No time for retirement planning – Make time

The decade just before retirement may be the busiest for professionals. We have decades of work and life experience that have value to people inside and outside of our workplace. We probably therefore have a full plate at work with responsibility for people and projects. We probably also have responsibilities and obligations in associations, church, clubs and so on. Add in family and friends and there is scarcely time to sleep, let alone sit down and engage in retirement planning. As a result we may get to retirement with a great reputation but no plans for how to live the last two or three decades of our lives and not enough money.

Of course there are certain things that we have to do but if we are honest there are an awful lot of things that we are doing simply because we are asked and said yes out of guilt, fear or obligation. I remember one such incident when I volunteered for something at church. It was not my area of strength or even interest but they needed volunteers and I felt obligated to volunteer. Immediately it mushroomed. After signing up I discovered that there was a mandatory training before the event which required several hours on a Saturday. During that training I discovered that we were required to show up a couple of hours before the event and stay for a couple of hours after for a debriefing session. It was at a particularly busy time in my life and I felt my whole body tightening up as each new requirement unfolded. Fate or God intervened and a couple of days before the event I came down with a severe dose of the flu that kept me in bed for days before and after the event. The point of the story is not that we should never stretch ourselves or assist others, but to think before we do and to choose wisely especially in light of the need to leave time and energy for time for things that are critical to our long term future.

Steven Covey left us a great tool in his urgent vs. important matrix. Urgent things tend to shout and scream at us until they get our time and attention. There are different types of urgent however. Some things like a crying child or sick relative are truly urgent. Other things that appear urgent are someone else’s priorities and attending to them not only derails us but debilitates us. Important things don’t clamour for our attention but neglecting them can have serious consequences. These are our priorities and we shunt them outside at our peril. Fail to take care of those things in the yellow box like planning for your future and you will regret it in the future. If you’re not familiar with Covey’s work then please read up on it. It is transformatory.

The problem is how to say no to the urgent. It could be your boss, your co-workers, your friends or even your church and it is important to them that you do what they are asking. It’s a dilemma we all face. I love what Brene Brown says and rather than paraphrase I’ll just let her say it – “The moment someone asks you to do something you don’t have the time or inclination to do is fraught with vulnerability. “Yes!” often seems like the easiest way out. But it comes at a price: I can’t tell you how mnay times I’ve said “sure!” in my squeaky I-can’t-believe-I’m-doing-this voice, only to spend hours, even months, feeling angry and resentful.” I bet that sounds familiar! She suggests this – CHOOSE DISCOMFORT OVER RESENTMENT. That means, choose feeling uncomfortable in the moment rather than resentment later. Volunteering at church at the time I did it was not a good choice especially since I did not explore the parameters before committing to serve. I should have taken the time to think it through before making any decision. No doubt you can think of your own experiences at work or volunteer associations when you said ‘yes’ and you should have said ‘no’.

Back to retirement though. It’s about moving our retirement planning into the important yellow box zone and making time for it by saying no to those things that appear urgent but that we feel instinctively aren’t part of our purpose. Writing down retirement planning as a priority and assigning time each week to it puts it up there with the other demands on our time and may make it easier to say ‘no’ to the things that we perhaps shouldn’t be doing.

Retirement planning will involve different things to different people and require different amounts of time. If you’ve been doing it for years then it may just be a matter of scheduling time to make sure things on track. On the other hand if you haven’t given it any serious thought you may need to plan meetings with financial planners, develop strategies for how and where you will live, follow up on those strategies and so on. Schedule in the time and see how much more relaxed you feel as you begin to take control of your future. Hold the time as sacred as you hold time at your job, church and so on. A decade or two from now you’ll be glad that you did!

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Knowing when to let go (before it’s too late)

Guest Editor – Sherwin Bridgewater

Today I spent the day with my 69 year old aunt. Thankfully, she is in great health, walks at least 3 miles a day, swims daily on the beach and maintains a diet that rivals a 25 year old model. An avid Sudoku and cross word puzzle player, she began teaching at age 18, and upon her retirement at 60, vowed never to enter a classroom again and has kept her word.

My aunt was always frugal and still maintains a copy book where she records every dollar spent and I mean every dollar to the last penny. As kids, we would always try to make an extra dollar on errands but not with my aunt – she would note the price of each item and demand her change, all of it. She was, and still is fiercely independent and proud of her accomplishment of entering retirement debt free and not ‘hustling a penny here and there’. This she attributes to proper planning, setting personal goals and living within her means.

Then just out of the blue, she approached me and asked me to accompany her to the banks to add my name to her accounts. Her request hit me like a ton of bricks. Realisation started to set in, she is turning 70 next year. My mind started racing, is something wrong, will something happen to her? In my mind she is still young and spritely, drives herself everywhere, jumps in a band for carnival and does all her banking transactions herself. The decision to add someone to her accounts must have been difficult.

