As a Retirement Income Specialist and an avid sailor, I find many parallels between navigating my sailboat and helping people navigate their retirements.

Most of my sailing experience has been acquired while sailing the waters of a spectacular area of Georgian Bay, known as the Thirty Thousand Islands. Truth be known, there are sixty thousand islands – however, the second thirty thousand islands are a foot or two below the water’s surface. The abundance of jagged granite rocks and frequency with which the winds in this area tend to swirl means that no matter which direction I head, continual course adjustments are required. My most cherished instrument? My GPS chart plotter. I have utmost respect for those who sailed this region prior to the availability of GPS co-ordinates

Each of my sailing journeys can best be described as: following many calculated short, straight-line trajectories, followed by frequent, very necessary, course corrections.

As a retiree, you’ll face similar challenges

Frequently changing investment market conditions, a constant evolution of your life priorities as you pass through our Go-Go, Slow-Go and No-Go years, the desire to be of assistance – when called upon, and the uncertainty of your own future health, requires you to remain at the helm of your retirement journey. Frequent course corrections to the current path’s trajectory will be required.

There is the constant push and pull of wanting to do the things you desire, now, while you have the energy and health, while, at the same time worrying about unanticipated future implications of the choices you are making. You seek guidance and assurance from a navigation system that allows you to pre-determine if the path you are following is the right one, and to identify when course adjustments are necessary.

To help you navigate your retirement journey, Retirement Navigator^™ has created an easy-to-use app called Retirement Designer^™. This web-based application is available to you 24/7, free of charge. If you want to monitor the progress of your retirement journey and pre-test your inevitable course corrections – before you make them – give it a try.

A quick set-up wizard will establish your current coordinates. An easy-to-follow walk-through process will help you to add the information of your retirement journey. Simply input your current thoughts about what you would like to do, when you would you like to do these things and how big you plan to do them.