Money and Time

Some retired people will tell you that they are having the best time of their life.  These people are thrilled to be retired and you can see this by the look on their faces and in how they carry themselves.  Energy radiates from these individuals and they are a joy to be around.

Some retired people will tell you that they are having the worst time of their life.  These people would give anything not to be retired.

How is it possible to have two groups of people feel so differently about the same time period of their life?  

The easy answer is that those people with money are the ones who are thrilled to be retired.  And yet, over the course of my financial planning career, I met with a lot of retired people who were financially very well-off and these people rarely gave the impression that they were having the best time of their life.  They weren’t unhappy but their lives were pretty ordinary.

No, money is only a resource.  It may allow you to do things, it may give you peace of mind, but at the end of the day, money by itself cannot buy happiness or guarantee a fabulous retirement.  There must be another answer as to why we have retired people on the opposite ends of the happiness spectrum.

For many people, retirement is viewed as a transition point in life where the stress of the work world is left behind and the life of leisure begins.  It is the time of life where you do whatever you want, whenever you want, because you have the time.

So, is “having time” the key to a fabulous retirement?  You, like I, may know retired people who appear to have nothing but time on their hands and yet these people don’t seem to be having the best time of their life either. 

No, time, like money, is only a resource.  It may allow you to do things and it may allow you to do things at a more relaxed pace but, again, the existence of time in itself will not guarantee happiness or a fabulous retirement.  There must be another answer as to why some people are thrilled to be retired while others are not.

So, what is the answer as to why some retired people are thrilled while others are not?

For me, the answer is in knowing how to use these resources.  You can have all the money in the world and you can have all the time in the world but unless you know what you want from your life in retirement, these resources will do you little good.

It all begins with you.  What do you really want from your retirement?

  

Live "Your" Life in Retirement

When I was growing up in the 1960’s, The Monkees released a song called “I’ll Spend My Life With You” that was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.  For some reason, I really liked the song although, as a young boy, it didn’t mean anything to me. 

As I have aged and experienced life, I have gained a new perspective and now the words mean something to me.  I have no idea what the song’s writers had in mind when they penned the tune, but to me this song can easily apply to my brother’s life and to the future retirement he never got to experience.

Dale turned 60 in January of 2014 and like many his age, he was working hard trying to save for his retirement.  Throughout his life, he worked at many jobs and careers and I am sure he felt like he sometimes was lost in the sea of his generation.  Dale was nearing the end of his working life and in his mind, I think he felt he was on the home stretch.

“People come and people go

Movin’ fast and movin’ slow

I’m in a crowd yet I’m all alone  

The road is long the road is rough

I do believe I’ve had enough

I’m gonna turn around and head for home”

A few weeks after his birthday, Dale was diagnosed with cancer.  I visited with him in early February following his first chemo treatment and we spoke about how we all seem to lead a life that isn’t ours.  For whatever reason, we tend to live the kind of life that we think will please our parents, our spouse or someone else we deem important.

“I’ve had all the time I need

To rearrange my mind and lead

The life I thought I wanted yesterday

I played a game that couldn’t last

And now some mem’ries from the past

Have turned my thoughts around a different way”

When you think about your retirement, consider whether you have lived your life in a way that has been true to your heart.  My brother passed away a week after our visit and he never had the opportunity to live the life he said he was going to once he recovered.  I believe a life of regret passed with him.   

Take the time to plan your retirement from the life perspective and ensure that you live “your” life to the fullest.  And because we never know, it might be a good idea to begin the practice today.