What Makes Retirement Truly Happy?

Retirement planning involves far more than saving money. In this episode of Retirement Roadmap, Mark Fricks and Evan explore what research consistently shows about living a happy, fulfilling retirement after your working years are over.

They discuss the importance of relationships, community, daily structure, purpose, and maintaining a positive outlook. The conversation also covers the emotional challenges many retirees face when leaving the workforce, including changes in identity, social connections, and routines.

Whether you're approaching retirement or already retired, understanding these often-overlooked aspects of retirement planning can help you build a life that is not only financially secure, but personally rewarding.

In This Episode

0:00 — Are You Cultivating Habits for a Happy Retirement?
 0:35 — Why Retirement Is About More Than Money
 1:30 — How Retirement Changes Relationships
 4:10 — The Power of Social Connections and Community
 6:25 — Creating Structure After Leaving Work
 7:20 — The Risks of Having Too Much Unstructured Time
 9:00 — The Emotional Side of Retirement Planning
 14:15 — Why Purpose Matters in Retirement
 15:15 — Finding a New Identity After Work
 16:20 — Why More Retirees Are Continuing to Work
 17:30 — Planning for Purpose Before You Retire
 18:45 — Lifelong Learning and New Interests
 19:00 — Gratitude, Optimism, and Retirement Happiness
 20:00 — Why Emotional Planning Is Just as Important as Financial Planning
 21:00 — Getting Your Retirement Roadmap
 22:00 — Taking the First Step Toward Retirement Planning

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Call 770-980-9262 to speak directly with someone about your retirement planning needs.

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Advisory services offered through MasterPlan Retirement Consultants, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor in the state of Georgia. Insurance, tax and commodities services offered through Fricks and Associates, Inc. dba MasterPlan Retirement Consultants. The aforementioned are affiliated companies.

Transcript

Welcome And The Bigger Picture

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Are you cultivating habits for a happy retirement? Hey folks, welcome back. Thank you for joining us. This is Master Plan Retirement Consultants Retirement Roadmap. My name is Evan. With me as always, retirement planner Mark Fricks. During this episode, we'll explore what research consistently shows makes retirement genuinely fulfilling. And we know, Mark, oftentimes we're talking about the financial side of retirement preparation, but there is so much more that goes into preparation for retirement that is beyond your income, your growth, the financial side of things.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Well, you've just spent 50, 60 years of your life schooling, working, whole new world. Total change of habits, total change of friends many times, because the friends you had at work no longer are perhaps around. It's so important to pay attention to these

Relationship Changes After Leaving Work

SPEAKER_01 1:15

areas, and many of our clients do. Some don't, and sometimes you can tell the difference. It's really sad sometimes when you see folks deteriorate because they're not looking at these different areas that are so important.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

And they're easy to overlook as well. I mean, first of all, most people don't realize the relationship dynamic changes that occur from when you're employed to when you're in retirement. One, you you were leaving a social circle that you've had. And and you know, I don't know how many people would say, oh yeah, my my coworkers are my my primary social circle or not, or if they want to admit to that. But it's true when you think about the amount of time spent around these people and how far that outweighs other relationships just because of the the sheer hours that you're logging in at your office. So that very much is a social circle through work. Um, but also some of the dynamics at home are gonna change. I mean, if you're working full-time, your spouse, your partner, they might have gotten used to having their own space. I mean, being around each other more can alter the dynamics. They could potentially lead to friction. So it's important to communicate that and also adjust to expectations there.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, I've had several clients that were the domestic part of the relationship, whether it be they worked or not, or whatever the balance may be, uh, but part of their territory was home. And all of a sudden the other spouse comes in and they're not working anymore. So let me show you how this is done at home because I've been managing all these people at work, right? Type of thing. And we've actually had a uh a divorce or two over that as well. And I want to go back to the work too. Uh you mentioned about uh, you know, hey, we're going out at lunch, we've become friends, whatever, and that does happen a whole lot, but it's also when you work toward a common goal with other people. I know with uh with charitable air organizations I've worked with, whether it be churches or whatever, when you get together and and uh you know take on a project, you grow close to these people. Uh, you know, whether it be a mission trip you go with some folks, whether you're working on a project with a uh a food shelter or whatever, um that common goal of, especially if you're doing something good, but even you know, with a company you're doing something good, hopefully fruitful as well. And so you do develop bonds that way as well. And I know in today's world, so many people are working from home, but I think we've kind of developed the same thing even when you're not in the same building because you're meeting constantly, you know, through the computer and still developing uh again, what's your job, what's my job, how can we bring these things together to accomplish what the company's looking for? So I think that's something that is probably ignored. I'll never forget several years ago one of our clients said, I asked him, I always ask our client clients, a few months after retirement, how's it going? What's what's changed? What are you feeling? And the first thing he said was, I miss my comrades at work. Uh and and that he I'm like, yeah, I get that. I get that.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

