What can we learn in life from those who have come before us? Asking yourself that question frequently is going to keep you in the right mindset to achieve great success in whatever you do throughout life. But we can also apply the thinking specifically to retirement. What can we learn from those who have successfully retired already? What do those folks have in common and can we implement the same strategies and habits?

Using Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as inspiration, Joel has mapped out the 7 Habits Of Highly Successful Retirees for today’s podcast. Listen and see if you’re living out these habits or if you might need to tweak your approach to financial and retirement planning.

Full show notes: https://johnsonbrunetti.com/7-habits-of-highly-successful-retirees

 

7 Habits Of Highly Successful Retirees

1:19 Having A Great Savings Withdrawal Strategy

• A lot of people enter retirement with a big pile of money, but no idea how to create an income with that pile.
• Joel says this is why it comes down to income planning first and foremost. You want to have a projection that tells you exactly how all of your income sources are going to coordinate with each other.
• Invest with a tilt toward income.

2:44 Diversifying For Everlasting Income

• You want to diversify your income sources so that you can weather storms in the market, because they will come. It’s also helpful in low interest environments.

3:30 Fending Off The Tax Man

• So many people spend a lot of time trying to squeeze out just a little bit extra rate of return on their investments. But they’re overlooking their tax situation. They often have inefficient tax plans. That’s where the greater opportunity is for most folks.
• Quit overlooking the tax implications of your plan.

4:45 Leveraging Dividend Stocks

• Dividend stocks to a couple of things. They currently get taxed at a lower rate (qualified dividends) than your ordinary income.
• Beware that the risk with dividend stocks is greater than other investments, but it can be helpful to have these as part of your strategy as a hedge against inflation.

8:25 Maintaining A Modern Estate Plan

• A modern estate plan should consist of three components.
• 1) Asset protection
• 2) Tax & fee reduction
• 3) Control
• Ask yourself if you have protected your assets against lawsuits, potential liabilities and catastrophic healthcare issues.

10:15 Don’t Be Afraid To Take Risks

• This might seem counterintuitive to advice generally given on the Money Wisdom Podcast. So much emphasis is put on safety and investing conservatively. However, there might be plenty of opportunities where it’s appropriate to take risk. The key is in identifying those opportunities and moments where risk is OK.
• A lot of people are afraid to take risks, but you shouldn’t let fear disconnect you from proper planning. If you’re doing it correctly, you have nothing to fear. It comes down to proper understanding.

12:38 Always Know Where You Stand

• This is why Joel likes to boil everyone’s financial plan down to a one-page summary. It makes it easy to understand whether you’re a detail-loving engineer or a “just give me the basics” kind of person.
• It’s important because having a quick snapshot of your finances makes it easier to learn what’s in your financial accounts and how those items are working for your retirement mission.