What Could Go Wrong? Avoiding Retirement Disaster by Using Inverted Thinking

We have a friend who, before making a major purchase, will google “problems with (name of item).” He’s discovered that even the most highly rated products and services come with problems and trade-offs. Knowing what they are beforehand allows him to either plan for the problems or decide not to make the purchase at all.

While this kind of thinking seems a little pessimistic, it’s a useful tool for avoiding future disaster.

It’s a perspective known as inversion and it was famously used by Nobel physicist Richard Feynman to discover the cause of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. While other investigators were focused on what should have gone right with the launch systems, Feynman instead focused on what could have gone wrong. And then he tested it.

This approach helped Feynman identify the failure of the shuttle’s O-rings, which lost their ability to seal in freezing temperatures.¹

The principle of inversion can be applied when planning any major event, from a family wedding to an extended trip to your retirement years.

As generally optimistic people, we naturally focus on the positive aspects of the thing we’re eagerly anticipating. However, this positive mindset makes us prone to blind spots when it comes to potential problems. But when we can invert our thinking to identify the most likely problems, it makes them easier to avoid.

When thinking about retirement this means identifying the challenges you’re almost certain to face and coming up with a plan well ahead of time to deal with them.

Here are a few we commonly see:

• Keeping consistent cash flow as your needs vary
• Getting hit with unexpected healthcare costs
• Leaving a tangled mess for your heirs

In each of these cases you can reasonably predict how a problem might affect someone in your situation and then prepare to avoid it (if possible) or deal with it without worrying. When you take this approach, you can turn potential disasters into situations you’ve planned for.

Your trusted advisor has helped many people through similar challenges and can use their expertise to help you prepare for your unique situation.

You should be looking forward to your retirement years. And planning ahead for challenges just means you’ll be more likely to enjoy the kind of life you’ve been hoping for.

Sources:
1. http://go.pardot.com/e/91522/g-rule-of-retirement-inversion/977gbr/3058028599/h/_z8V_pK7s-N9IP_5tkM12O3vlpogtsvfxvHN5BkuxiI