Last time we talked about goal setting and I mentioned the absolute need to start with a vision. But, I really didn’t explain how to come up with that vision. Today, I’ll do that.
It’s Not Business Speak
Let’s start by saying this is not another one of those ‘come up with a mission, then a vision statement’ kind of things. There may be a place for that in a company, but it often comes of as a hokey way of executives getting their workers to do certain things for them. This is for you alone. It’s about focusing and staying on track to get where you want to be.
The title says retirement vision but it doesn’t have to be. I think of it more about that time in which your investments become passive and you can do what you want with your time. It doesn’t have to be when you reach a certain age. It can be, but it’s better looked at as a certain time from now. For some, age 65 is probably too early to be doing nothing, receiving passive income checks. Some still want to be investing and running a business. For others, it will be a lot younger. That’s OK. But, if you don’t consider these now, you are in for trouble.
How many of you look back on the last five years and say, “I wish I would have started that thing, or made that investment, or anything else”? You didn’t do it because you lacked focus, which brings clarity about where you are going. If your vision was to own a business with 3 employees, it would have been more likely you were doing the things required to get there 5 years ago. Without that vision, you spun your wheels with a dream. That’s not good enough. Hokey or not, you need a vision. And since you can’t go back and do it, you might as well do it now.
Start With What
Where do you want to physically be when your investments and work becomes passive? I’m thinking near the beach in Florida. The place might change, but the idea hopefully won’t. Then, if the place doesn’t matter, it’s what you are doing that does. I don’t want to have any alarms to wake me or have any scheduled meetings to bother me. I want to check in on all my passive real estate investments in the early morning and then watch the dolphins in the late morning. I’ll send a couple emails with directives to those managing my investments. Some days I won’t do any of that. The point is – I want to be at a phase where I don’t have to. It’s time to sit down for an hour and consider your ‘what’.
Other options would be to live in a city central to your children, where you can easily fly to all your grandkids’ events and European vacations whenever you want to. Perhaps you want to have the liquid cash to pick up and fly whenever a deal comes up for flights or hotels. Maybe you want to live near a ski slope. These are the ‘whats’ you need to consider.
Then Think About How Much
This is the dollars part. How much money do you need? We talked about how to arrive at this number last time, so I won’t go over it again here. Get that number which makes you comfortable.
Next is the When
Once you have the what you will be doing, you need to come up with the when. This is likely going to be harder because you don’t yet know how long it’ll take to get there. You might consider how many years of your life you’ll want to do your ‘what’. In the US, the average life expectancy is 78.4 years. If you want to be doing your thing for 20 years, you’ll need to achieve it at 58 years of age.
Craft Your Vision
Take what you’ve thought about, put it together, and write it down. For me, it’s: “At age 60 I will be living in Florida with all passive investments bringing in $200,000 a year, checking on them when I want to.” It’s fairly simple. It can be changed, but only with a lot of thought. It informs me on where I want to be and helps me decide what I need to do now. It helps me avoid spinning the wheels and wishing I had done something last year. Create your vision now and use it to create objectives and goals to help you today.
