Americans planning for retirement today face once-in-a-generation challenges presented by today’s persistent high inflation, market volatility, economic uncertainty, and pandemic-related health care concerns. This amidst a wave of Baby Boomers retiring—10,000 a day and accelerating—that will peak in 2024 when the U.S. will have more 65-year-olds than ever in its history.
It’s in this environment that Georgetown University’s AgingWell Hub and the Alliance for Lifetime Income has released the first “No Normal Retirement Journey Map and Guide,” a practical and interactive tool for re-imagining and charting paths to and through retirement.
This new resource offers individuals tools to visualize and plan the various stages, events and decision points along the retirement journey, and the personal, emotional, and financial consequences of each. The Journey Map illustrates how six primary levers—health, finances, learning, purpose, community, and resilience—can be used to navigate the journey to a happy, financially secure and fulfilled life after a full-time career.
The Retirement Journey Map was developed by the Georgetown AgingWell Hub, designed by Human Spark, and commissioned through the support of the Alliance for Lifetime Income’s Retirement Income Institute. The Journey Map draws on the expertise of 29 of the world’s leading experts on life in retirement as well as a comprehensive review and integration of findings from more than 200 pieces of research on the evolving nature of retirement.
“For the first time, Americans have a simple guide to creating their own retirement journey map that considers the many critical factors that impact outcomes.”
Jason Fichtner, Retirement Income Institute
“The nature of retirement is evolving and highly personal. It spans a non-linear path of growth and activity, such as the enjoyment of continued work, travel, volunteering, and family, through declining health and loss of independence at the end of life. The Journey Map represents various aspects of each retirement journey—the goals, decisions, emotions, and unforeseen events—with which individuals can identify,” says Jeanne de Cervens, director of the AgingWell Hub.
“The countless decisions people have to make for and in retirement has become overwhelming, and the consequences and emotional toll of each decision is often difficult to fully grasp,” says Jason Fichtner, senior fellow and head of the Retirement Income Institute. “For the first time, Americans have a simple guide to creating their own retirement journey map that considers the many critical factors that impact outcomes. Financial service providers can also use the maps and guide to help their clients and customers visualize their own retirement journey, guide financial decisions impacting the journey, and identify specific areas of products and services ripe for innovation.”
The research report’s illustrative Journey Map will provide a better understanding of the various impacts, unexpected roadblocks, and major decision-points along the journey in the aforementioned six critical areas. Users can then create personal journey maps by using the included retirement planning guide as well as reference a set of resources for aging and retirement planning.
Visit here to access the planning guide and research report.