An older couple is sitting at their kitchen table reviewing financial documents.<\/p>\n
getty<\/p>\n
Like most people, you\u2019re probably thinking about retirement entirely wrong. It\u2019s critical for you to rethink both your future – and your life today. What do you really want? Does what you\u2019re doing now really make sense? Should you be rethinking how you spend your time – your energy – your work-life balance – and your money? There is an entirely new way you should think about retirement \u2014 starting right now.<\/p>\n
How You should Retire The Concept of Retirement<\/p>\n
Derek Coburn on the Time Machine Effect<\/p>\n
Barry Morgenstein<\/p>\n
In Derek Coburn<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s new book \u201cLet\u2019s Retire Retirement – How to Enjoy Life to the Fullest – Now and Later<\/strong><\/a>\u201d <\/strong>which will be published in June, he makes the key point: Stop overly focusing on the future. Instead, focus more time and money on the people and things that are important now. He explains that most entrepreneurs make too many unnecessary short-term sacrifices for their business. They postpone living until “retirement.” Entrepreneurs have their own version: “after we exit,” or \u201donce we close this round,” or “when I hire my replacement.”<\/p>\n Derek says these arbitrary milestones become permission slips to put off what may matter most today. He shows that even though entrepreneurs intuitively know they\u2019ll likely never stop working (or will work much longer than average), they don\u2019t give their future earning potential enough weight when making short-term decisions about their health and relationships. What good is it to be old and rich if you have no family or friends or your health?<\/p>\n Why You Should Die With Zero<\/p>\n Bill Perkins on Die With Zero<\/p>\n Neil Stoddart<\/p>\n \u201cRetire Retirement\u201d meshes well with a much talked about book that had a profound impact on me: \u201c<\/strong>Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and your Life – A Commonsense Guide to Living Rich Instead of Dying Rich<\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/strong> by Bill Perkins<\/strong><\/a>. He makes a similar point, that people put off spending money – or helping their kids financially when they need it – or taking vacations – or doing meaningful philanthropy – because they want to leave money to people that matter to them when they die.<\/p>\n Bill Perkins explains how misguided this is. Assuming you will die in your 80\u2019s — your kids will be in their 60\u2019s. And your kids don\u2019t need money then like they need money when they\u2019re in their 20\u2019s and 30\u2019s — when they\u2019re trying to buy their first house, when they\u2019re trying to pay tuition at their kids\u2019 school. Why deny them — and yourself — the opportunity to help them when they need it? And for both them and you to be able to enjoy having them use your gift?<\/p>\n \u201cDie With Zero\u201d also talks about the mistake people make by waiting until they die to make philanthropic gifts. It shows that giving money throughout your life provides a much more meaningful impact for many years on both the giver and the recipients. It\u2019s basically the same point that Derek Coburn is making about not putting off life until you retire: Don\u2019t wait your entire life to be generous, to give gifts to your family, to spend money on vacations, to spend time with your loved ones, to give to charities, to help others, to do meaningful things. Waiting until you die — or until you retire — misses the opportunity to create positive change throughout your life. Live life to the fullest. Now.<\/p>\n Does Retirement Mean An Ending Or A New Beginning?<\/p>\n Roger Federer After Delivering the Dartmouth Commencement Address June 2024<\/p>\n Anne Witkowsky<\/p>\n Tennis legend Roger Federer<\/strong><\/a> made a similar point about retirement in his commencement address<\/strong><\/a> to the Dartmouth graduates last year. He said, \u201cI know the word is \u2018retire.\u2019 \u2018Roger Federer retired from tennis.\u2019 Retired, the word is awful. You wouldn\u2019t say you retired from college, right? It sounds terrible. Like you, I finished one big thing, and I\u2019m moving on to the next. Like you, I\u2019m figuring out what that is.\u201d<\/p>\n He goes on to explain that today retirement means an ending, where it should mean that you\u2019re beginning a new chapter, you\u2019re starting something different. He says, \u201cFrom one graduate to another, I can\u2019t wait to see what you all do next. Whatever game you choose, give it your best. Go for your shots, play free, try everything, and most of all, be kind to one another, and have fun out there.\u201d Which is another way of saying live life to the fullest now.<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s not so important to save that money, to miss family meals, to work through what should have been your vacation, to keep putting off prioritizing your health and fitness. As Derek Coburn says, \u201cThis isn\u2019t about making you feel bad. It\u2019s about awakening you to the wealth already surrounding you \u2014 moments that no amount of money could buy back once they\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n These three thought leaders are all making the same point, although each with a different emphasis. Of course you have to make plans for tomorrow. But that shouldn\u2019t be all consuming. You don\u2019t want to put off life for a far away goal. You want to live each day to the fullest. Don\u2019t wait until you retire. Live your life today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An older couple is sitting at their kitchen table reviewing financial documents. getty Like most people, you\u2019re probably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,25213,2499,2250,16,15,3174],"class_list":{"0":"post-45746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-never-retire","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-retirement","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-work-life-balance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114391211041839447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}