No, finances are not the most important factor for retirement planning

Here are 3 things to focus on instead

First of all, I’m sorry about that click-baity title. But hey, it got you here, didn’t it?

Let me start by saying that finances are definitely an important component of your early retirement planning. But, it isn’t the most important factor, especially not if you’re planning to retire early.

Actually, scratch that. No matter when you plan to retire, you can’t focus only on the finances and hope to have an enjoyable retirement. Just look around you at all the disgruntled retirees, who seem to have no purpose after they leave the work force.

And yet, when you search for retirement planning, especially for how to plan for an early retirement, almost every article focuses on the financial aspect of it. It’s almost impossible to find anything beyond that.

3 things to keep in mind when planning for an early retirement that have nothing to do with finances

Today, I’m going to share 3 things that I focused on, alongside my finances, when I was creating a plan for an early retirement.

Have an immediate plan for what you will do once you quit your job

Most of us have routines that are dictated by the demands of our jobs. But once you’ve turned in your corporate laptop, time suddenly seems to stretch before you and you have no idea how to fill your days.

One of the most important things is to have a plan for what you will do in the days immediately following your early retirement. You could tackle a home improvement project, declutter your wardrobe, or travel. The key is to have a concrete task with a tangible outcome for a set period of time.

In my case, a few days after I quit my job, I traveled back to my parents home and spent a month with my parents, sister, and her two adorable children.

Plan your focus areas post your early retirement

While your immediate plan will tide you over the first month or two post retirement, you need to have some guideposts for the months that will follow.

This is where you will need to pull out your journal, open up an excel spreadsheet or set up a new Notion database and make some plans.

First, consider all the things that you do alongside your corporate job. In my case, my list included blogging, a weekly art-focused newsletter, and my art practice, all of which were squeezed around my stressful 9-to-5.

Next, make a list of all the projects that you’ve been putting off because of lack of time or energy. This can include creative pursuits, things that that you’d like to learn more about, tasks you need to tackle around the home.

If you read and are an avid book collector like I am, look over your bookshelf or Kindle and see if there are any “depth books” on your shelves that you would like to focus on. I classify “depth books” as books that demand more from me than just a simple read. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes is one example. I’ve long wanted to go a bit deeper with each chapter by drawing out journaling prompts and doing some writing and soul searching of my own instead of simply reading the book cover from cover.

Finally, consider if there any organizations you’d like to volunteer with or causes that you would like to champion. Brainstorm ideas for how you’d like to be involved. Maybe you want to draw attention to certain subjects through the written word — consider starting a blog or a newsletter if you don’t have one already. Or maybe you’d like to volunteer your time with an NGO. Also consider any volunteer groups within your community or society — for example, there is an environmental group in my society with which I would like to get more involved.

All of these areas combined should give you a lot of ideas and projects that you can sink your teeth into now that you are no longer bound by the constraints of a full-time job.

Build an identity that has nothing to do with your job

This is perhaps the most important part of planning an early retirement. If your identity is tied with the work that you do, you will find it impossible to enjoy your retirement years, no matter how old you are once you finally hang up your corporate boots.

The good news is that working through the process I’ve outlined to help you identify your focus areas post retirement can also help you separate your self identity from work.

As you get clearer on your hobbies and interests, you start to see parts of your personality that are in no way tied to your job. And as you start to more closely identify with these parts of your personality, slowly, your self identity starts to shift.

It’s also a good idea to find out what you value, and to figure out what gives your life meaning and purpose — and challenge yourself to look beyond work when you consider these questions.

Now, I know, figuring out your values can be difficult — where do you even start? Try this online test to help you identify your core values. This isn’t your “internet quiz” style test — this site gives you a list of values to choose from, and then helps you drill down to your top values.

As you can see, there’s a lot more than just financial planning that goes into planning an early retirement. Following these tips should help you to actually look forward to retirement, no matter at what age you choose to retire, and give you the beginnings of a blueprint for how you will map your days once you hang up your corporate boots.