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Retirement is the dessert of life and deserves to be savored as such. Here’s how to get the biggest share of frosting.

Maxwell and Victoria Sargent raised their champagne flutes and tapped them together, smiling at each other with big toothy grins.

“Happy retirement, my love,” said Victoria.

“To the best years of our lives, my dear,” Max toasted.

Max and Victoria have a lot to think about. They used to gauge success by their careers, family and income. But now, they’ll need to focus on security, health and happiness instead.

Today they’re entering the third stage of retirement, and because they’ve responsibly followed the essentials of the first two stages, they’re bound to make their retirement as perfect as it can possibly be.

No two retirements are the same, but every single one of them can be extraordinary.

Let’s follow their joyful jaunt through the five stages of retirement and see how everyone can make their retirement extraordinary — regardless of age or circumstances.

Stage 1: Participation

Max Sargent and Victoria Cartier were married in their mid-twenties in an intimate backyard ceremony. Wedding gifts included cash, some of which was spent on a honeymoon in Vail. The rest went into a Roth IRA at a low-cost online brokerage.

“Start saving when you’re young,” Max’s father declared when they opened his generous gift.

They invested in diversified ETF funds and vowed to never touch that money until retirement. It would be worth 16 times as much in forty years.

Max had recently embarked on an accounting career and was fixated on their finances so they could enjoy life while saving for retirement. He insisted they invest 10% of their income, and slowly increase it as their paychecks grew.

Victoria was a pediatric nurse at a major hospital that had a generous matching program. She put 10% of her earnings in a savings program and the company matched it dollar for dollar. “Why wouldn’t I — it’s free money!” she announced to everyone who would listen.

They put savings on autopilot so they could build their careers, their families, and enjoy all that life had to offer.

Essentials:

• Build your career, enjoy your family, and focus on happiness and health
• Invest at least 10% of your income in a tax-advantaged account such as a 401k or a Roth IRA. And don’t touch it!
• If your employer matches contributions, you must participate (it’s FREE money!)
• Live below your means, watch your debt, don’t keep up with the Joneses.

Stage 2: Anticipation

“Happy 50th Birthday!” Max whispered to his lovely wife. He handed her a brightly wrapped package containing a ruby bracelet and a thumb drive.

“You got me a spreadsheet for my birthday?” Victoria laughed because she knew her accountant husband was a maniac about finances.

“It’s our retirement calculator. You’ll love it! I’ve looked at what we’ll need for income to maintain our current lifestyle, factored in our pensions, investments, and Social Security, and found that if we increase our savings rate by just a few percentage points we can retire early at age 63.”

“That’s fantastic, let’s do it!” Victoria replied.

Over the next decade, they had countless discussions about retirement. They talked about their passions, how they’d stay engaged and challenged. They discussed finances, volunteering, trips, children and parents. They even had difficult conversations about healthcare, lifespans and death.

They experienced the excitement of retirement by planning, talking, anticipation and practice.

Essentials:

• Estimate your retirement expenses and adjust savings as needed. Don’t forget healthcare. Compare costs against income from pensions, Social Security and other earnings. Adjust as needed.
• Practice retirement by envisioning a day-in-the-life, and be sure to discuss expectations and outcomes with your spouse, children and friends.

Stage 3: Honeymoon

“Happy retirement, my love,” said Victoria.

“To the best years of our lives, my dear,” Max toasted.

Now is the time to celebrate, they agreed, and the newly-retired couple spent their first years checking items off their bucket lists, traveling, exploring and trying out new experiences. It was a glorious time of freedom and happiness that reminded them of their youth.

They watched their money closely and kept several years’ worth of it in safe investments. The rest would fluctuate with the market, but since they had no plans to touch it anytime soon, it didn’t matter. Only twice in their lifetime has a 10-year span of the S&P 500 shown a negative return.

These were in fact the best years of their lives, because retirement gave them the freedom to reinvent themselves.

Essentials:

• Enjoy the excitement and freedom of a brand new life. Do anything and everything you’ve ever wanted to.
• Watch your expenses, it’s easy to overspend
• Don’t make any significant commitments for the first 6 to 12 months. You need time to explore new experiences and activities.

Stage 4: Satisfaction

After a few years of rampant glee, Max and Victoria found their interests narrowing. They slowed their pace and stabilized their days.

They schedule trips each year, enjoy game nights with friends, visit their parents and kids often, and walk three miles every day, rain or shine.

Max has adopted woodworking and landscaping as his new hobbies and their little cottage on the bluff has never looked better. Victoria volunteers part-time at the local free clinic and cultivates new friendships with the staff. They both keep a casual eye on their finances, and as they age they shift investments into safer havens.

Time together is special now, chatting, cooking, reading and following the news. They watched their parents get lost in the labyrinth of new technologies and vowed to force themselves to stay current and avoid the trap of technological isolation.

Unabashed exuberance has given way to quiet confidence and satisfaction.

Satisfaction is the reward for a life well spent

Essentials:

• Stay healthy by eating well and exercising. Walking is a fantastic way to stay physically fit, and being actively engaged keeps your mind sharp.
• Monitor your assets regularly and rebalance as you age
• Stay current with technology so you aren’t left out and isolated

Stage 5: Passing

“Nobody’s pulling the plug on me!” Victoria declared.

“That’s fine for you, but I don’t want to be a vegetable salad. You can let me go and give my organs to anyone who needs them,” Max said.

The two were giving instructions to the estate attorney they hired for a thousand dollars. She was preparing their Wills, Community Property Agreements, Medical Directives and Powers of Attorney.

“Now let’s go tell the kids,” Max said. “They need to know our wishes and how to handle our estate. Let’s tell them where we keep our passwords too, so they can access our accounts when we, uh… fade into the sunset.”

Sometimes these conversations are difficult, but Max, Victoria and their children powered through it early enough in their retirement so everyone could relax and get on with their lives.

Sadly, the inevitable always comes. Max’s final curtain call was first, and Victoria’s a few years later. Their children grieved as all children should, but they did so in peace, without the tumult of probate and estate conflicts.

Estate planning is the ultimate gift, but plan ahead because you never know…

Essentials:

• Hire an attorney to prepare or update all your end-of-life legal documents
• Talk to each other and to your family so they’ll clearly understand your wishes and expectations
• Keep an updated list of your passwords in a secure location known only to you and one or two trusted individuals

A life worth living

You’ll be glad to know Max and Victoria didn’t die — they’re fictional characters. And I took some liberties with dates and technologies like ROTH IRAs and thumb drives. But their journey is a fun illustration of how keeping an eye on your retirement will deliver the most satisfying and rewarding life possible.

Very few of us will live a life as perfect as the one described above, but you can see how following a few essential guidelines can steer you right on track to enjoy the retirement you deserve.

Retirement is the dessert of life, and it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. Dig in!