Retirement IQ
Retirement IQ is the podcast designed to help you thrive before and during your retirement years. Hosted by retirement wealth coach John Stregger, each episode tackles the real questions facing people in their 50s and 60s - how to turn savings into income, when to take CPP, how to reduce taxes, and how to build a financial plan that’s as solid as blueprints for a home. With over 25 years of experience guiding clients, John shares practical insights, proven strategies, and conversations with experts to help you make smart decisions with your money and create the retirement lifestyle you’ve dreamed of.
Retirement IQ
Episode #3: When Is the Right Time to Retire?
In this episode of the Retirement IQ Podcast, retirement wealth coach John Stregger explores the overlooked side of retirement planning: knowing when to retire and how to create a meaningful life beyond money. Learn why retirement is more than just financial stability, how to identify your core values and passions, and the importance of “test driving” activities before leaving work. With real client stories and practical strategies, John shows you how to design a retirement that balances financial confidence and peace of mind.
To learn more visit www.freeretirementreport.ca
Episode #3: When Is the Right Time to Retire?
John Stregger: 00:09 - 07:28
Hey, everyone. Welcome to Retirement IQ, where I help you, our listener, better understand all things retirement so you can better build the kind of retirement you want to have someday. I'm your host, John Stregger. And today, I want to talk to you about when I think the right time is for you to consider retiring. And the answer might not be what you think it's going to be. So let's jump in. I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine, and she commented to me, you know, John, I did a great job planning for 30 years of income, but I did a lousy job at planning out my life after work. And she is not alone. According to a recent CIBC survey of retirees, 27% say they had wished they had waited longer to retire. When you first hear that stat, you might think that this group of people were motivated to get back to work to earn money. However, when asked further follow-up questions, 60% wanted to get back into the workforce purely for the mental stimulation that was missing from their retirement. Now think about that for a second. Nearly one in five people after retiring are motivated to go back to work, not for the money, but instead to get the sense of purpose which they are missing in retirement. Retirement planning isn't all about the money. Having enough money to retire? Sure, that's crucial. But retirement is also about meaning. And what are you gonna do with the next 30 plus years of your life? Too many people I meet approach retirement only with a financial plan, but do not have a framework of what they're gonna do with their newfound time. To many people, the term retirement sounds like freedom. No more commutes, no more Zoom meetings, no more deadlines. But that freedom can come with an unexpected price tag in the form of wonder. Wondering if I made the right decision. Remember what I said that almost 20% wish they had waited to retire? Not for the financial reasons. No amount of strictly financial planning can prepare you for the emotional challenges that retirement will bring. Let's be clear here. Not everybody retires into an unfulfilling retirement experience. But without a lifestyle plan, most people use trial and error to figure out what is gonna inspire them in their retirement days. That can take a lot of time and cost you a lot of anxiety and possibly a lot of money along the way. The core issue is clarity. We view our client's financial house a lot like a business. We want to help you build a good financial foundation, but we also want to understand the core values that drive you and your family. A good business has both a financial plan and also a mission statement that supports its continued success. We help people do exactly that. We help you build a structure, a financial model that will support the life purpose that you want to pursue in your post-working days. Why do we believe this is so important? Imagine for a minute that's your last day at work and you're at your retirement party. You've done all the number crunching and you're 100% confident that your financial picture for retirement is rock solid. But when you walk out that door for the final time and leave your job title and everything that goes with it behind you, if you don't have clarity on your purpose, your solid financial situation won't protect you from feeling lost. That's why it's so important to make sure that you aren't going to walk into a retirement of a res. So what does a better approach actually look like? To help you, I'm gonna share with you our three-step process to a successful retirement lifestyle. We utilize this to help our clients, help them create a vision for what a fulfilling retirement will look like so that they can experience a retirement based on purpose and not regret. Step one, identify your core values. If you want to build your best retirement life, a life built on purpose, you need to get clarity on your values, your interests, and your vision for the future. You need to figure out what excites you. Who do you want to spend time with? How and where do you want to spend that time? Then financially, we can determine how much of your lifestyle is covered by guaranteed income to support that lifestyle. When you combine self-reflection with financial confidence, you give yourself the space to really start designing a life with purpose. Step number two, start test driving your values. This is where the rubber hits the road. After you've come up with a list of values and goals, which might fill your time in retirement, start testing them out. When we work with clients, we help them identify their core values, and then we can help them identify activities and actions they can take pre-retirement to test drive and see if there's a potential fit for related retirement activities. For instance, I have a client who loves mentoring new employees. We landed on a plan for him to volunteer at his local chamber of commerce, helping out new businesses for young entrepreneurs. Spending one to two hours a week, he's able to test out a volunteer role. Or your values might be more family-centric, where you want to spend as much time with your kids and grandkids in the hopes of passing on your wisdom to them. Whatever the case, once we uncover the core values that are gonna drive you, we can then brainstorm on activities and actions to try out and make sure that's truly what you want. If we can find and refine your passion, it makes the money part of planning way easier to design. Step number three, step into retirement with confidence. Once you figure out the why and the how, retirement should not feel like a leap of faith. It should just feel like a natural next step. You'll know you're ready when you've test-driven your retirement activities. You've built out a framework of what a fulfilling week looks like. You've replaced the structure, connection, and purpose that your job once provided. And your financial plan simply supports that life you're moving into. These actions remove the guesswork around what retirement might look like for you, and instead map out your unique version of retirement, which is grounded in clarity, purpose, and peace of mind. Once you got that nailed, you'll know exactly when you should retire. Because in my mind, retirement isn't just about stopping work. It's about starting something better. Want to learn more? We love having conversations with people about all things retirement. If you want to ask me anything, go to freeretirementreport.ca and you can schedule a call directly on my calendar or just shoot me an email and I promise to get back to you. That website address again is freeretirementreport.ca. Until we meet again on our next episode, I'm John Stregger, and thank you for listening to Retirement IQ.
Narrator: 07:40 - 07:57
The information provided in this podcast is general in nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for advice in any specific situation. For specific situations, advice should be obtained from the appropriate legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advisors.
