Successful Retirement is Not All About Money
I think we have all heard of someone who held off retiring claiming they needed more money. Then when they finally retired –generally because they were forced to — they had a heart attack and dropped dead. Did they really need more money? Or was it because they had no clue what they were going to do once they retired, and they were filled with dread?
Then you have people like my parents, who exhaust me with all their retirement activities. They are living their passions each and every day, and having a blast doing it.
Silver & Grace guest post author, R. Kevin Price, explains how successful retirement is not all about money. There are many other important factors to consider.
For I don’t care too much for money,
For money can’t buy me love
- Lennon/McCartney (1964)
Or happiness.
Many people think that if they accumulate enough physical and financial assets during their careers, they will assure themselves a successful retirement. Assets may indeed assure a degree of physical comfort, a certain lifestyle and a sense of security. But physical and financial assets cannot buy
• A healthy mind and body
• Great friends and a supportive social network
• A happy and positive attitude
• The joy that comes from living life to its fullest every day
Having money is good and having more than “just enough” is even better for most of us. But tech or housing bubbles may burst, corporate business models may crash, illness may demand large sums, government may redesign or restrict retirement income and other support programs and so on (truly) ad nauseam.
It is best to think in terms of living within your financial comfort zone – within the financial resources available to you. Not living within your financial comfort zone invariably leads to stress which is one of the great destroyers of successful retirements. If your retirement lifestyle aspirations exceed your resources, then you will need to add to those resources by coming partly out of retirement or only partially retiring in the first place. If your resources exceed your lifestyle aspirations, then you are blessed, but remember, as we have seen in 2008-2009, financial circumstances can shift quickly.
With living in our financial comfort zone as a base we can focus on more important aspects of life:
• Exercising regularly: stretching, aerobics, muscle building.
• Maintaining our existing social relationships and building new ones. Very few people can be truly happy by themselves. We are by nature social creatures. Socialization is not something that will just happen to us; we need to nurture it.
• Building our attitude: Studies have shown that one of the most important factors in being happy is attitude. There are many things about ourselves and our circumstances that we may not be able to change but attitude isn’t one of them; we can decide to be happy. We need to focus on: what we can do rather than what we can’t do; what we have rather than what we don’t have.
• Learn, study, grow, create, build, give back, eat, drink and be merry. Retirement is the time to enjoy all the things you love and learn about those you didn’t have time for during your years of work. Learn a language. Make cheese. Be a model. Learn to draw. There are endless possibilities.
Where to get started? You need a plan.
While a “bucket list” (what do I want to do before I “kick the bucket”?) is an interesting thing about which to fantasize, the plan really needs to be about: what do I want to do with my life? What do I want to build, create, see, experience, learn? Now is the time to pursue your inner talents and creativity and to find fulfillment.
More information!
R. Kevin Price is the author of The Successful Retirement Guide. He can be found at:
www.successfulretirementguide.com (website)
http://www.successfulretirementguide.wordpress.com (blog)
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Book Review: What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life?
I am a huge sucker for real life stories. You can throw all the theory at me you like, but I want to see the rubber hit the road. Where real people accomplish real things. What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life?, by Bruce Frankel, is chock full of real people accomplishing very real things.
And the truly unique part about their stories? These accomplishments occurred after what we traditionally think of as retirement age.
Frankel starts the Introduction with the following:
“This is a book of profiles of people who have succeeded after sixty. Their stories are not simply examples of successful aging, they are inspirational in the truest sense … They do not so much defy age as defy the limitation that our culture places on age … “
Each story made me sit up and go “Wow, they are how old and doing that?”
My husband doesn’t need to read the book because at the end of each chapter I excitedly described the person, their age, and what they have accomplished. “Can you believe that?”, I would end each summary with.
Thirteen people are profiled, with accomplishments ranging from physical to artistic to political to entrepreneurial. All ordinary people who discovered passions after sixty.
Who knew you could become an elite runner without having run your first race until your sixtieth birthday? Or become a professional dancer in your seventies? Or write award winning novels in your nineties?
No word of a lie, this book caused me to stop procrastinating and sign up for a half-marathon race. I won’t come anywhere close to Margie Stoll’s race times, but at almost thirty years her junior I better be able to cross the finish line.
Reading the different stories, there doesn’t appear to be any common thread that you can point to and say “Aha! That’s why they driven to follow their passions so late in life.” Interestingly, however, Frankel points out the following commonality:
“As unique as each is, as a group the individuals in What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life? have done what scientists tell us we should do: they maintain healthy diets, exercise regularly, challenge themselves, fill their lives with novel experiences and varied social connections.”
Isn’t this what we should all be doing throughout our entire lives?
If so, we are setting ourselves up for some pretty spectacular accomplishments later in life. I wonder what mine will be?
Have your say:
Do you know of anyone who has successfully pursued a passion or dream after the age of sixty?
Once all the children are gone, and the career is winding down, what passion would you pursue?
Please visit:
Bruce Frankel’s website: http://www.brucefrankel.net/
Bruce Frankel’s blog: http://www.brucefrankel.net/index.php/site/articles/
More information!
A copy of What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life? will be given away in a contest here at Silver & Grace on March 29th.
What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life? is available for purchase through Amazon by clicking the Silver & Grace book recommendations.
To find out what other people are saying about this book, check out the following TLC Book Tour reviews:
Tuesday, March 9th: Journeys and Ohh.. Books!
