At some point in your life, you may have had an important appointment later in the day and found you struggled to focus on anything else beforehand.
Even if you have several hours available, the day can feel as though it is already taken up. You may avoid starting anything too involved or feel as though you can’t properly relax or get anything meaningful done until the event has passed.
This experience is sometimes described as “waiting mode”.
While it is often used in relation to everyday appointments, a similar feeling can occur in financial planning, too.
If you see retirement as a major event in the distance, you might find yourself mentally “waiting” for it to arrive.
In the meantime, you may postpone decisions, overlook short-term goals, or feel unable to enjoy your wealth now because you’re so focused on reaching that future milestone.
A strong financial plan can help break retirement down into smaller, more manageable steps, allowing you to prepare for the future while still making the most of life today.
Waiting mode can leave you stuck in a sort of mental standby
Waiting mode is a kind of “mental standby” before an upcoming event, where concentrating on anything else can be difficult.
This experience can vary from person to person.
For some, it might feel more cognitive. You may struggle to focus, make decisions, or think clearly because your mind keeps returning to the event ahead.
For others, it might feel more physical, as you feel heavy, restless, or unable to get started even if you have time available.
Importantly, you might experience waiting mode before something positive, too, such as a holiday or family visit. The issue often stems from the anticipation around an event.
Retirement waiting mode could make planning feel more daunting
Retirement is a major life transition, so even if you’re looking forward to it, the size of the change can make it feel daunting.
Even if retirement is several years away, you may feel as though your main purpose is simply to keep saving, investing, and waiting.
While this long-term discipline does have its place, the mindset can create some issues.
For example, you may delay useful conversations around what you actually want retirement to look like, or avoid reviewing your pension because you’re worried about whether you’ve saved enough.
You can also experience this effect when retirement is close. In fact, the nearer it gets, the more significant each decision might feel.
You may worry about when to stop working, how much income you should draw, and whether your pension will last.
While these concerns are entirely understandable, staying in a state of financial waiting mode could leave you feeling stuck and unsure what to do next.
Setting shorter-term goals could help you feel more in control
Rather than treating retirement as one large and intimidating event, you could turn it into a series of smaller decisions.
These small- and medium-term goals could help you build a healthier balance between enjoying life now and preparing for the future.
For instance, you could set goals around:
- Taking a holiday before retirement
- Reducing your working hours gradually
- Helping children or grandchildren financially
- Paying off debt
- Exploring hobbies you might want to continue in the next chapter of life.
These goals could make the waiting period feel more active and help you understand what matters most.
If travel is important to you, you may decide to plan a major trip before retirement, while you still have the health and energy to enjoy it.
Meanwhile, if supporting loved ones is a priority, you may want to explore whether you can afford to gift money now rather than waiting to pass wealth on later.
This approach can ultimately reduce the emotional weight of retirement instead of waiting for one big change.
A phased approach could make retirement feel less daunting
It’s vital to remember that you don’t necessarily have to move from full-time work to full retirement in one swoop.
Instead, a phased retirement could help you break the transition down into more manageable steps. This might involve reducing working hours, taking on a different role, or gradually increasing the time spent away from work.
Financially, this approach could allow you to reduce your reliance on pensions and investments in the early years of retirement.
This can help you stay secure against future policy changes, such as the upcoming rise for the normal minimum pension age; if you continue earning an income, you may not need to draw as much from your fund, giving your retirement savings more time to grow and potentially make your long-term plan more sustainable.
Emotionally, a phased retirement could help you adjust. This is especially vital given that work often provides routine, a social life, and a sense of purpose.
Leaving it behind suddenly can feel unsettling, even if you’re financially ready for the next phase of your life.
A comprehensive financial plan could help reduce overthinking
Perhaps one of the main reasons retirement waiting mode can feel so difficult is that there are often many unanswered questions. You may find you’re constantly asking yourself:
- “Will I have enough?”
- “When will I be able to afford to retire?”
- “How much can I realistically spend?”
- “What will happen if markets experience volatility?”
- “Will I be able to support loved ones without affecting my standard of living?”
A financial planner could help you answer these questions with confidence, partly with the help of sophisticated cashflow modelling software.
This software can model what might happen to you if you retire earlier, work part-time, or spend more in the earlier years of retirement.
This can reduce the need to constantly replay scenarios in your head that only further your uncertainty and anxiety.
It can also help to automate parts of your retirement plan. Regular pension contributions, ISA investments, and scheduled reviews could help you make steady progress without needing to rethink everything from scratch.
Financial planning can help you enjoy the journey towards retirement without getting too fixated on the destination.
Please get in touch or email us at advice@mlifa.co.uk for more information.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances. Thresholds, percentage rates, and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.