3 Steps for Living a Rich Life in Retirement | Blog

Retirement is frequently viewed as the ultimate end goal in life. However, retirement is really just a transition into a new life chapter.

Now that our life expectancy is longer than ever, this generation can expect to look forward to a long retirement. 

However, when you have so many years of retirement ahead of you, it can be difficult to lay out a plan for how you’ll spend the rest of your life once you no longer have your work to fill up your days.

People are busy accumulating wealth for their retirement throughout their work-life. While that’s important, you should also pause and think – what do you need that money for?

Even after collecting millions of dollars in retirement, if you fail to enjoy your life to the fullest, the money doesn’t really matter. That’s why you should consider money as a tool that will help you accomplish various things in your retirement. It’s not the end goal in itself.

One way you can achieve a happy and fulfilling life is by adopting “The Rich Life” mindset. 

Susan Latremoille, co-founder and partner at Next Chapter Lifestyle Advisors and author of books like The RichLife: Managing Wealth and Purpose and It’s Not Just About the Money, recently joined us in one of our recent podcast episodes to explain this mindset and how you can use it to lead a purposeful life after retirement.

In this blog, we’ll explore Susan’s ideas about what it truly takes to be happy and satisfied with your post-retirement life.

Read on to learn the path to what Susan calls “The Rich Life” in retirement!

Common Problems That People Face When Entering Retirement

Before we begin, let’s discuss the common problems faced by retirees — not the financial ones, but those relating to the emotional side of retirement. This will help you better relate to the things we’ll be talking about today and understand the importance of the non-financial aspects of retirement.

The biggest problem many retirees face is a loss of identity. When you’re at a party and someone asks you, “Tell me about yourself,” the first thing you say is usually about your work, such as, “I’m a dentist,” or “I’m a business owner.” When that goes away, you immediately start feeling a loss of identity. You’re left asking, “Who am I, really?”

Another area where we often see people struggling is with their daily structure. Once you retire, you no longer have a fixed daily schedule to follow. You might sleep longer in the morning, be aimless throughout the day, and ultimately, feel lost. Such a feeling of emptiness can take a serious toll on your mental health.

To help you combat this problem, Susan Latremoille suggests a simple way to plan out your activities. You can prepare a weekly calendar with 21 time slots (morning, afternoon, and evening for every day of the week.) Fill out this calendar in a way that helps you make your days productive, but at the same time, doesn’t feel hectic like work.

Finally, you might also feel disconnected with your work friends. What you considered to be a lasting friendship might dwindle away once you’re no longer seeing these colleagues and friends every day. Plus, the pandemic has only amplified this feeling of isolation.

All of the above issues can be dealt with by developing the rich life mindset. Let’s take a look at how you can do that.

3 Key Aspects for Living a Rich Life

According to Susan Latremoille, the mantra for living a rich life is –– “Live well, give back, and leave a legacy.”

1. Live Well

Money is the enabler that allows people to live happily and comfortably. However, the true definition of “living well” is subjective.

It’s a personal decision that varies for every individual. Some equate it to having tangible things such as properties and cars, while to others, it can be something as simple as enjoying the day-to-day life moments with family and friends. You should pursue what helps you “live well.”

2. Give Back

Giving back is a critical part of developing the rich life mindset. 

But remember, to give back, you don’t need to give a big sum of money.

Do you and your neighbor both have a similar passion for baking? If so, you can share your sourdough bread with them! There are several ways for you to give back that don’t require a lot of money. For instance, doing volunteer work or even coaching a kids’ soccer team.

3. Leave a Legacy

This is something that people often consider late into their retirement. Leaving a legacy simply means something that will continue to make an impact even after you’re gone.

Again, it doesn’t have to be huge like endowing a wing of the hospital. Your legacy can be anything from raising good children or having a great family to writing memoirs or documenting your family tree.

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

There are two main types of mindsets that influence your approach towards life.

People with a fixed mindset generally tend to have a pessimistic perspective. They have a fixed view of life and fail to look beyond certain boundaries.

Then, there’s a growth mindset. This is the one you want to develop if you really want to live a rich life. The word “rich” is often wrongly interpreted as having more money. But if you look at its actual meaning in the dictionary, it means something robust or full, something you have in abundance. It can be anything and not necessarily money.

Once you accept this broader context of what a rich life actually looks like, you’re well on your path to achieving it.

About Susan Latremoille and Next Chapter Lifestyle Advisors

Susan has worked as a financial advisor for nearly 35 years in Canada. In 2019, she sold her practice and decided to move on to the non-financial side of retirement planning.

Working with numerous clients, she always kept stumbling upon the same question – When the wealth and the retirement income is there, why aren’t they feeling the sense of joy and satisfaction that they’ve always yearned for?

To address this problem, Susan partnered with Marianne Oehser to start the Next Chapter Lifestyle Advisors (NCLA). Together, they help both advisors and clients to build a plan that enables a purposeful life after retirement.

At NCLA, Susan and Marianne use a diagnostic assessment of people that really want to get to know themselves better. They offer packages of three, five or seven sessions which help you gain the clarity and confidence you need before stepping into retirement.

To learn more about NCLA and how they approach the non-financial side of retirement, visit their website: Next Chapter Lifestyle Advisors.

If you’ve any questions regarding your retirement planning, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to help you achieve your ideal retirement!