A Comfortable Retirement is About More Than Money

The key to a happy and comfortable retirement isn’t only about money. Having a lot of it certainly helps, but other aspects of retirement can also significantly impact your happiness and comfort.

“Once you’ve reached critical mass, money starts reaching a point of diminishing returns, “ says Pam Krueger, founder and CEO of Wealthramp. “When you’re in retirement, the whole comparison and race starts to slow down, and the difference between wealthy and not wealthy becomes less meaningful to you.”

That’s when the other things become more important, like your health and happiness. To achieve a comfortable retirement, you’ll need it all. Here’s how to plan for all the things beyond money.

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Health=Wealth in retirement

When it comes to your health, money is a big part of it, but assuming you’ve had health care covered and potential long-term care needs taken care of, staying healthy in retirement should be a top priority. After all, how healthy you are will determine the type of retirement you’ll have.

“Health and vitality are by far the most important things on your mind. You want to be able to play pickleball, keep up with grandkids, stay flexible and sharp,” says Krueger. “Health becomes more important than wealth.”

Maintaining or improving your health means focusing on eating healthy and getting regular exercise. Not only will it extend your life, but it will lower health care costs when you do retire.

“Wealth isn’t just money, it's everything combined,” says Rob Williams, managing director of financial planning, retirement income and wealth management for the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “It’s never too late to make investments in health and diet. Even small steps over time can add up.”

Know the details.
Understanding Medicare is critical and should start well before you turn 65 — the age it kicks in. You will face a key choice between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. If you retire early, ensure you have private coverage until age 65. If you retire later, you need to clearly understand the roles of Original Medicare, Medigap, and Medicare Advantage, says Williams.

Social connections matter

This is a big one for men, but also for women: a lack of social connections in retirement. When you retire, you run the risk of losing those relationships forged over a spreadsheet or around the conference table. That can be hard to adjust to.

“There’s a big mental shift when you go from working to living in retirement,” says Williams. “Suddenly you’re not having those social connections.”

Loneliness, depression, and unhappiness in retirement often stem from a lack of social connections. That's why it's important to have a clear plan for maintaining your current relationships and building new ones. Before you retire, decide who you will stay in touch with, how often, and how (by phone, video call, etc.). Once you set this schedule, stick to it—don't let those communications slip away.

Think carefully about the community you'll belong to in retirement, from family and friends to neighbors. You need a concrete plan for how you will stay engaged and connected once your job ends. The worst thing you can do is retire without a social strategy, leaving you uncertain as to how to start making friends or getting involved.

Relationships are consistently rated as the number one factor that determines happiness in retirement, says Krueger. “It's having a social life, connections. It's not about having 40 friends, it's knowing you have a community you created around you that you feel like you can count on.”

Give yourself a reason to wake up

A sense of purpose may not seem like a big thing until you lack one. It's difficult to go from working eight-plus hours a day to having nothing pressing to do at all.

Without structure or a reason to get up, you could end up in a depression. “When you stop working, you lose your identity,” says Krueger. “It can be really depressing if you don’t find a new way to identify.”

As you get closer to retirement, it's important to envision what your day-to-day life will look like. Will you volunteer, consult, mentor, travel, or hang out with grandkids? Whatever you want to do, map out a plan well in advance of retirement so you don’t go into it clueless as to how you’ll spend your time.

Take Krueger as an example. She’s working and mentoring. She plans to make mentoring a bigger part of her life as she pulls back from her full-time job. “It's what are you retiring to, not what are you retiring from,” says Krueger.

Think about your legacy

Many people wait until they are in retirement to start thinking about the legacy they want to leave behind, but the sooner you begin to map it out, the better you can plan for it.

After all, how you save and invest will be different if you want your heirs to use the money while you are alive or when you're gone, or whether you want to spend your money down to zero or leave some or all of it to charity. “You get a lot out of thinking about what you want to contribute and leave behind,” says Krueger.

The money and everything else

We spend so much time focused on saving money for retirement that we often forget about the other stuff. But your health and happiness are equally important. All the money in the world isn’t going to give you social connections or help you find your purpose. That you have to do for yourself.

A truly comfortable retirement requires more than just money; it must also include good health, happiness, and a sense of purpose. A little planning can help you secure all three.

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