Not too long ago I was in a conversation with a friend. She told me she had recently talked to a mutual friend who was retired and was glad to have an opportunity to learn a bit about his experience. Our conversation moved on to other things, but it got me thinking. It reminded me of being in other conversations about retirement earlier in my career. I never really thought much about retirement. I was enjoying my work and didn’t see much reason to think about a future beyond what I was doing at the moment. In an odd way, I still don’t even though I’m two and a half months from officially retiring. From work anyway. As so many retired people say, my schedule is quite full. In my case that’s thanks to classes, classwork, and working on publishing my book.

However, I ran across an article on Substack titled “Your 12 Good Years” and it got me thinking about retirement in a new way that I thought worth sharing. The link to the article is at the bottom.

The point of the article was not about managing your money unlike so many articles. It was about managing your life. According to this article, the important number is not about our life expectancy, but rather the span of time you have to do and enjoy that life — your healthy-life expectancy.

The author is British and his data comes from the Office for National Statistics and that data shows, “(f)or someone who is 60 today, you’re looking at roughly 12-15 more years before health limitations intrude in meaningful ways. That doesn’t mean you drop dead at 75. It means by your early to mid-70s, things start to shift. Energy declines. Recovery from illness takes longer. Long-haul flights become less appealing. All-day adventures turn into half-day outings. The body you’ve been living in for six decades starts sending you clearer signals about what it will and won’t tolerate.”

This means for many of us this health countdown begins before we actually retire.

The point of the article is we should front load our retirements and our activities. Rather than put off the trip we’ve always said we would take, we should find a way to go now – retired or not. We should learn the language we want to learn, explore a hobby, spend time with friends and family doing silly things, fun things. Those things we want to do in the future – start finding ways to do them now. The author puts it succinctly: “Let me say this as clearly as I can: you have permission to spend your money and your energy now, during your good years, on things that bring you joy.”

Seems to me that’s good advice at any point in our lives. Yes, we need to be sensible. Yes, we need to save our money for our old age. AND we need to find ways to do what we find joyful, interesting, useful now. Plan for retirement experientially as well as financially.

Technically, I’m well into my dozen or so ‘good’ years. Even if I choose the fifteen year span, I’m past the halfway mark and I have to admit, long car rides are more tiring than they used to be. After my long break from dancing, I can tell the difference and not just because I took a break. I never was any good at pulling all-nighters, or even staying up much past midnight to study, but I’m certainly not doing that now. The changes happen whether or not we admit to them.

All this is not to complain or be depressing. It’s to say, just as we should be intentional about saving for retirement, we should be intentional about our plans for what we want to do with our time. What are you waiting to do when you retire? Is there any way you can start now? Can you create space in a busy life for the things that matter?

For my friends who are already retired, how are you doing on spending your energy on things that matter to you? Not just things that matter to family or community, or partners, but to you.

Wherever you are in your career, take some time to think about what you are putting off to the future that you could do today and find a way to go do it. That’s the challenge for all of us today.

Take care,

Gage

https://danhaylett.substack.com/p/your-12-good-years

Here are some hints to get you started from the article:

“First: Look at your calendar for the next 12 months. What are you doing that you’ll actually remember in 10 years? …
Second: Make a list of things you’re deferring…. Pick one… And do it this year….
Third: Have an honest conversation with yourself (and your partner, if you have one) about what you are optimizing for. Are you trying to die with the biggest nest egg? Or are you trying to live the richest life?…
Fourth: Reframe how you think about spending. Money spent on experiences during your good years isn’t frivolous….”

(After reading this article, I told Peter to buy the second electric bike he was considering, the one that would make it possible for him to do a Century (ride 100 miles). He didn’t, but he did buy extra batteries for the electric bike he had. ) (Edit: Peter changed this to: “He hasn’t yet, but …. 🙂 )

 

Quote of the Week

“Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.”

John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed “the Wizard of Westwood“, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head coach for the UCLA Bruins, including a record seven in a row. No other team has won more than four in a row in Division I college men’s or women’s basketball. Within this period, his teams won an NCAA men’s basketball record 88 consecutive games. Wooden won the prestigious Henry Iba Award as national coach of the year a record seven times and won the Associated Press award five times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wooden