Twelve honest questions about the non-financial side of retirement — purpose, people, pace, identity, and whether there is an actual plan. There is a version for before you retire and a version for after, because they are not the same questions. No right answers, no email required, nothing leaves your screen unless you choose to share it. About four minutes.
Twelve questions for the years leading up to your last day.
This is worth a minute even if you have not retired yet — arguably especially if you have not. The left column asks whether you feel open to what is coming. The right column asks whether it actually happened. Reading them side by side is the fastest way to see which of these needs a plan rather than a hope.
Notice question three. Before you retire it asks whether you have actually written down specific plans that include how you will fill your days, stay connected, sustain your health, and build a new identity. Afterwards it simply asks whether the rhythm you looked forward to ever arrived. One is a plan; the other is the result. By the time you are answering the right-hand column, the left-hand column is much more expensive to go back and do. That gap is the whole argument for starting early.
Want a deeper read than twelve questions can give? Chris also offers the comprehensive Retirement Intelligence (RQ) Assessment — the full instrument plus a dedicated one-on-one consultation, with your own copy of the assessment to keep. See how it works →
Purpose & identity, connection & community, health & wellbeing, structure & rhythm, reinvention & new pursuits — the parts of retirement that move together like a windchime. Your answers show which chime is ringing.
Explore the five parts