Fiddlehead Newsletter - Making the second half of life a time for discovery

October, 2010
Volume 1, Issue 4

"The Year of Turning 60" is winding down. Starting with my actual birthday in March and concluding with a "Celebrate 60" dance in early October, my birthday season has been filled with celebration and reflection. I've had special moments with family and friends and time to ponder what entering this new decade means.

Earlier this month, I had an "aha" moment when my husband and I met with our financial advisor. Talking with him reminded me of the role money values play in planning our second half of life. Of course, the numbers determine what we can afford, but the emotional aspect of money management plays a much larger role than many of us realize. Like many leading edge Boomers, I am comfortable earning and saving, but spending is much more of a challenge as I get older.

It's not that I don't know what I want for my second half of life. My husband and I love to talk about our future plans. We are pretty clear about what we want; but we weren't as clear about our timeline until we met with our financial advisor. Really, I should say I wasn't clear. My husband has a much less emotionally-charged relationship to financial issues than I do.

As I get my financial feelings in clearer perspective, I am able to plan the next stage of my life from a more accurate base. My style is to verify the financial implications of each choice about four times with both our financial advisor and my husband, but after the fourth time I feel fairly comfortable with my plans.

WHAT WE KNOW

There are many resources available to calculate what we need to save and accumulate to generate what we want to spend in retirement. Money management skills that served us well in our earning and saving years will serve us well in our Ageinista years. However, knowing the numbers is only part of the financial planning process.

Our beliefs about money can have a profound affect on how we live. Eric Butterworth states in Spiritual Economics:

The starting point in realizing prosperity is to accept responsibility for your own thoughts, thus taking charge of your life... For how you think and feel about the economy in general and your financial affairs in particular will unvaryingly determine what your experience.

Even as most physical ills are now considered to be psychosomatic in origin, so we must begin to face the possibility that financial problems may be the outer manifestation of inner stats of consciousness. A great idea whose time has come is that there is no such thing as a purely financial problem unrelated to false attitudes and emotions which caused it or a healthy attitude or emotion which can cure it.

WHAT WE CAN DO

Understanding how our beliefs about money affect our decisions about money is a key component of financial planning for a vibrant second half of life.

Marcia Bench, author of Coaching Authentic Retirement, suggests the following questions as a way to get in touch with your money beliefs.

1. What were you taught about money by your parents and other influential people in your childhood?

2. What are the implications of those beliefs?

3. Which of those beliefs continue to serve you now?

4. Which beliefs would you like to eliminate and replace with alternate beliefs?

5. What new beliefs would you like to hold about money instead of those that no longer serve you?

6. Is there anything standing in the way of your beginning to transform your beliefs about money now?

After identifying sabotaging beliefs you have about money, replace them with empowering beliefs. For example, a common sabotaging belief is, "I am afraid I won't have enough." An empowering belief might be, "I can identify what my financial situation is and money is a replenishable resource in my life."