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Phased Retirement: A Blueprint for Success
Several years ago, during our company’s staff development cycle, I told an analyst who reported to me that he had to own the process, that I couldn’t set his goals for him, which seemed pretty obvious. But then, since our discussion was an informal one, I said (only partially in jest), “Well, actually, I bet…
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Phased Retirement: Healthy Dividends
One of the things I hear from people as they contemplate retirement is about the various activities they look forward to pursuing. Golf makes the list, of course, but their lists are long! From running, biking, and hiking, to pickleball, and far away travel with ambitious excursions, people are planning to be on the move. …
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Phased Retirement: What’s in a Name?
I started publishing articles on a phased approach to retirement by calling my blog “Retire by Degrees.” That’s still the name and still feels like the best, most accurate descriptor of what I’m after. But it doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Even with the first posts I wrote, I used the tagline “Retire Slowly.” …
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Phased Retirement: Start to Retire Now
When you think about retirement – what are you thinking it will be like? And more importantly WHEN are you thinking it will happen? If you’ve read my posts here, you know that I don’t think of retirement as a one-time future event. For some people it seems that the “when” is always a rolling…
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Retire Gradually: But Maintain your Network
A gradual approach to retirement has been the focus of my writing this year. To accomplish a phased retirement, you may be able to reduce your hours at your existing company, or even leave full-time employment but continue working as a consultant. However, it’s also possible that reduced hours or part-time work as you ‘ramp down’…
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Retire Gradually: Two Things to Work on this Week
We have a great pastor at our church. His sermons are typically very straightforward and not very long. Maybe that’s why he’s popular? But, they don’t need to be long to be impactful. And, unlike many sermons I’ve heard, they’re even better – they’re actionable! That’s because he often tells a story that paints a…
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Retire Gradually: A Change of Scenery
“A mind that is stretched by new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”― Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As I’ve been informally polling people about their retirement plans – especially in the wake of the pandemic disruptions – travel is a prominent theme. It’s hardly surprising given that people have put many of their…
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Retire Gradually: Work at a Million Dollar Part-time Job
While the rules of retirement spending may be shifting (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rules-of-retirement-spending-are-changing), the notion of withdrawing approximately 4% of your portfolio annually is a good rule of thumb. It allows you to withdraw a portion of your savings to augment Social Security and any other pensions or income sources without depleting your nest egg too soon. If you…
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Retire Slowly: Plan your Weeks Wisely
This isn’t another retirement planning post suggesting that you map out each week to maximize your calendar and to-do list. Rather, if retiring by degrees is on your horizon, this is a post to remind you of the bigger picture. To visualize and plan ALL your weeks wisely so you can make the most of…
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Forget SMART goals…START goals!
A key part of planning a successful (slow) transition to retirement is setting goals. We’re accustomed to doing this for our work or our clients, but we’re not always so good at envisioning goals for ourselves. And yet we know it’s important. Take some of the friction out of goal-setting. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming or over-complicated. It…
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Retire by Degrees 