When working with clients as a financial advisor, I found most people knew they had to save and invest for retirement, but had no idea of what kind of life they wanted in that retirement. Many thought they had years till retirement, but as the Great Recession of 2008 showed us, many people found themselves prematurely retired. And there are always those who never want to retire, but can’t know how realistic that desire will be. Most people are not planners. They are too immersed in the challenges of everyday life. That is why they need to work with someone who can help them create a vision for the life they want and a game plan for how to achieve it. This article does a good job describing some of the challenges in making this transition: https://www.nextavenue.org/retirement-bad-fit/?fbclid=IwAR1UdUgb6NadBZpIiZsSZuQF7Eorex0wVd6XHPf_i8Lt7Ea4-4PNpDq_BbQ. Rather than “retirement”, with its negative connotations, let’s call it the “What’s Next?” stage!