Beachwalker, the rockin’ retirement coach is in the house today. He joins us once a month on the show to give some helpful tips on how to create an awesome retirement. Today we’re talking about attitude. Attitude makes a huge impact on your retirement, your health, and even your longevity. Listen in to hear how a positive attitude can affect your life and stick around for the Q & A segment to hear the answers to questions you didn’t even know you had. 

Attitude isn’t everything, but...

It’s a huge component of rocking retirement. Attitude is an important determinant of the quality of your life now and it will be so even more in retirement. The definition of attitude is a settled feeling about someone or something that is reflected in behavior. So what comes first the chicken or the egg - a great retirement or a positive attitude? What do you think?

Attitude has an even bigger factor on longevity than your health

People are living so much longer than they used to. 80 is the new 60. With this newfound longevity, it’s important to create a positive mindset. You can’t let every ache and pain get you down, find a way to deal with that so you can move on and make the best of your life. Studies have shown that a positive attitude impacts your balance, your mental health, and even your longevity. Aging is inevitable, being old is a choice. 

Robo advisors and target-date funds in retirement

If you are young and accumulating your savings, target-date funds are totally fine (even though I like allocation funds better). And robo advisors are able to put your portfolio on autopilot by automatically rebalancing whenever you need it. But these tools are not set up for managing your assets in or nearing retirement. In retirement, they can lead you astray since they are not geared for distribution. 

How do you determine whether to take a lump sum or an annuity?

Choosing between taking a pension or a lump sum is a tough call. There are many factors to consider. One factor you should think about is what other assets do you have? A pension offers flexibility if you have other assets in place. But if you are underfunded for retirement taking a lump sum would create investment risk at a time when you need to have guaranteed income sources. When planning for retirement, I like to first create a process, then a strategy, and lastly, I choose the tactics to use. You can create your own model at home using your own process, strategy, and tactics. Try modeling both choices and see where you end up. 

OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT

• [3:00] Attitude isn’t everything

COACHES CORNER SEGMENT

• [5:22] People who have a more positive perception of aging live longer

Q&A SEGMENT

• [10:30] Robo advisors and target-date funds in retirement
• [12:43] Why isn’t catastrophic long-term care a thing?
• [14:30] Lump sum or annuity?

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

• [19:27] Ask yourself, what does this make possible?

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

BOOK - Younger Next Year by Dr. Henry Lodge

Rock Retirement Club

Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That

BOOK - Rock Retirement  by Roger Whitney

Work with Roger

Roger’s Retirement Learning Center