Month: May 2018

Begin your retirement preparation journey with me!

HI everyone! Thanks for joining me again! I am hoping that means you are looking forward to starting YOUR retirement preparation journey…or continuing your actual retirement leg of your journey…or just wanting to find out want this crazy lady has to say! LOL! Whatever the reason, WELCOME BACK!

When I started to realize that retirement preparation was a journey, I tried to find some good resources to help me…cause that is what I do. I did find a few good books, and I have the ones I especially liked named below if you are interested.

But they mainly made me thirst for more…brought up the questions in my mind they were meant to bring up…and made me realize I didn’t have the answers I really wanted yet. They made me think about the fact that I really should have some sort of idea of “what’s next?” It’s all great to wake up your first morning of being retired, linger over coffee, but really, there are just so many cups of coffee you can drink before you wonder “what do I do now?”

I wanted to get ahead of that curve…I wanted to have some specific things I knew I wanted to do…and I don’t mean “travel more”, or “see my grandkids more”, or those kinds of generalities. All of those are true…in fact, yes, I DO want to see my grandkids more, and even though I am not retired yet, I DO travel at least couple of times a year and would like a couple more times per year; in fact, I am writing this blog in Roatan while my husband scuba dives! (No I don’t dive…long story…my head underwater is just not a good thing for me! But, I am looking over a lovely ocean with a cool tropical breeze! Can’t beat that!)

Anyway, my first retirement-preparation idea was to keep a notebook handy for those miscellaneous times something popped into my head and I said, “I would really like to do that when I retire!” Those are cool moments…but if you are like me, the next day when I try to recapture that great idea, it is gone in a puff of smoke…sigh…and I still don’t know what I want to do when I retire. OY!

So, I got myself a little notebook. I decided to recapture as much as I could recall of previous “up in smoke” ideas immediately, then just have a half hour brainstorming session specifically on the question of “What do I want to do when I retire?” It was SOOOOO fun! I wrote down about 35 numbered ideas in about a 30 minute timespan! None of them, mind you, were things that I would do every day, but were just sort of “bucket list” things I wanted to do, both big and small.

One of my ideas was writing this blog…because I really felt like I couldn’t be the only one who didn’t want to wake up on my first day of retirement and say “Now what?”

So, get yourself a little notebook, schedule yourself a 30 minute (or more!) brainstorming session, and set yourself free! This notebook does not COMMIT you to anything! It’s really a lot of fun! Write down anything…this is just for you! Share it with someone only if you want to!!! If you aren’t really a writer like me, find a way to capture your ideas that will work for you…we all have these ideas and they are too powerful to go up in smoke!

We’ll talk more about your list next time…See you then!

Mary

As promised, here are a few books I have read that got my brainstorming juices flowing!  Enjoy!

Don’t Retire, Rewire by Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners
How to Retire Happy – The 12 most important decisions you must make before you retire by Stan Hinden
Retire Smart, Retire Happy – Finding Your True Path in Life by Nancy K. Schlossberg

Introducing…Retire with Joy and Purpose!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my page retirewithjoyandpurpose.com!

I hope the website name itself tells my goal, but I wanted to introduce myself and where I am on this retirement journey. I also want to tell you my purpose in writing this. I hope you enjoy the ride!

My name is Mary Powell… I guess that is important to know WHO I am first! Also, in the interest of letting you know right up front, this blog is NOT about the financial part of retiring. I don’t have that expertise, and I strongly recommend you talk to a financial planner to make sure you have all of your ducks in a row (or AT LEAST in the same pond!).  At some point I may have some guest bloggers who can address that, but it definitely won’t be me talking about money!

Secondly, no, I am actually NOT retired yet! Shocked? Wondering how I can write this, then? LOL! (i.e. laughing out loud!) Well, let me tell you about that!

My husband Dave and I have been looking toward our retirement future with great anticipation! About 5 years ago, we started to think about the “when” instead of the “pie in the sky” that it had been before that. We had a financial planner and felt the money part would be OK, (though I must admit we didn’t really see the “how” of that and have “assurance” of that till about a year ago….a future blog topic, not in money detail, though as discussed above). But now, it was time to start really thinking about it…for REAL.

My first realization as I began to think about this, is that it wasn’t all about the practical “when,” though that is important. What I have realized is that getting ready to retire is a journey! It isn’t (or at least, in my opinion, it is BEST if it isn’t) an instantaneous decision without planning for the “what next.” When I actually DO retire (hopefully later this year), I expect that to be a totally NEW LEG of the journey!

The “what next” is what this blog is about… and making sure your “what next” gives you joy and purpose in your retirement years! You worked hard for it…now, whatever form it takes (and there are MANY forms, whatever YOU want or whatever you can do), it’s time to enjoy it!

I wish you each a fun journey along with me! Let’s go!

See you next time…can’t wait!

Mary