It was kind of cool. The uh Harvard longevity study, it's the longest-running study of adult life, concluded that strong relationships are the single most powerful predictor of health and happiness, even more so than career achievement, diet, and exercise. So we know, and just as you mentioned, our our comrades that were leaving, um leaving work is leaving a social group, and it's changing, uh it's a dramatic dynamic shift. Um, figuring out for yourself what it looks like to replace the daily camaraderie in the workplace. Um, I mean, research shows that the the strong social connections improve cognitive health, speed recovery from illness, uh significantly increase overall life satisfaction. So figuring out, first of all, for yourself, um, acknowledging the fact that you're transitioning into a whole new phase of life that without proper planning, just as you would plan for the financial side of things, you need to plan out your day and structure and and creating the building in the that time um within your

Replacing Workplace Community

SPEAKER_00 5:10

within your day for specific um endeavors, whether it be relationships, purpose, which we'll talk about next, um, but you've got to fill some of these gaps that you're now leaving behind.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

And I think the folks that are uh most successful at this are folks that are already involved in other activities. Um, you know, so if if it's not just about work, if it's about, hey, I go to pickleball on Tuesday night, before this is before retirement, right? They're still working, I go to, you know, Bible study on Thursday night, I go to whatever on they've already developed other social circles and family is a very important one as well. Um so if they've already got those developed going into retirement, it's a much smoother transition into it.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, finding your community in retirement is really important. And and uh one way to look at that too is where is your community now? Like where are you plugged in outside of work? Now work is one thing, and you there may be uh a friend or two that you maintain a friendship after work that happens, we become close to people for sure. But are there places within the community um that you can plug in or that you already are, whether it's church or something else like that, where you can start to develop that. Um find an interest and find a group, a social group somewhere that pursues that same interest. Uh relationships are huge. And then then the other thing that comes with leaving work would be also just the lack of structure. Um I mentioned this a little bit uh earlier. Many people don't realize how much of their day is structured by work. Our our weeks, our months, our years, everything is structured around our work schedule. Now you're without a routine. It can be really easy to feel lost, it can be really easy to feel bored or um unanchored. Discombobulated. Yeah, just well, and we see what that we've we've seen that before with people. Um if you go into retirement without really a sense of of structure and don't create that for yours for yourself, then you end up doing nothing and that could be the worst. I mean, some pe I definitely understand that people say in retirement I want to do nothing for a long time, but you've got to build structure around your nothingness, otherwise it can be detrimental to your health.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Many, in many, many ways. One of our one of the clients who we had the toughest time with in this uh category um lost his wife literally when he retired. So he lost two major structures of his life and he really struggled. I mean, part of our meetings were about that. What are you doing? Here's some ideas, and and deeper than that too, you know, really, really feelings about that as well. Almost, I don't want to call them a counseling session, but almost to that extent, which you know we do that a lot. Um But that just I think that just uh um magnifies the fact that again that structure is so important and and again don't wait till retirement and then three months later and they say, oh, I'm I'm gonna go do this and that and the other. Not that that's bad, just I would go ahead and start, again, easing into things. Uh it and it needs to be physical and mental. So maybe join a chess club or a book club and then join uh pickleball and a gym or whatever and get a good mixture of that uh in addition to, and I'm sure you're gonna dig into this a little bit more, in add uh in addition. If you know every Tuesday night you're going to pickleball, and every Thursday night you're going to karaoke, it kind of gives you something to look forward to, you know, if you enjoy that.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

You'll you'll find other people who are doing that regularly as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

