Meridian Blog

The past two weeks have been very emotional as an advisor—I’m not sure if it is because I’m in a reflective mood as Meridian nears our 10^th anniversary in September. Or perhaps it is because of two solid weeks of meetings with clients about their financial plans, and everyone is on track and thriving…whatever the cause, we’ve been walking out of client meetings, touched by the enthusiasm for life and future plans of our clients.

While our meetings tend to circle around the financial success of strong portfolio performance, or financial plans that provide freedom of choice, it’s hearing about the other “F words” of retirement that really fill us with joy.

These other F words were recently explained in a great blog post by another planner, Kathleen M. Rehl. Kathleen made the point that the word ‘retirement’ should really retire, as the traditional definition of retire is to withdraw…to withdraw from work, from social networks, from old patterns. She argues that retirement instead is really “refiring”—restarting a new paradigm, not withdrawing from life.

Kathleen makes an excellent point—the clients I’ve met with all week have done just that, and it was a joy to catch up with them. From the clients that invest time and money in a non-profit dear to their family, to the one that runs “Mimi School” for her grandchildren in the morning to help her daughter, to the ones that spend all day outside tackling projects and hobbies that they love…we love seeing them life the lives they’ve created.

The Real Retirement Goals

In “ReFirement”, Kathleen argues that the most satisfied retirees have five F words in their lives:

• Family – family by blood and also found family
• Fitness – not just financial, but physical, mental, and spiritual
• Friends – pursuing social engagement
• Fun – things that bring joy
• Fulfillment – things that give a sense of meaning, purpose, legacy

Planning for Purpose, Not Just Money

We’d agree.

We love to help people craft their future so they can enjoy these things—and it’s even sweeter to see our clients “reFiring” and building retirements of joy and purpose.

To our clients—thank you for letting Meridian be a part of your financial journey. We treasure your trust.

And to those readers that we haven’t met yet, if you want help in crafting your future, we are here and ready to support your path.

Sarah Yakel’s parents, enjoying Diamond Head State Park in Hawaii (Fun) with us (Family), having climbed 10 flights of stairs (Fitness)