Thursday, March 11th: A Garden Carried in My Pocket
Wednesday, March 17th: Truth 2 Being Fit
Thursday, March 18th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Monday, March 22nd: Erasing the Bored
Tuesday, March 23rd: Jane Be Nimble
Monday, March 24th: Luxury Reading
Thursday, March 25th: Happy Lotus
Interview: Authors Patricia and Robert Gussin
Patricia and Robert Gussin are co-authors of the book What’s Next for You? This is a delightful memoir and guide on living life to the fullest after retirement. Or as Patricia calls it, graduation. If you haven’t already read my book review, it is located here.
I’m the type of person who reads a good non-fiction book, then wants to know the rest of the story. The Gussins were kind enough to indulge me.
Retirement and Debt
Eliza asked:
It is clear from your book that you looked before you leaped financially, but you still made purchases when you weren’t really sure you could afford them. What is your philosophy on money and debt at this stage of your life?
The Gussins answered:
Financial security is always a consideration when deciding how to approach retirement. Coming from very modest backgrounds, we knew that we had to take care and not stretch beyond our means. Having said that, we had had very successful careers, and even if we were to slip some financially, we felt comfortable going back to a less expensive life style. So we were willing to risk substantial amounts of money to live our dream, but we always kept in mind “the worst case scenario”. No matter how badly we might fail, we would not be left starving or without a roof over our heads. So there is some thought that goes into “thoughtful impulsiveness”.
As for debt, we don’t like it. And who does? But the reality is that in some financial circumstances, it’s sensible to take on low interest debt rather than to use higher yield savings or to sell assets.
Balancing individual interests
Eliza asked:
Robert, I chuckled out loud when I read your fears about Patricia deciding to write fiction. But it was very honest. Sometimes my husband comes up with a grand scheme and I think ‘Oh dear, what if he can’t pull that off?’ And Patricia, when Robert took over in the kitchen, instead of embracing it you could just as easily felt displaced. What underlying aspect of your relationship contributes to each other being able to change roles and encourage individual projects and challenges?
The Gussins answered:
Lots of love and trust and mutual respect underlies it all. We have tremendous confidence in each other’s abilities and we both are pretty flexible in what we are willing to try. So we each go along with the others “interesting” ideas with the prediction that they’ll be successful and fun. Pat is still celebrating her liberation from the cooking and Bob loves his status as the good impressionist, the Monet of the kitchen!
Becoming grandparents
Eliza asked:
Patricia, you mention that you would love to have all your children and grandchildren live within a ‘family compound’ where everyone moves freely in and out of each other’s homes. Robert might be inclined to add some locks. For us, actually, the opposite is true. My husband is trying to figure out how to buy each of our neighbours’ homes as they become available to house our children. Same city, different neighborhoods works just for me, thank you all the same.
The Gussins answered:
As far as the adult children and grandchildren, Bob is more like you, and Pat more like your husband. Pat loves kids and would love to have them all live in a compound. Bob enjoys them, but not all the time, every day. We’ve observed grandparenting among our friends and believe that like most things in life, a happy medium is the best. Our kids need to live their own lives and develop their own relationships with their children. As grandparents, we need to be available, but not meddlesome. Our job is supportive. Every family unit is different and we have to respect that. For us, our kids do keep wondering where we are going next and whatever we do, we know that they will be encouraging.
After all, do they really want us having so much free time that we start to micromanage them? We don’t think so.
What’s Next for You? is available for purchase through Amazon by clicking the Silver & Grace book recommendations.
Have your say:
Which side of financial fence do you sit on? Being debt free by retirement, or accepting debt?
If you are retired, did you find that roles changed between you and your partner?
What challenges do you face as a grandparent, either with your spouse, or your adult children?
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Book review: What’s Next for You?
The first thing that struck me when I received The Gussin Guide to Big Changes, Big Decisions, & Big Fun was the non-assuming cover. It looked more like the original Monopoly box than a fancy schmancy user guide. But, it turns out that reading Robert and Patricia Gussin’s book was remarkably similar to Monopoly. In that, it provided the same comfort as sitting around the family kitchen table playing a time proven board game
What’s Next for You? is not so much of a guide, as a memoir of how of a couple went from fulfilling careers to retirement to fulfilling careers. The premise is there is an exciting life to be led during retirement. However, the lessons to be learned are not implicitly stated in the book. Which is quite refreshing actually.
By the time I finished What’s Next for You?, which includes passages written by both Robert and Patricia, I felt that we were old friends. That I had just spent a fun afternoon with them sipping wine while hearing about their adventures. Extracting how I might emulate their adventures is left entirely up to me.
I am not likely to build a six bedroom home on the ocean, buy vineyards and a winery in New Zealand, nor start a book publishing business. All after I retire! However, inspired by their energy and zest for life, I am more convinced than ever that retirement is really a graduation to another stage of life.
Patricia, by the way, refuses to use the word retirement, opting for the word graduation. Retirement, by definition, implies withdrawal. Graduation suggests moving onto something else.
What’s Next for You? provided me with two clear lessons. The first one is labelled by the Gussins thoughtful impulsiveness. It is all about being open to opportunities and adventure, while still collecting all your facts. In other words, don’t go off half-cocked, but after you have done your homework, be willing to take a risk.
The second lesson comes from their book dedication; admittedly a section I normally don’t pay attention to.
“This book is dedicated to our children and grandchildren, who always wonder what we’ll do next.”
This is exactly how Mr Very Right and I want to live our lives. Our children are already getting a taste of our creative energies, but if we can always keep ‘em guessing right up to the end, we will have lived a very rich life indeed.
If you are wondering how you are going to fill your days when you retire, I recommend What’s Next for You? If you end up doing half as much as Robert and Patricia Gussin, I promise you the days will fly by.
What’s Next for You? is available for purchase through Amazon by clicking the Silver & Grace book recommendations.
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