Financial Planning Is Not
Retirement Planning

Retirement from a role is often viewed as an on/off switch rather than as a continuum of life stage and phase, transitions, and decisions. One theory of role development suggests that we (1) take, (2) play, (3) expand, and (4) retire roles throughout our lives. However, allow us to suggest that there is a fifth evolution that can occur after retiring your primary career role. We call this Reploying your role. 

At its essence, reploying your role involves replenishing your energy and focusing on the discernment needed to engage a meaningful vocation you may have put aside, been waiting or wanting to explore, or have not yet discovered, in your second adult life.

There may be no question more important to consider and plan for in your 2.0 life than where you will live. Where you reside, the location and setting where you feel most safe and secure is an essential element. A sense of a satisfying home is absolutely central to our lives. 

As we think about Home and Place, in our 2.0 life, there is an opportunity to redefine home, travel, and the locations that accompany our life. Susan Clayton, an environmental psychologist at the College of Wooster, says that for many people, their home is part of their self-definition. As we reploy our lives, we can reploy our ideas of home and place as well.

It is not enough to invest time and energy into a relationships. As we evolve, the people around us are on their own evolutionary journey as well. We must first understand ourselves in order to attend to our key relationships. The transition from 1.0 to 2.0 will see some relationships end, some tested, some renewed, and others form. Intentionality and a deep understanding of self will create the bedrock for healthy key relationships.

You have a past, a current, and a future relationship to money that it’s important to attend to as part of your 2.0 transition. Your financial needs will change as you move into 2.0. Your future lifestyle choices and activities will be guided by your financial state, your financial health, and your financial plan. Are you prepared with a vision and plan for this change?

REPLOYing your financial independence is a process of finding freedom FOR doing what you want, rather than freedom FROM doing what you don’t want to do.

Now is the time to be aware of your desire to promote the welfare of others to extend the quality of your life in 2.0. As we transition into 2.0, we begin to be aware of all the ways we have been helped by others to achieve what we have accomplished in 1.0. We recognize how the generosity of others has been essential in our own development. We see how we have benefited, and we become aware of a desire to “give back,” or find ways to benefit others in gratitude for all that we have received. We realize that our time, our talents, our efforts amount to significant ways of giving.