Retirement planning, generally, focuses on the big number we all are hoping to reach at each of our desired times, and that number is most likely a large dollar amount.

It can even be a culmination of multiple different sources, e.g. 401(k) balance, Social Security income, pension income, other investments, etc.

We are all inundated with information about the retirement planning crisis in our country, and how most Americans have not saved enough. Financial management firms even frame their ads around saving and preparing financially for retirement. All the focus is on the financial aspect of preparing for retirement.

I can attest professionally that preparing financially for retirement is essential, but preparing only for the financial aspect of retirement reduces planning to a singular focus and excludes an equally important component: How we want to live with purpose in retirement.

Significant life change

A common question that gets asked while planning for retirement is, “What do you plan to do in retirement?”

The most common responses are travel, spend time with family, golf or other sports, volunteering, spending more time in the garden, etc. In our experience, these generalized responses do not fully answer the question or uncover what life will be like after this significant life change.

When we think of significant life changes, we primarily think of getting married, divorced, a birth or death.

Retirement tends to be brushed off as the thing we do after we stop working, and the activities to fill the time will emerge from somewhere.

Retirement is a significant life change, and it deserves more thought than simply deciding what we will do once we no longer have to go to work.

The questions we should be asked or even ask ourselves are, “What are you currently doing that you would like to do more of in retirement? What are you not doing today that you would like to start doing in retirement?”

In our experience, individuals who engage in activities today that they want to do in retirement are much more likely to follow through with those plans.

In contrast, individuals who wait until retirement to engage in their “retirement activities” are less likely to follow through with those plans. Not only do those individuals run the risk of not fulfilling their “dreams” for retirement, but they also run the risk of losing purpose in retirement. The reason for this is habit.

We all know how difficult it is to build new habits, to change our routines, and these invisible barriers of change do not get easier with age. If someone spends their entire life saving for retirement with the hope of finally spending their money on new habits, the likelihood of success in that is low.

A common analogy I like to use is regarding exercising muscles. If we exercise the same muscle repeatedly, and we then engage a different muscle that we have neglected for years, the likelihood of injury is very high.

You only have to look to any adult softball league for verification. In much the same way, retirement can ask us to exercise parts of our lives that we may not have used very often or not at all.

Living the life we want to live in retirement is part of exercising a muscle we want to engage more fully in the future. I call adding intended retirement activities into today’s life “mini retirements.”

Picture the future

Now, let me be clear, I’m not advocating to go out and spend excess amounts of money to enjoy mini retirements in a way that jeopardizes your broader retirement plan.

I am, however, advocating for “test driving” retirement along the way. True comprehensive financial planning incorporates the soft sciences of integrating both purpose discovery and retirement exploration within the financial models.

Test driving potential long-term commitments before retirement gives you time to determine what you truly enjoy, adjust your plans and explore other passions.

I recommend taking the time to sit down by yourself and capture what you want your retirement to look like, and if you have a spouse or significant other, work together to capture what you both would like retirement to look like with each other.

Retirement is the financial supplementation of income to continue to live without the commitment of employment.

Retirement is not the start of a brand-new life; it is the continuation of your current life with more control of your time.

If you identify and test drive the activities that can bring your life purpose and enjoyment today, the odds of a successful, meaningful and enjoyable retirement increase exponentially.

Matthew Petersen is the director of advisor services and a senior wealth advisor at Petersen Hastings Wealth Advisors in Kennewick.