What my mother taught me about using retirement before retirement uses you.

Required Minimum Lifestyle Distributions

My mother was very good at saving for retirement. Her financial advisor eventually had to encourage her to spend more of it.

By the time Required Minimum Distributions forced her to withdraw money from her retirement accounts, she often had no particular need for it. So some of the money ended up going to her children and grandchildren.

Later, declining mobility and health changed the equation even further. She had the money. What she increasingly didn't have was the ability to use it in the ways she once could.

I've thought about that quite a bit as I get closer to my own retirement.

It has led me to think about another kind of RMD. One that has nothing to do with the IRS.

I call them Required Minimum Lifestyle Distributions.

This week's article explains what I mean and why my mother's experience changed how I think about using my time, money and health during retirement rather than simply preserving them.

How Strong Is the Life You're Building Around You?

Retirement planning involves more than determining whether you have accumulated enough money. The Retirement Time Analysis (RTA) explores how prepared you are to use the time that money is intended to support, including your anticipated lifestyle, activities, relationships, retirement mindset and financial mindset. Take the RTA →

What if You Had to Take a Lifestyle Distribution Now?

If your retirement began tomorrow, what would you intentionally distribute more of?

Would it be time with family, experiences you've postponed, friendships you've neglected, or places you've always wanted to visit?

Consider one area of your life where you have been waiting for "someday" and ask yourself what a small lifestyle distribution might look like today.

Avoiding Forced Lifestyle Distributions

Money has value because of what it allows us to do with our time. As we age, health, mobility, energy, and circumstances change. Opportunities available today may not be available ten years from now.

The challenge is not simply avoiding running out of money. The challenge is avoiding a future where there is still money available but fewer opportunities to use it in ways that create purpose, connection, and fulfillment.

A well-designed life is measured not only by what we accumulate, but by how intentionally we use what we have been given.

Continue Reading

​Who Is Your Chief Longevity Officer?​

​When Your Retirement Starts Revolving Around Your Parent​

​The Power of Slow Growth​

See What the Retirement Time Analysis Reveals Your retirement savings are intended to support a life. See how the Retirement Time Analysis explores the lifestyle, time, relationships, activities and mindset that can help you determine what you want that life to look like. Get the RTA Sample Report

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