Why it’s important to set yourself goals towards retirement

Why it’s important to set yourself goals towards retirement

I’m a big believer in setting yourself measurable targets and goals throughout life in order to motivate and monitor progress. It’s one of the main reasons why I started this blog and continue to invest the time each month to calculate and list every expense and income category. Even as a child I would monitor my savings and set a specific target to reach. Money wasnt just disappearing into a dark hole to be saved for a ‘rainy day’, it was all accumulated to reach an end goal and once that goal was reached I could re-evaluate and begin saving towards the next.

Speaking to friends and family who I know sometimes struggle to make any real form of savings, I often hear the same kinds of things;

“I don’t know where to begin. I don’t want to worry about the future. I want to enjoy my money”

The problem it seems to me is that these people don’t know why they should be saving because they don’t know what they should be saving for. Afterall; why would you sacrifice your morning coffees just so that a few extra pounds can be saved and left to sit in a bank account earning tiny rates of interest with no real purpose? Without a goal to reach, a measurable point at which you’ve succeeded, it’s going to be difficult to find the required motivation.

It’s 7:30am and we’re out in the pouring rain

Last weekend I took part in and completed a 45 mile competition hike. I’ve done it several times before and, despite promising I’d never do it again each year, always seem to end up out in the pouring rain at 7:30am walking through the muddy fields. If it wasn’t for the competition and challenge of completing the full hike.. would I still be out walking even 2 miles at that time on a Saturday morning? Hell no. But I did it, and continue to do it for many years because weeks beforehand when I register for the event, I’m setting myself the goal of completing it. Fortunately after a few hours the sun came out and we had a chance to dry off.

45 miles perhaps doesn’t sound like a great distance when you’re sat in a comfortable car cruising along a motorway with the radio on. “1 mile to next exit” gives you less than a minute to get into the correct lane and so the thought of how far a single mile is becomes distorted. Let me tell you; a mile is a deceivingly long distance when you’re having to self-propel along it. And there were many times throughout the 13 hours it took me to complete where the thought did pass my mind that perhaps I should just stop. Give up and go home. I didn’t, because I knew what I was working towards and what it would take to get there.

 Retirement as a goal, not just the inevitable

How many people do you know for whom retirement is just the inevitable conclusion of 40+ years of working? It’s not a goal and certainly not something they’re working towards.. just something which will eventually occur and beyond their control. Some may give it slightly more thought and perhaps plan for a specific level of income in retirement however the timescales remain the same. At worst; many will just not bother giving it any thought at all. Perhaps even trying to justify it to themselves as being totally controlled by the government or resigning to their fate of working until they drop.

It doesn’t have to be like this, you can take control.

Set yourself the goal of retirement. Instead of just working to survive each month; work knowing that it’s towards the set goal of no longer having to work. Decide when you want to retire and what it would take to reach. It doesn’t matter if the target age is 30, 45 or 65.. By setting a target goal you can begin to work out what you need to do in order to achieve and begin working towards it.

 

Do you set yourself goals? What’s been your latest success?

7 thoughts on “Why it’s important to set yourself goals towards retirement

  1. Many people seem to fear planning for the future. Miss DD sometimes suffers from it herself. It is sad really as not planning is actually more scary in the long run than not. But it is getting to that realisation which is the difficult bit!

    I personally would like to be able to be financially independent by 40 at the latest. I don’t expect to retire on reaching FI, however. I am hopefully that I will still be doing a job I enjoy.

    However, the ability to, maybe go part time in order to take on other things I enjoy would be great. Also, knowing that I could “retire” if I wanted is quite important to me. To know you’re doing something because you enjoy it not just because you need the money is a huge difference!

    Of course, I could go part time on less than full FI which is also an appeal. So I suppose I could maybe make a preliminary goal along those lines as well!

    I have never heard of a “competition” hike before. Sounds intriguing. Although I like to hike leisurely it must be said! Where did you do this year’s hike?

  2. Good work Guy,

    That is a hell of a walk. 45 miles in 13 hours is a cracking pace! In the wet as well, your feet must have been haggard after as water always seems to find it’s way in.

    I’m looking at doing this next summer – http://www.24heuresvelo.fr/en/24-HOURS-CYCLING-RACE-7.htm in a pair. So 12 hours each, not quite the 13! I love the challenge :)

    You are right about retirement, a lot of people view it as negative, rather than a positive goal to work towards.

    Mr Z

  3. Good going on the walk – wow I struggled to complete 28miles charity walk in 9 hours, my feet were killing me at the end (plenty of rain, sunshine and horrid gale-force winds on my walk!). That takes a lot of training, self-motivation and a goal driven approach. Its the self-motivation part that lets most people down.
    I try to set myself, yearly goals and also goals that will take some years to achieve – such as FI. I am working on a life-list (not a bucket-list – I want to live life not look at things as something to do before I die)….LOL…..
    I am looking at part-time working if I can..mix it with passive income and doing things I love/want to do rather than doing things because I have to.

  4. Well done on the walk, Guy – 45 miles in 13 hours, that’s a punishing pace!

    I’ve never been one to use long distance endurance as a challenge, as not into running or walking for that matter!

    When I did martial arts many years ago, my goal was to get black belt, which I did get in the end. I guess all the training was a form of endurance. Since that achievement, I’ve never set any physical challenges, just been happy enough to maintain fitness, weight and size and try to stay injury-free!

    Funnily enough, after a few drinks on a recent social outing, I mentioned early retirement to my friends. None of them expressed any interest whatsoever and I know one of them has no pension savings at all. That, I find really scary!

  5. Impressive hike there mate!

    I like a good walk but not sure if I’d be up to that.

    I agree on setting goals and challenges in life. If anything it makes things more interesting! I couldn’t imagine just pootling through life letting whatever happens happen. It might be partially an illusion of having some control over things, but as I say the main part is that I find the process fun and rewarding.

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