Here we are in Bank one. As we begin chatting, my aunt reveals part of the reason for her decision. A couple of weeks ago, she attended a seminar on Estate Planning and a lawyer gave an exposé on the legal cost associated with preparing and probating wills. She was aghast that a lawyer, and not her loved ones may benefit more from her death, and vowed to “never let a red cent of her hard earned dollars go to any lawyer” (this is the sanitized version of course).

We eventually sat at the Customer Service Representative (CSR) desk fifty minutes after entering Bank one and the process began.
Before leaving home, my aunt had called ahead and was told the requirements needed to open a joint account or in this instance, add someone to her account. She promptly produced her last statement, proof of address (a utility bill) and my two forms of identifications. At this point, I must highlight the importance of two simple words for transactions of this nature; (i) “And”; (ii) “Or”. Let me explain:
In establishing a joint account, most financial institutions will provide one or more of the following options.
1. AND – both parties must be present to withdraw funds from the account, and transactions require the signature of both individuals. The original account holder has given up his/her sole right to manage the account and may be unable to access the funds in the event of brokenties, or if one of the signatory becomes incapacitated. In these instances,the institutions have limited power to act on behalf on the account holders.

2. OR – either one of the account holders can withdraw funds without the signature or prior knowledge of the other party. The original account holder has given up his/her sole right to manage the account. For seniors unable to visit the banks, this may be the preferred option,however there are numerous stories of persons withdrawing funds without the consent of the other party. In these instances,the institutions have limited power to secure the funds of the original account holder.

Additionally, there is a third option.
3. Assigning a beneficiary. The account holder can assign a beneficiary who will receive the funds upon the death of the individual. If more than one beneficiaryis assigned, the funds will be divided equally among the beneficiaries. However, a beneficiary cannot access the account nor transact any business on behalf of the account holder. This option varies from institution to institution.

After signing countless forms and updating our personal records, we moved on to Institution two. There the CSR explained in detail the above-mentioned AND, OR and Beneficiaries options. My aunt opted for the OR option, along with assigning a beneficiary. This was another twist, in the event that ‘something’ should happen to my aunt and I at the same time, the institution will disburse the funds to the beneficiary. The downside though is that ATM cards are not available with joint accounts in Institution two, thus all transactions must be done over the counter.

Bank three requirements and guidelines were similar to Bank one, except for one variation, the account was a special plus 55 account and all bank charges were waived because of senior privileges. Adding someone to the account under the age limit would incur the necessary charges. After some negotiations and the intervention of a supervisor, this stipulation was waived because of my aunt’s excellent track record and good relations with the bank. It did not hurt that the supervisor was a former student.

We spent the entire day to complete these transactions and I forgot one important piece of information, I had no idea how much money was in any of these accounts. Not that it is important, but it does highlight some key issues:

1. Who do your Senior loved ones trust? I grew up with my aunt and we always had a very good relationship, making the decision to add me to her accounts much easier for her. What about our many loved ones who see the need but are afraid to take the next step? Can they simply rely on choosing a name from a hat? No, the decision requires careful consideration, understanding of the process and willingness to face the consequences of their choice. It is a tough but necessary conversation that we must have with our loved ones.

2. Willingness to accept responsibility. Many times we focus on the role of the Senior, but as children, nephews, nieces etc, we have a vital role to play. At first my aunt’s request was no big thing for me until I heard some of the stories from the CSRs about challenges with joint accounts. Are we willing to accept the responsibility and challenges that come with the faith and confidence entrusted to and in us by our elders? Are we willing to safeguard our parents’ investments and really see it as their investments, not ours? Are we willing to make the several visits to the bank,andto deal with the occasional accusations that may come with age and memory lost? We need to have this conversation with ourselves and decide if we are the right person for the job.

3. Timing is important. My aunt made this decision while she was still in sound mind and regular motion, however, it was into her ninth year of retirement. God forbid if ‘something’ had happened to her before – this would have led to the unnecessary task of filing letters of administration, deciding next of kin as she does not have any children, not to mention all the legal costs. We need to have this conversation with our loved ones even before their retirement.

4. Research. There are many options available. Have we explored them, do we need to get advice from experts, do we require a will for non-financial assets? Some additional information was not discussed in this article: interest rates, investment instruments, insurance, deposit guarantee (my aunt noted that she has to shift around the funds to ensure they remain with the required limits). These are difficult conversations we must and should have with our loved ones.

I end on a note of humour. My aunt is a character, she will have you laughing and chatting all day. When we completed our transactions, she looked at me and said “Boy, if you take advantage of me, may the vengeance of ‘moko’ descend on you” and laughed. Don’t ask me who or what is moko, but it just underscores the plethora of emotions our loved ones experience in having these difficult conversations and making the decisions. Our support in whatever way possible can help to make the process less awkward and difficult for them. But responsibility is a big cup of tea with many mixed flavours, some more pleasant than others. Are you willing to drink from this cup?