Why do you need a Lifestyle Plan?

People are retiring or making other meaningful career and lifestyle changes earlier now than ever before. For many people, the opportunity to realize these great changes occurs sometime in their mid-fifties, as financial positions become more clearly understood and predictable, and as commitments and responsibilities start to change dramatically. The table below shows how long the phase of life after retirement can be. The average life expectancy for men and women is 82 years so this phase could represent 34% of your life!

THE THREE PHASES OF LIFE

In terms of structure and dependency, young people's lives are all very much alike. In Phase 1, schooling is highly standardised and unified, and freedom is limited. Differences emerge in Phase 2 as career and family choices create varying lifestyles. Even so, work environments and raising families tend to be similar in their formal structures. Nearer to Phase 3, differences become more pronounced and lifestyles become individualized. Lifestyle planning provides a way to think about how to spend this potentially vital stage of life. It also helps people understand how truly unique they have become.

Lifestyle planning can help shape and guide financial decisions. These decisions are too often considered in terms of money only, with no real understanding of how the dollar numbers translate into real life situations.

The Lifestyle Hexagon is used to assess current levels of satisfaction in wellness, finances, housing, activities, documentation and relationships. This helps to determine if change is desired in any lifestyle category. Discussion, questions, and a variety of tools, including computer programs, are also used for assessment.

The Lifestyle Planning Process is used to identify priorities for exploration as well as possible and realistic actions. After gathering information through reading, internet research and talking to family, friends and professionals, a tentative decision on options can be made and goals set. Planners help to identify strengths and challenges in achieving goals. They assist with strategies and resources to deal with any potential barriers such as fear, motivation, money or health.

Finally, action is taken to implement goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic steps with a specific timeline are encouraged. Lifestyle choices, options, and goals are periodically re-assessed and reviewed.

Wellness

Wellness is the effective and successful management of physical and mental conditions in order to achieve an acceptable sense of well being. People are encouraged to focus on wellness. Many people depend solely on modern medical health care for a series of immediate solutions. Focusing on wellness is much like investing in an RRSP: contribute a little each day and it can pay huge dividends in the future.

These days, there is a profound awareness of the traditional attitude towards wellness, which advocates all things in moderation. Approaches to wellness can be compared to risk management, in the sense that designing every step in a process to balance benefit and sacrifice can produce the best result.

Finances

Most people spend their working years acquiring wealth through company saving plans and other methods of investing. By the age of fifty, most people know how much money they have saved, and they can estimate how much more will be needed before retirement. They will have a good idea of how much more they will need to support their desired retirement lifestyle.

The next step is to relate financial situations to the lifestyles envisioned. In the lifestyle planning process, some aspects of financial planning will become apparent that were not important before. Expenses are the one area of financial planning over which people can have direct control. For example, this may include using one vehicle instead of two and walking to work.

Another example is an investigation into all of the strategies, deductions and credits that can contribute to a reduction in taxes. These may include the "age amount" and the pension income tax credit relevant to people over 65. Income splitting may be used to reduce "claw back" of Old Age Security benefits. It can be advantageous to take CPP benefits before age 65. Break-even points can take a long time and money in hand can be worth a lot. CPP Break Even Age

Housing

Individuals are urged to think five, ten and fifteen years ahead. It is useful to visualize what particular circumstances may be like. People are encouraged not to make sudden decisions without considering long-term consequences. Decisions to relocate are best made slowly and deliberately. Often it is best to do nothing for a reasonable length of time after retirement. It could take a year to see if a new attachment to the old abode may occur. If the original home is flexible enough, maybe it can be restyled to suit the new lifestyle.

It is not advisable to sell without trying out the prospective new location. Renting close by is a good option. This way, if it does not seem right it will be possible to move back to the original home. Meanwhile the original home could be rented and it might even go up in value. Lanagan Lifestyles has a database of the various housing options for mature, senior and very elderly Canadians. Clients can make meaningful studies and comparisons to solve their own and maybe their elderly parents' housing requirements at the same time.

Activities

When people leave the structured workplace they leave behind many factors. Positive ones may be friends, power, status, prestige, self-esteem and challenge. They may also leave behind stress, boredom, unpleasant colleagues and lack of appreciation. Most people want to get rid of the negative factors and enhance the positive ones. Unfortunately, for many people the planning stops there. Contentment that is found in retirement can only be created by the individual. Responsibility for happiness in retirement cannot rest with a child, a spouse or a friend.

The concern is about quality of life. For many, when work disappears, their reason for living disappears. Human nature, however, dictates that people search for meaningful mental stimulation. We all have a basic need for mental arousal coming from contact with the world of everyday living. People are encouraged to clearly identify things that would make their lives more interesting. These things can then be listed and evaluated and a commitment made.

Documentation

It is difficult for anyone to know the wishes of another individual. Planning for the future assists family and friends. A will, for example, ensures that possessions will go to the family after an individual is deceased. Directions for future health care, personal care and financial affairs are also important. In case of accident or illness these matters can be handled according to an individual's wishes. If it is no longer possible for an individual to stay at home, others will know what to do and how to pay for it. Preparations to cover all these questions can be made before potential accidents, poor health or memory loss occur. Plans need to be in place now, not later. A will, a personal directive and an enduring power of attorney are all necessary for proper planning.

Lanagan Lifestyles encourages people to fill out our specially prepared life check-list of personal and financial data: Record of Personal and Financial Affairs pages 1-8. This document ensures that family and trusted friends know the whereabouts of your important information.

Relationships

If parents are fit, healthy and independent, they do not need or want help. They are responsible for caring for themselves, their housing and their finances. A stroke or the death of a spouse, however, could change this situation overnight. Questions then arise about what to do, where to get help and how to ensure parents receive the care they need.

It is easy to underestimate the amount of time caregiving demands. Simple errands may only take up a few hours a week. However, if a lot of personal care is being provided the time spent can be significant. Helping elderly relatives with a single task, such as bathing or dressing, can take up to nine hours of effort a week. Two such activities will require more than 14 hours a week. Five or six can involve almost 27 hours of a caregivers time every week.

If it is becoming clear that caregiving is likely to be required, planning ahead may be appropriate. Developing as much knowledge as possible about a likely scenario before a potential caregiving situation arises can be very useful. Information on the person's abilities and disabilities, their needs and what services are available could prove invaluable. Strengths and weaknesses of a caregiver can be identified to ensure a successful role. Understanding the potential roles of family, friends, neighbors and community agencies is vital.