Plan for Retirement
Let’s meet Lynn and Ted.
Lynn and Ted met while they are in college. She majored in psychology, and he majored in engineering. Ted sat in the back of the philosophy class and watched. Lynn sat on the first row. When the professor asked questions she was usually the first one to raise her hand. She was very positive. Curious. Enthusiastic. Generous in how she views human nature. And beautiful. He followed her out and invited her to go to coffee.
Ted got a job with an engineering and construction firm, Lynn went into human resources, and they married. They had two girls and a boy. Lynn wondered if she should keep working. Ted wondered if he should leave the engineering firm and go out on his own.
What did Ted do? What each of us values helps us to select what we do. Let’s see what Lynn’s and Ted’s values are. And their coping strategies and temperament strengths. Then guess as to whether or not Ted went out on his own. If he did, do you think Lynn worked in the business, too? If not, what do you think she did?
Print out Lynn’s and Ted’s Test Results so that you can look at them while you read about them.
What do Lynn and Ted value?
Both are high in Economic Value, so they want to have a significant amount of money to fund their lifestyle. Since both are also high in Theoretical Value, they also want to be sure that they have considered all of the possible options and the advantages and disadvantages of each possible choice before they make plans. It will be more than 10 years before they retire, but it is time to start planning now.
Ted’s strengths in Autonomy and Dominance lead him to buy a construction equipment business and lease his old firm construction equipment. The company he buys has a large, loyal client base. Across the years the business experiences substantial and profitable growth.
Ted likes to design projects and build them. So he continues to design and build projects that particularly interest him. Then he uses his equipment to build them.
Lynn works in the business. As they hire employees they do not know who they can trust to handle the money. Lynn takes basic bookkeeping courses. She gets a feel for business costs. She learns to manage the business aspects of their work while Ted leases the equipment and does the projects.
When they can afford a cpa she works less and less in the office. The employees know that she keeps up with accounts receivable, cash flow, and expenses. If any of them were even tempted to embezzle company money, they can see that they can’t do that.
As Ted and Lynn plan for their retirement, what do they think it will look like?
Does she want to do volunteer work? She is thinking about being a Stephens Minister. That is a position where she is a volunteer trained in psychology to help people think through their issues.
And she wants to play more tennis and bridge with friends.
Ted may want to do some consulting. He could be helpful to a young engineer, given the years of experience that he has.
Go fishing more often with his fishing buddies. And play tennis with some other guys.
What they could do together?
They have a vacation home that they bought a number years ago. They could rent it less, and spend more time in it themselves. When their children were growing up it was a favorite place for them to bring friends on the weekend. Lynn and Ted have family friends whose children grew up with theirs – both at their city and vacation home.
Now their daughter Vanessa and her husband Gerald have a boy and a girl, and their son Jonathan and his wife Doris have two boys. The grandparents are using their Theoretical Value to research options for entertaining grandkids. Fishing? Tennis? Trips to Disneyland?
What about travel? They have been traveling with their couple friends Sunny and Fabio for years – travel more with them? Take younger family members on cruises? They have developed very attractive options.
Can my spouse and I use our PSAs© to plan for retirement?
Sure.
You already learned a lot about how a couple can use a PSA© by reading about Ted and Lynn. You know a lot about your current situation.
1. If you have not already done so: Print out Ted’s and Lynn’s PSAs© and this case study discussing what options they have developed for retirement. Scan these and save them as a document in a folder named “Retirement Options.”
2. To order your PSA©: Go back to the Home Page. When you take your tests: Think of yourself as you are when you are at your very best.
3. After you get your PSAs©: Use them to help you understand how to use your PSAs© to see how to use each person’s personality strengths to plan for retirement.
4. The more you think together about your strengths the more you will see how to make them work together to make your retirement be all that it can be..
You can do this!
