Most retirement planning conversations start with money. Do I have enough? When should I take Social Security? How should my investments be positioned? What will my taxes look like? Those are important questions, but there are other questions that may be just as important.

If you could not drive for six months, who would help you get where you need to go? If you or your spouse needed help after surgery, what would life at home look like? If everyday things like shopping, cleaning, or managing medications became harder, what would your plan be? Who could you call if something happened in the middle of the night?

If your current home eventually stopped working for the way you want to live, what would you want the next chapter to look like?

These are not always comfortable questions, but they are much easier to think about before a decision is forced on you. To me, retirement readiness is not just about whether your money lasts. It is about understanding how you want to live, what you want to remain independent, who may be part of your support system, and what needs to be in place if life changes.

That is part of what we work through in Project Clarity—looking beyond the numbers so the financial plan supports the life you are actually trying to make possible. If you would like to see where you stand, start with our retirement readiness assessment.