Strategies for Retiring Right: A planning session with Rick Atkinson
Strategies for Retiring Right: A planning session with Rick Atkinson
Posted on March 3, 2021
On January 15th, Midland Honda provided a retirement planning meeting for interested customers at the dealership with Rick Atkinson who is also known as ‘Mr. Retirement’. Rick is a retirement coach, an adviser and author of several books on the subject. Richard Davies enlisted Rick to provide the community with some insights into planning their best retirement. The evening’s maxim might well have been, “Your self-worth in retirement is not wholly tied to your net worth”.
Some folks dread the thought of mentally preparing for retirement. Their present job is what drives them and for the most part it makes them happy. Retirement is often considered a concept associated with aging and death. Others think that unhealthy habits can creep in to your life when there is less or no work structure. Rick suggests that instead of viewing retirement as being synonymous with death, one should decide that retirement can mean that you can do what you want, when you want and with whom you want. This transformative process really becomes a personal declaration of freedom that should allow you to shape the rest of your life. Who wouldn’t want a zestful life, travelling, volunteering and enjoying the company of family and friends?
Initiating the benefits of a fulsome retirement does take some effort however. It’s not as easy as dropping off your vehicle at Midland Honda’s service desk then expecting and getting by the end of the day a car in tip-top condition ready for another season. Rick’s holistic approach to retirement planning asks for your commitment to detail a written overview of your vision for retirement, a review of your savings strategy and a pledge to get your personal affairs in order with a will. Rick states the following: “Successful retirees recognize the need to plan for happiness and productivity. They evaluate what’s important to them and construct actions to satisfy their needs and wants. By creating a vision of a realistic retirement and building an action plan to achieve it, they are proactively and energetically seeking results.”
The Midland Honda workshop with ‘Mr. Retirement’ was well received by those who attended the event. I think it is fair to say that people could see the benefits of establishing some of the building blocks for a sound retirement plan. We are living longer! Help make your retirement worthwhile by embarking on a visioning exercise soon.
Until next time...
Macky