While I’m glad you’re here, you’re probably wondering who I am and what the RetireRight360 blog is all about.

My name is Brian Richardson and I’ve been a part of several organizations in my working career. Everything from an engineer in the US Army, financial services, business newspaper editor, entrepreneur, and manager. I’ve been fortunate to see my working life from many different aspects.

We have parents, kids, and grandkids. We live in Indiana and enjoy RVing. That ‘s our way of preparing for the relaxing side of retirement. And all this has been leading up to where I am right now.

Retirement has really come to the forefront recently and I’m looking forward to working on doing it right. So, I’m learning as much as I can about a well-rounded retirement.

To be honest, it’s still 10ish years away. I see a lot of people I know that are near, or in, retirement. I can see how important it is. And I wanted to research the heck out of it, NOW!

I don’t want to blow it.

In seeing our parents and friends managing their retirement planning, there are a ton of things to consider besides the financials. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a numbers kind of guy. But we’re not just about numbers…now or in retirement.

I want my retirement to be on my terms. Our overall life in retirement should be just as significant and planned out as our financial well-being.

I Googled “retirement planning” and got 1.8 billion (yes billion with a “B”) hits. Yet “retire happy” got a mere 5% of those 1.8B hits. (Oddly enough, “funny videos” got 2.8 billion if THAT shows you where our priorities are!)

So how are we supposed to sift through 1.8B articles on retirement?

Well, put on your big boy/girl pants, because that’s where we’re headed with this blog.

As a working adult, when most of us heard about retirement for the first time, it probably had something to do saving money. Maybe it was a 401k or an IRA. We were told, “If you want to retire comfortably, you better start saving now.”

While that’s good advice, it’s still just the tip of the iceberg.

So, regardless of how much money you have, or don’t have, there will likely come a day when you stop working and enter retirement. Webster defines retirement as “the action or fact of leaving one’s job and ceasing to work.”

But life doesn’t cease at retirement. Or at least it shouldn’t.

If we wait too long to plan our retirement, it could end up anything but “golden”. The good thing is that if you start planning BEFORE retirement, you won’t have to drag yourself through these processes DURING retirement. It might be too late then.

That would be like trying to harvest your crops if you forgot to plant the seeds, water them and pull the weeds. You’ll be a shade frustrated come time to eat!

So, this is a journey, with a schedule, wrapped in a process. Onward!

I’m going to call this process my “SHELF” life because I think we can break down the retirement planning strategy into 5 broad categories:

  • Social
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Legacy
  • Financial

But those categories have over 20 subcategories based on your personal situation! There’s a lot to do…but it is doable…with a plan and direction. They are weaved together, so it’s hard to ignore a difficult aspect and only concentrate on the fun ones.

I’m looking forward to this whole retirement thing. I’m even more eager to do it right so my SHELF life is as well prepared as I can make it.

So, stay tuned! We’ll go down all the roads possible to find the best answers and solutions for your “RetireRight” situation.

The bottom line:
Retiring right through a full 360 view, is obtainable with the right planning, direction and action.
Take the time to do it sooner than later. We got this!

Action Item:
Commit to start planning today by sharing it with an accountability partner (spouse, friend, me…somebody!)