Visualizing retirement goals will help in reaching them

Despite saving aggressively for retirement, and being an overall fan of goal-setting, I’ve never actually thought about what I want to do in retirement. Every time I ask my brain to fire-up some retirement imagery, it returns a "404 error."

This is problematic. I know that visualizing a goal is key to accomplishing the goal but, until last week, I’d never been able to summon any retirement images.

You may not know it, but you use visualization all of the time. Once you decide what your next car is, you imagine yourself standing next to it, driving it and even getting a speeding ticket in it. The imagery helps your brain solve for "X." The goal is to drive the car, your brain has the images, and then gets to work on how to solve the problem. The problem, of course, is how to afford the car.

I’ve used visualization to help me accomplish very important professional and financial goals for the last 15 years or so. It works incredibly well. I visualize myself in the act of doing what I’m wanting to do (e.g., speaking at a particular event or handing a check to the contractor for a basement remodel), down to the littlest details. I picture what I’m wearing, what I had for breakfast that morning, and how I feel during the period of accomplishment. When I have a goal that’s important to me, I visualize the same scene every day. Then I make sure my actions feed my goals. Otherwise, it’s just a dream.

As painful as it is, I visualize driving my daughter to college for the first time 11 years from now. Those images have provided me the fuel I need to fund her education properly. Additionally, the copious amounts of information on others’ student loan debt I encounter nearly every day has provided some images to avoid. I don’t want my daughter saddled with debt and, if I’m extra unprepared, I’d get drenched with debt, too. When you don’t visualize your child education, you won’t catch the rub at the end – your retirement can suffer due to Parent PLUS loans (loans parents take-on for their children). Don’t tell my daughter this, because it’d be a weird thing for a stranger to say to a seven-year-old girl, but the imagery of driving her to college is as much about protecting my retirement as it is about getting her educated. 

Don't use Roth IRA for startup expenses -- except like this

I’ve had the good fortune to watch hundreds and hundreds of people retire. Some had imagined their retirement in a very particular way, while others simply viewed it as a day off, followed by decades of days off. Anecdotally, those people who had crystal clear aspirations have done a better job of sacrificing and funding their goals appropriately. 

Successfully funding a retirement is not only very difficult, but it requires sacrifice. I can’t sacrifice for day off after day off for 30 years. I will however, sacrifice for my new retirement epiphany – an ink-filled passport. An image of my wife and me sitting on an airplane and a one-way ticket is emblazoned in my mind. My retirement goal is to get on a plane and make-up our plans along the way. 

Visualization isn’t like dreaming about winning the lottery. Visualization informs action. Sure, the action required to fulfill your lottery dreams is to buy a lottery ticket, but I like my retirement-goal chances better. I know my house must be paid off because, if it’s not, I’m anchored down with the need to pay for the roof over my head under which I don’t want to sleep. I know I must create a very specific income retirement stream from my current earnings. And I know my health-care needs must be funded. I’m taking action on each one of those realities, every day of my life. 

Short-term savings drop-off can be OK, if you plan for it

Look through your relationships and acquaintances and get to the retired people section. Now select a person or two who is living the retirement life you want to live. That’s what I did. I was walking to my economy seat on a recent flight, and noticed this couple in first class who reminded me of my wife and me. I don’t know why, but they looked like they were heading off on a great adventure and I spent the rest of the flight filling in the blanks.

Does all of this sound cheesy? Arguably, yes it does. But the alternative seems miserable, and I’ve seen it fail too many people. If you want your financial life to be a particular way, why wouldn’t you use a technique like visualization to help improve the chances of accomplishing your goals?

Peter Dunn is an author, speaker and radio host, and he has a free podcast: Million Dollar Plan. Have a question about money for Pete the Planner? Email him at AskPete@petetheplanner.com