concern. Clayton figured he’d be kept busy with a list of unfinished projects around the house and looked forward to a summer full of golf. Helen on the other hand knew she’d be kept busy between taking care of her aging parents and babysitting the grandkids on occasion. But would this really be enough?
Working with Conrad, Clayton and Helen completed the Retirement Lifestyle Discovery™. This assessment helped them gain important insights into their personalities as they related to retirement.
As an “Inquiring Green”, (Claytons preferred style) his core needs are: knowledge, competence and innovation. Meaning he really values intellectual challenges and enjoys strategizing. Would he really be able to satisfy this playing golf and cleaning out the garage?
Helen’s preferred personality style is “Resourceful Orange”. As such her core need is to have freedom to make her own choices, and she values instant fast paced action and adventure. This seemed a far cry from a life filled with babysitting and caring for her parents.
This realization made it clear that there was a disconnect between what would most likely make them happy and fulfilled in retirement and what they had previously thought their retirement should look like. Once they understood this, they were able to dive deeper into the Retirement Lifestyle Discovery™ process and map out a list of additional activities that more closely matched their personalities.
As for the financial end of retirement, following the Fearless Retirement Blueprint™ Clayton and Helen were able to develop a retirement income plan. This led to consolidating their investments with one financial advisor for a much more cohesive investment strategy. Doing so they could more effectively monitor their investments progress, and not have to process 4 different opinions. This also gave Clayton an opportunity to review and analyse their latest financial data and make a more informed and competent decision. Having a plan in place allowed Helen to feel free to do other things she wanted to do, without worrying about constantly monitoring 4 or 5 financial relationships.