Failure IS an option — a tragic one — and you’ll need to plan like the devil to succeed.

The smartest and stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life was to start a business at the age of 26. The amount of work that went into planning and running it was insane, but the rewards were immeasurable. Much of who I am today came from those long hardscrabble days of sweat, struggle, and strategy.

Most businesses fail, but I was fortunate. While I’m no longer the owner, my business is still going strong — over 30 years later.

Now, I’m locked in a staredown with retirement, a foreign venture that I’ll admit is as terrifying as starting a new business. Luckily, the skills I learned when planning a successful business are the same skills I need to launch into a successful retirement.

Whether you’re a serial entrepreneur or a cube jockey, you can plan a safe and rewarding retirement — with confidence — by following a few simple business startup rules.

“Retirement is easy. Just stop working.”

NO! Bad idea!

Retirement is risky business, and just like founding a startup, most people suck at it. Even worse, they don’t know they suck at it. [read: Dunning-Kruger effect]

40% of all retirees end up returning to work for one reason or another. Some need more money. Others get bored or lonely. Some miss the accolades or need something they call ‘purpose’. Regardless, they failed at their intended goal.

Failing to plan is planning to fail

Harvard Business Review debunks the myth of young energetic founders as the primary catalysts of successful startups and finds that the most common successful entrepreneur is middle-aged 45 year old. While Gates, Woz, Musk, Jobs, and Zuck started their businesses in college, they’re the outliers. Older founders are far more successful. They can reach deep into their years of experience and long-term relationships with industry contacts to grow smarter and more nimble businesses.

Retirees need to be smart and nimble too. And experienced. The most satisfied retirees researched retirement in excruciating detail. They knew exactly what they were getting into before they cut the cord.

“How could someone be experienced at retirement without having already retired,” you ask?

Simple: “They planned!”

A business plan for your “retirement startup”

You wouldn’t launch a startup without a detailed business plan. It would put your savings, family, future, and livelihood at unacceptable risk. Likewise, you can’t afford to expose yourself and your family to those same risks in retirement.

Business and retirement are surprisingly similar endeavors. They share many of the same characteristics, challenges, and risks:

• Dramatic changes to almost all aspects of your daily life
• Long-term reliance on a new and unpredictable income stream
• All-consuming 24/7 venture with no escape clause
• An uncertain future subject to the vagaries of health and economy
• One of the top stress-inducing life events ever

When you open a business, you expect to be running it for decades. Retirement is the same except you can’t just quit and start over. The length of an average retirement is 18 years — the same duration as from birth to adulthood. That’s average — yours could be twice that.

Do it right! There’s no time to recover.

Right now you have a choice. You can stumble into retirement like a drunken sailor, or you can swagger in with all the confidence of an Elon Musk.

Follow these steps to launch into the successful retirement lifestyle you deserve:

1. Start researching and planning NOW

In 1995, Jeff Bezos quit his lucrative Wall Street job and spent over a year in the garage of his 2-bedroom home designing and building a business we’re all familiar with. A business plan based on solid product and industry research was the foundation of his success.

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
 ― Alexander Graham Bell, inventor

Your preparation can be as simple as reading, talking, thinking, and writing down the findings that inspire you.

2. Create a mission statement

Mission statements for business define the framework for its existence and set guardrails for future growth and directional changes.

“We save people money so they can live better.”
-Sam Walton, Wal-Mart

A retirement mission statement is similar but personal. A good one will be the beacon that illuminates your path through the labyrinth of challenges, indecision, and doubt.

Here’s mine:

“Live more, live smart, laugh, and love. Add sprinkles of mischief and art.”
-Brian Feutz’ retirement mission statement

My mission announces that I will strive to keep my days as full as possible (live more) yet keep it financially and physically safe (live smart). I’ll have fun (laugh) and be social (love). Occasionally I’ll be spontaneous and unpredictable (mischief) and explore my creative side (art).

3. Identify income sources and cash flow

In business, money is the lifeblood of the organization. For you, it’s your ticket to a secure future. You need enough to fund the lifestyle you’ve planned, some extra for emergencies — and that’s all.

You don’t get extra points for dying with the most money

How much do you need to retire? “As much as possible” is not an answer. You need a number. The answer will be different for the drunken sailor than for the Musk impersonator, but you can get a lot more detail on what you’ll need here.

Your money will come from a variety of sources such as savings, investments, retirement accounts, Social Security, real estate, and more — the more the merrier. Invest the time and effort to put it into a spreadsheet and play with it like your life depends upon it. (It does)

Here’s a fictional example of the first few years of retirement:

4. Calculate expenses and investments

Expenses are easy. They tend to be a little less than what you spend right now. If you know what they are, use 80% of that to be safe. Make adjustments if you plan to downsize to a smaller home, pay off your mortgage, or travel more.

It will take some work, but no business plan would be complete without a clear and confident understanding of expenses.

Business plans are never easy. The amount of effort you put in today will define the difference between retirement security and random luck.
 …and luck is a terrible strategy.

When you subtract expenses from income, you’ll get a wonderful surprise or a painful slap in the face.

If your cheek is stinging, you’ll need to find ways to cut costs and increase income. In business, I could cut staff, defer raises, and delay purchases. You can’t fire your spouse and children, but you do have a key advantage: Your venture hasn’t started yet and you can make small adjustments now that grow into big impacts later.

Starting young is a good strategy.

5. Build an operational roadmap

This sounds a lot more technical than it is. You’re really answering the question of “What are you going to do, and how will you do it?”

Jeff Bezos started Amazon to sell books over the Internet. Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. My business printed essential products for a unique industry.

What are you going to do? Well, the first thing you’re going to do is make a list as you comb through your mind and research the Internet. You’ll be surprised at how many ideas you come up with. Here’s a place to start.

Keep this list as a chapter in your plan. Staying engaged is the perfect cure for boredom — one of the top three reasons retirements fail.

6. Plan for the worst

Money and health are the biggest risks to a successful retirement, much like they are to startup. The best startups have plans for mitigating financial emergencies, and succession plans for illness or loss of key leadership.

Likewise, you need a fallback chapter in your retirement plan.

Money: There are two types of expenses, fixed (mortgage, food, taxes) and variable (travel, TV, dining out). Your goal is to have the fewest fixed expenses so you can swiftly cut back when bad times come to visit.

Health is tricky: An unforeseen complication can derail your plans faster than a bullet train. I interviewed a man recently whose life was shattered in an instant. A heart attack forced him into early retirement, but thankfully he had a contingency plan and put it to good use. He’ll be fine.

In closing:

Relax. Take it one step at a time and you’ll get there. Retirement is awesome when you do it right. And now you can plan like a successful entrepreneur.

Stick to the plan. There’s a reason business startups — and retirements — succeed and fail, and much of it rests on the quality of the plan, and your dedication to stick with it.

Talk about it. Share your retirement plan with family and friends. Talk to pre- and post-retirees about your plan. The feedback will be invaluable, but you’ll also help them think about their own successful retirement.

Above all: Pat yourself on the back. Have fun planning and dreaming, and enjoy reaping the benefits of your successful “Retirement Startup.”

I learned valuable retirement lessons from my business. Because of that, my retirement will deliver the bug-eyed excitement of a roller coaster ride with the comfort of a barefoot stroll on the beach.

What will yours be?