And they're there too. And hey, you know, it's good to see you guys again. I saw you last week, I'll see you next week, and and it becomes another little community. Uh so I've got a little several things I do that are like that, and I've developed friends in those areas, and it's um I think it's important. And it's in even when you're working, it's important because you don't want your entire life to be at work as well. Um, but definitely in retirement.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, you know, it's it's um I think people are sometimes surprised when they find out how much of our job as retirement planners is emotional, psychological, um we have to and relational. I mean, that's one of the favorite and it has to be. Yeah, one of my favorite things about the job is is how relational it is and how close we get to our clients and things like that. But even in our uh initial consultations, so we have the complimentary consultations, um the first half of that is getting to know someone um who they are, like the and from the inside out. Exactly. And even our little questionnaire and getting to know folks, before you get into any of the financial side of things, we're talking about your goals, your fears, your hopes, your dreams in retirement. Um, and that helps us to get a structure uh structural idea of who you are as a person. Um but just the same, even if we're down the road in our planning and and we we can make the most efficient um retirement plan possible with the all the numbers can work just right. But if it doesn't work with you psychologically, if it doesn't work with you emotionally, if there's a hang up there, then that plan's not gonna work. We've got to figure out that side of it as well. But there's so much to do on the emotional side, psychological side.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

And we don't just drop it as we're working through the plan, and even a year, two, three years later, um, whether they're approaching retirement or in retirement, we keep notes. And so we'll go back and say, you know, we did talk about this early on. Is that still something that you're dreaming about that you want to talk

Building Structure For Your Week

SPEAKER_01 10:20

about? But just kind of a sidebar to that too, and I I just thought of this, you know, so many clients that come to us from other firms talk about that different level that we do. And that's when I said earlier they should be doing this because you're really missing out on a big chunk of retirement planning if you're not talking about the emotional part. And so they're at some, I don't want to call it a cold firm, but maybe just a big box firm that uh maybe has a different advisor every five years or a different receptionist every six months or whatever. Um it's just and and I hope I'm not coming across as being as cutting other firms down. I'm just saying that they're that other layer and in uh you know, master plan being a multi-generational family-owned business. We're here, uh, we're here to stay. We've got secession plans in place, people know who we are, our clients know who we are individually, they know more about us because we do activities. Again, trying to get things, you know, get the other things going for our clients as well. So again, uh I can't overemphasize the level the uh of the emotional side and physical side is to uh to the planning part.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yeah, you can schedule your complimentary consultations online. Uh our website is masterplanretire.com. It's a schedule now button, click it, it'll take you directly to our calendar. Um that again, that's an opportunity to discuss your own retirement, your hopes, your dreams, your your fears, uh, your goals, all those kind of good things. And then we do run a series of reports for you as well to give about a you know 10,000 foot view of your own retirement um to see where your strengths and your opportunities for improvement are. So check that out. That's masterplanretire.com. Can I mention something real quickly?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

We we we go through that and talk about the initial consultation, but I was thinking about this the other day, how difficult it is to go somewhere for the first time, like the first time you go to a new dentist or a doctor or whatever. But it's even more difficult, I think, to come to someone like us because you're bearing your soul, not in, you know, certainly the what you just talked about, our fears, our goals, but also our failures. Uh, you know, have I saved enough? Many of our clients will ask us, they'll say, Where do I stand in regards to other folks how they're progressing toward retirement? And I'll, you know, and I'll try to give them a good, honest answer, but what they're ask really asking is, have I failed up to this point? And so it it's I think it it's hard for folks to come in. So many people need help, but they're like, uh last thing I want to do is sit in front of somebody and tell them I've only saved this much or I've only saved that much, or which may be a lot, you know, when you compare it to other folks. Doesn't matter how it compares to other folks. Every situation is different. But I understand those that are listening and watching, those fears, and believe me, the first thing we want to do is relay those fears and let you know that this is the first step. It's like being afraid to go to the doctor because you have a pain. I can either find out what it is or I can put it off because it's not that bad yet. Well, the longer you wait, the worse it's gonna get. Sometimes you just gotta, you know, grit your teeth, go in and say, This is the rest of my life. We got to talk about. And so that initial consultation can be difficult, I think, mentally or s or or emotionally from a standpoint of where do I stand, and I'm gonna tell these strangers where I stand. But it's so important to get started that way, and before you know it, you'll start seeing the light come on and seeing, yeah, you you can or you are on course to really have a great retirement.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

