Many may not have enough to retire according to every financial institution’s retirement calculator. But they may have enough to achieve a very critical goal.
There is a paradigm about retirement that is deeply rooted in the psyche of Baby Boomers (and even into Generation X). That paradigm goes something like this: you work hard, you put away money, then you quit work and do all those things retired people do. You know, like sailing. Doesn’t matter if you don’t sail or even live near a body of water. All those retirement brochures show retirees sailing.
The fact is, the lack of retirement savings will mean a very different retirement for the majority of Americans. That’s even before considering the recent economic turmoil. Quite simply, many will have to continue working. Does that mean the dream of retirement is dead? No. It means that it is a different dream now.
Sure many may not have enough to retire according to every financial institution’s retirement calculator. But they may have enough to achieve a very critical goal for most: more say over how they spend their time. Even limited retirement savings may give the soon-to-be-retired more power to decide how and when they choose to work.
As financial services marketers, we need to realize that retirement is not about sailing. It’s about feeling like you’ve earned the ability to have more say over your time. To feel empowered. This doesn’t mean that we should stop encouraging people to save and invest everything they can for their retirement. It means that we should not focus solely on a paradigm born in the decade following World War II. Instead let’s focus on what can be attained in today’s world. There is still a lot of hope to communicate.
