Never place a period where God has placed a comma. ~Gracie Allen
This quote really resonates with me when I begin thinking about the myriad of challenges that my clients (especially women) face when they seriously begin planning for their retirements.
Punctuating with a period? Constantly bombarded with the images of that ‘ideal’ retirement, we’ve all seen pictures of retirees walking in 
the sun on a beautiful beach, playing golf, boating or traveling to exotic destinations. Of course, these pictures never show a cloudy sky or a hint of rain.
We all dream of being able to have a sunny retirement. – And, for sure, keep your ideal retirement dream alive! But, if you’ve got rain in your retirement financial picture, you don’t need to get stuck by placing a ‘full stop’ on your retirement plans when your financial reality doesn’t match up…
Time to punctuate with a comma? I have occasion to welcome clients into my office who are very close to or beyond retirement age who despite their best efforts are falling short of attaining their retirement dreams. Many are really ‘down on themselves’ or ‘beating themselves up’ for their current gap in retirement assets needed versus what they have actually saved. Oddly enough, I say that this is the perfect time to re-evaluate your situation and move forward to ‘reinvent’ your retirement.
As the new year begins, this certainly is the perfect time to rewrite your very own plan for retirement. Remember it’s not supposed to be the retirement picture or plan that an advertiser has shown you. -Truthfully, who do you know that really has that idyllic life? So, I’m talking about you, drawing-up a retirement picture or plan that matches your financial reality.
In the last several years, I’ve read and tweeted many ideas that may be helpful to those of you who are working on retirement redux or reinventing your 
retirement plans:
- Working longer full or part-time doing something you actually enjoy
- Develop a new computer-based career you can work from the comfort of your home
- Living together with other ‘Golden Girls’ or Golden Guys’
- Retiring in here or in another country that has a retiree-friendly costs and standard of living
- Move in with a family member
Your picture of your retirement will be as unique as you. Remember it’s not your Mom, Dad’s or an advertiser’s retirement –it’s yours. Take the plunge and reinvent your retirement.
Need more ideas? Give me a call.
Jane Nowak is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™ who specializes in Women’s Retirement and Divorce Financial Planning for Women. Located in the Smyrna, Marietta, Vinings area of Atlanta, GA, Jane’s goal is to educate and empower her clients to take control of their daily finances so they can fully fund their retirement dreams and needs. Jane has recently had articles published or has been quoted in articles that have appeared on-line at the NASDAQ, Yahoo Finance, Womenetics.com, Smart Money Chicks, Fox Business News, CreditCards.com, U.S. News and World Report and Financial Planning Association (FPA) websites.