That's good. Um earlier you mentioned when we were talking about relationships and the importance of those and making sure that you're cultivating those in retirement is the camaraderie that we have with some of our old comrades in in in work, in the workforce. And the um the sense of belonging and the sense of uh accomplishment when you are working together with others, you know, that kind of wraps in perfectly with the next point is maintaining a sense of purpose. Um you must have a sense of purpose in retirement. And and frankly, you know, for many Americans, it's also just cultural, the way kind of our our days are structured and and our lives are structured, we're very career oriented. Whether you um love your job or hate your job, we often find aspects of our identity wrapped within what we do for a living. And if you are leaving your job, if you are retiring from a position, uh particularly one that you've had for a long time, and that's been who you are, that's been who you were over these years, um, you're cutting off a portion

The Emotional Side Of Retirement Planning

SPEAKER_00 14:55

of your identity without realizing it, that that has been there. Um and that you need to find a sense of purpose not only to to replace, maybe is not the right the right term, but to to really fill that void. To fill the void and and see, you know, who you are. You you don't want to be feel stranded um without a sense of purpose in retirement.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I think that's why so many of our clients, there's other reasons by why so many of our clients maybe continue working part-time in their field. Right. Uh a consultant or part-time or whatever to ease into that and not totally lose that while they're also finding another part of themselves. It gives them a little bit of money up front as well. But many times that is not the m the main goal or the goal at all. It is again to continue and let's instead of ripping off the band-aid, let's ease it off over a couple of years or something like that. So and then you can switch to something else part-time, if that's meaningful for you, that you would just love to do. You know, um, I've you know had a guy that he he loved cars. He went to go work for a dealership because he got to be around cars all the time, you know, things like that. So that was something that didn't necessarily pay him what he used to make. And uh it it maybe it wasn't an executive position like he used to have. That wasn't the point. He loved cars, he wanted to be around them. Uh so that can also help extend um and ease you into that um uh area that you need to be in from a standpoint of purpose.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Interesting uh little fact here. People age 75 and older are now the fastest growing age group in the workforce, um, with their numbers having quadrupled since 1964. Well, this is according to Pew research. So I think many older workers stay engaged and not just for financial reasons either. Um it's because they want to. They want to find that sense of purpose. Um, whether it's something that they're doing for income or even just volunteering and making that uh a real drive in what they do in their in their own. That's uh that's an unbelievable stat.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

I mean I certainly knew that a lot of old I mean, you go out you go out to whether it be a a restaurant, fast food, Target, Walmart or whatever, you are seeing more and more folks that do appear to be a little bit older. But that's a that's uh and and you know the other thing too is is that generation has a strong work ethic. Uh they're gonna show up to work. I'm not saying the younger generations don't. I'm just saying they're tried, true, and experienced, and that I think helps some too. But like you said, I think it's mostly just folks saying, hey, I retired and maybe I wasn't ready because I'm bored or whatever, let's let's do something.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

And you know, as far as strategies on how to find this next identity or or sense of purpose, it's it's probably not something that you want to say, I'll figure this out after I retire. It's something that would probably be good for, you know, if you if you see retirement on the horizon the next five years, three years, two years, maybe less, it might be a really good idea, an opportunity to start at least planning, okay, I want to pursue this, I want to try this

Purpose And Identity After Career

SPEAKER_00 17:55

out. Maybe I've never experienced this, so I'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Or take a couple of classes. Classes are great. Uh I know uh I don't know what age is it, 60, 65, but a university system here in Georgia, uh, you can take classes with no cost. You don't get credit, but you learn. You know, it could be a culinary class at a local university. It could be, again, uh writing or or or just you know, studying different. I mean, so many possibilities. I've got one client that she's trying something different all the time. Here's a language class. I'm gonna try this for for a semester. If I like it, I'll keep going for a while. Uh in fact, I think she's up to about four languages, if I remember correctly. Um and then and that's gotta be good for your mind, first of all. Um but um that just again, we could have a whole show on just spitting ideas out. Um, but those, you know, that's just kind of where you need to be looking for that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Um then the last point really is cultivating gratefulness in retirement and positive outlook as well. So research uh published in the JAMA network, J A M A, found that highly optimistic people were significantly less likely to suffer cardiovascular events, had a lower overall mortality rate. A separate study found that optimistic women had a 50% greater chance of living to age 85, optimistic men a 70% greater chance. And those are just health numbers. We know that all of these um all of these three topics, purpose, relationships, optimism, they all work together. And when you remove one or or add in uh something negative like a loneliness or lack of purpose into this retirement, you're gonna affect all of these things and your health's gonna be affected by all.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

