Good to Great: How to Scale With an Outsourced CFO

A life without the suit and tie is a workplace fantasy of almost anyone doing the nine-to-five. Even for those of us who adore our jobs, our colleagues, and the satisfaction of work done well have a keen curiosity about what their life may look like without meetings.

It may be surprising then, that the internet is bursting with forums where dissatisfied retirees are venting their abject boredom, even in spite of their financial security.

As a Wealth Management adviser, I’m in the business of empowering people to enjoy their retirement free from financial concern. However, I’m also lucky enough to work in a business that understands the intimate relationship between wealth management and lifestyle planning. Which is why we’re dedicated to arming our clients with the tools and knowledge to enjoy a truly fulfilling retirement, not just one where their bottom line stays healthy.

After all, even the novelty of a tropical sunset can wear off when it becomes a daily reality. 

So what can would-be retirees do to plan for a positive and enriching retirement, and how can current retirees who may be asking “what now?” reclaim the years they’ve worked so hard for?

 

  

Complaining About a Comfortable Retirement? You’ve Got to be Kidding! 

To the millions of hard-working, family-feeding, tax-paying Australian workers, any complaints about a financially secure retirement can fall on deaf ears.

However, the phenomenon of ‘retirement boredom’ has been well-documented and legitimised by health professionals, scientists and retirees themselves the world over. One study published by the Institute of Economic Affairs even found that retirement increased risk of clinical depression by 40%. The study, titled “Work Longer, Live Healthier” cited the dropping retirement age in the UK and increasing life expectancy as two ingredients contributing to cases of retirement depression. 

Even Hollywood celebrities have weighed in on how retirees can make the most of their post-working lives. Their solutions ranged from embarking on a path of rigorous self-improvement to simply returning to work.

The Professor of Psychiatry at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, shares an even easier recipe for retirement satisfaction: 

“The best thing that can happen to someone before they retire is that they hate their job at the end.”

Before I offer my own solutions to the retirement blues, let’s look at the problem in more detail. 

 

 

What Causes Retirement Boredom? 

The Institute of Economic Affairs study mentioned above touches on an interesting correlation between increasing life expectancy and decreasing average retirement age in the UK. It makes sense that a longer period of retirement equates to more opportunity for boredom, in addition to debilitating illness. 

In Australia, however, citizens are planning to work longer than ever before.

A survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2015 found 71% of Australians intended to retire at the age of 65 or older - up 66% from their previous survey in 2013.

It’s also often said that men will work longer to preserve their professional identities. However, the same survey found very little difference between the average retirement age of men and women - at 65.7 years and 64.5 years, respectively.

These Australian statistics are somewhat at odds with the findings of the Institute of Economic Affairs study, yet instances of retirement boredom persist in Australia. Why?

At a glance, the 5 most-cited contributors to an unsatisfying retirement are: 

1. All the time in the world, yet nothing to do with it.
2. A loss of the identity, camaraderie and purpose they enjoyed in their professional careers.
3. Deteriorating physical health.
4. Diminishing contact with children who have flown the nest.
5. Financial pressure.

Now, assuming you’ve alleviated much of your financial pressures with the assistance of an effective Wealth Management Adviser, what else can be done to minimise the risk of becoming downright bored in your retirement years? 

 

Simple Strategies for a Satisfying Retirement

This is the part where I tell you to go and make friends, enjoy the fresh air, take up lawn bowls and begin writing your memoirs. But in seriousness, I’m not qualified to recommend treatments for any form of depression in retirement. And I won’t. 

I am, however, qualified to know that a satisfying retirement isn’t achieved without extensive planning. Some may think they can get away with drafting a quick bucket list and 3-month workout routine, but behind its glitz and glamour, retirement demands rigorous, sometimes-painful and often-boring planning. Think estate planning, superannuation, personal cash flow, debt, salary sacrificing, asset protection, to name a few. 

You know, all the fun stuff.

And this is necessary just to achieve financial certainty for your retirement years. The periphery challenges like boredom are more difficult to tie up neatly in well-managed files. 

My business, Altus Financial, understands that wealth and lifestyle are intricately linked. We like to think it makes us different. So we strive to educate our clients not just on their financial world, but on why lifestyle planning should be prioritised. We produce articles like ‘3 Tips to Ensure You Travel in Retirement’, ’The Surprising Science Behind Retiring to the Coast’ and explore the divergent preferences of men and women during their retirement years. 

My tips for a satisfying retirement in a sentence?

Do what you love, have others love you for it and only leave the fun stuff to chance.

To read more about planning for a satisfying and financially secure retirement, grab a copy of your free Complete Guide to Retirement Planning below: