May 26: BEST FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

May 26, 2025

Planning, spending and social connections called keys to retirement success

Writing for Yahoo! Finance, Robert Powell outlines what he feels are the key steps to having “a happy, successful and wealthy retirement.”

He quotes Christine Benz, author of How to Retire, as noting that you need to “visualize your retirement lifestyle and put habits in place to make it happen.”

“The point is that we’re all wired a little bit differently in terms of what we want from our retirement cash flows,” Benz tells Yahoo! Finance. “A broader message of this book is there’s more than one way to do this. … You should give a little thought to what you specifically are looking for.”

We recall, at another pension plan we worked for, hearing the anecdote that if you asked 100 people what an ideal wedding would look like, you would get 100 different answers. The same would be true, we were told, if you asked them to describe retirement.

Benz shares in the article some of the insights she learned in putting together her book.

She notes that “phasing into retirement” rather than leaping in, may be the best approach. “You don’t have to take concrete steps; you can just start thinking about which parts of your work you like and dislike,” the article explains.

“Consider making decisions about your work life in the years leading up to retirement, either in `stealth mode’ or through candid discussions with your employer. Then, take additional steps, such as saving contact information and personal files from your work computer,” the article continues.

And, maybe you start “dabbling” in post-retirement activities early, “before fully retiring,” the article suggests. It’s important to realize, the article stresses, that you need to have something concrete planned to do in the new, expansive swath of free time you’ll soon have.

Benz notes that Michael Finke of the American College of Financial Services told her in an interview that “retirement is not all about relaxation, leisure activities, and free time. After all, you need something to relax from.”

Finke’s advice, she relates to Yahoo! Finance, is to “find an `animating force’ that provides a sense of purpose in retirement, such as volunteering, continued work in some capacity, or reengaging with family.”

Another finding, Benz relates, was the value of social connections in retirement. She learned about that, the article notes, from interviews with Laura Carstensen of the Stanford Center on Longevity.

You will, the article explains, need to build “day to day interactions” with people after work. “Make sure that you are replacing work friendships with friendships outside of work because those work friendships may not stand the test of time,” Benz tells Yahoo! Finance.

“It’s OK to have your network shrink a little bit as you age,” she states in the article, adding that “you don’t want that social network to get too small. You don’t want to be down to just, say, two or three people.”

Another area of post-retirement success is on the spending side, the article notes. There’s the problem of the “spending smile,” referring to the shape of the post-work spending pattern – it tends to drop off early in retirement but then builds near the end due to possible long-term care costs.

Benz quotes Dave Blanchett of PGIM DC Solutions as saying he’s a believer “in people giving themselves a little bit of permission to spend more earlier on.” People tend to try and avoid spending in retirement, the article notes, because after a lifetime of saving for retirement, it is strange to have to draw down the savings.

The article concludes with a look at asset allocation for post-work savings. She quotes J L Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth, as suggesting using “a simple index-fund based portfolio with a bit of cash, focusing on stock and bond market indexes, rather than overly complicated investments.”

There’s a lot to like, she states in the article, about a simpler, minimalistic approach.

For Saskatchewan Pension Plan members reaching retirement age, there are a number of income options that turn savings into spendable money. SPP’s lineup of annuity options will provide the retiring member with income for life. If you want to keep on investing your savings, the Variable Benefit option may be a more flexible choice.

Check out SPP today!

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Yahoo! Finance

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