And I'm uh I'm not sure where this would fit in, if it would be optimism, but I think spirituality. I'm not talking about any particular religion. I'm not talking about, I'm just talking whether it be you sit up in the morning and meditate, uh, whatever it may be, but just a time to sit and reflect, I think that's where the optimism can come from. Um that's become more and more that we're talking about on the radio today on the way in, uh, how it's becoming more and more common for people in the morning to spend 15 minutes in meditation or prayer or just quiet time. Again, it doesn't matter what that is, but as long as it looks something like that, um, to start that day with positivity. Yeah. And and again, I think spirituality is is one of those circles that needs to connect in there.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, I'm there are a couple of psychologists who have done some studies, Robert Emmons and Michael McCulloch, who found that people who regularly counted their blessings, um, reflection on gratefulness, uh, meditation, prayer, just like those things, um, they had obviously had a more positive outlook, but they reported fewer physical ailments. They exercised more as a habit and they were more likely to help others. And again, what is what is that key word, others as well? That's community. That's relationships. Yep, yeah. Keeps you from being isolated as well because we see when we are not cultivating gratefulness and and um that sense of of gratefulness in our lives, we tend to become internally and psychologically reclusive a little bit. Um and that is again

Gratitude Optimism And Spiritual Habits

SPEAKER_00 21:05

uh a small s rolling snowball that eventually it might start internally, but then we start to become more cut off and and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Well every time you you volunteer to to help another group of people or or whatever, or or animals or or whatever it may be, you do see your blessings more. Um and and you know, that's why early on um I know that um uh you know our family did a lot of um international mission trips. Because we wanted everyone, all of us to see that we're blessed. And and you start seeing other people in second and third world countries, and you're like, uh I'm not gonna complain again, you know, type of thing. Um but uh but and helping them as well, what a little bit of help we can be, but that's I think part of it is again for the person that's doing the the helping is probably more powerful than the people you're helping.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

And I think that's a good point too. Um the sense of purpose and meaningful activity. So there is a psychologist, June Gruber, uh, and this is kind of the uh the part to be aware of on the happiness uh pursuit of happiness front. Uh she's found that making happiness itself the primary goal can backfire by inflating expectations and making it harder to feel satisfied. Um happiness tends to emerge as a byproduct of meaningful activity, not as a direct pursuit. Because then if you're pursuing happiness for happiness sake, that I don't know that's not as but meaningful pursuit of meaningful, um purpose-filled pursuits. Um happiness is a natural byproduct.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Would that be going to like a funny movie? Is that how you make yourself happy? I don't know. I mean uh that I'm volunteering, just as you said. That's what I'm saying. That's the positive side. I'm saying just to make yourself happy to be happy, I'm not sure how that would work. I'm not sure how that would be accomplished.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

I mean, there's there's always gathering more stuff? There's always the needed treat yourself day. That's one that's true. That's one thing. Sometimes you just need a cheeseburger. Um yeah, double cheese. All these things work together, and we can see how one affects the other. Um meaningful pursuit, social interaction, relationships, happiness cultivated through that. Um we really need to plan for our retirement finances, a written plan, that's what we do, but we also need to plan for our lives and our purpose and our identity and how we're gonna spend our time once we uh say farewell to our employers.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

And just to clarify, uh from where we're coming from, this is not just an episode. We practice this every day with our clients, whether they're new coming in, whether they've been a client for 15 years. Um we lose clients. Uh had a client lose their spouse recently, suddenly, not that old. And so guiding them through that emotionally, they have other emotional areas too that can help, other people that can help. But I mean, they've thanked us profusely

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 24:05

for being there, for talking through, not just talking money, uh, but that other side of life. So um that's a layer we that we have. So anyway, I know it's been a great episode, by the way. I I hope everyone has enjoyed it, masterplanretire.com. And until we see each other again, remember, plan well and prosper. Take care.