Use any phrase with the word “retirement” in it and you’re most likely to get another person thinking more about their number than anything else. This is natural. For what our financial institutions and our media have stressed in communicating about retirement is financial planning to build a nest egg to support the latter third of your life.
While retirement lifestyles are hinted at in stock photos of golf carts and sunsets, until recently, almost nothing substantive has been communicated about living in retirement. So, to think “retirement readiness” or “retirement planning” is to think savings and investments.
Yet, there are other kinds of investments you need to make today to enjoy a satisfying life tomorrow. In writing his book, Get A Life: You Don’t Need A Million to Retire Well, Ralph Warner set out to determine, among other things, what a middle-aged person can do to prepare for retirement. He didn’t ask financial planners; he asked retirees.
What he found is best captured in this quote:
“Popular advice that says you’ll need to save a big pile of money to have a successful retirement is hugely exaggerated and sadly incomplete. Instead, you should focus on the things that will truly make your later years more enjoyable and fulfilling: your health, spiritual life, relationships…and a full plate of interesting things to do.”
Dr. Richard P. Johnson, founder of Retirement Options, suggests that a successful retirement is shaped by satisfaction in six life arenas. These make up what I call your life circle and are: career, family, relationships, self, leisure, and spirituality. Developing and achieving meaningful goals in each area can enhance the quality of your life today while building a strong foundation for your future.
So, yes, financial investments are important, but so are life circle investments. This is really a quality of life issue that relates to people of all ages. Still, if you are at mid-life and not making these important investments, start. Now.
Contact me if you’d like to determine how well you’re investing in your life today to prepare for a better life tomorrow.
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