Retirement

My good old running friends, I’m going to make an assumption;  if you have been with me on this journey for the last couple decades, then you are old.

Old as dirt.

Old as the mountains.

Old as the universe.

Therefore, I believe I can shift my teachings to topics that old people are interested in.

This week I give you my thoughts on retirement.

Some people look forward to retirement.  Some people are terribly afraid of it.  Most people just ignore the concept until they find themselves retired and as confused as an old bear woken up in the middle of his hibernation, kicked out of his den into the cold, harsh, winter sun.

But, retirement, like death is going to come for us all.

Personally, over the past few years, I have looked forward to retirement.  I see it as a mythical time of infinite freedom where I can do the things I always wanted to do but didn’t have time.

Yah know?

Like workout and write.  That’s my retirement plan.

Workout and write and podcast.

Workout and write and podcast and read…

…and travel and …well I have a lot of ideas…but my point is…

As you get closer to retirement age, it changes the way you look at the world.  It shifts what you value and what your priorities are.  It shifts the urgencies of life.

It’s not scary, per se, but it is something new.  It’s worth some consideration, some thought, and some words.

How to retire well?  That becomes the question.

It’s funny how most of us in Western society have been sold a version of life.

It goes something like this:

You get born.  You grow up.  You go to school.  You go to college.  You get a job.  You get married.  You have kids.  You work.

And, if you make good choices, and you are reasonably competent – at a certain age you can retire.

That’s the deal.  You do your part Mr. WorkerBee and you will be rewarded with retirement.

Heaven help those who stray from this path.  You will become an outlier and an outcast from society.

I suppose we could debate the value of this version of a ‘normal’ life, and maybe we’ll come back to that, because I think there is much to be discussed there.

Like how outliers and mutations to the set path create some of the most beautiful outcomes.  Or how there can be purpose and beauty in the simplicity of choice.

But that’s not today’s topic.

Today’s topic is that last bit.  “You get to a certain age and retire.”

When?

I’ve found this to be the focus of most pre-retirement conversations; “When can I retire?”

Typically, this is boiled down to a conversation about money.  Somehow when filtered through the weird commerce of our world the question gets changed to “When will I have enough money to retire?”

Which is a reasonable question.  But is not the same as the initial question, “When can I retire?”

I think the “When will I have enough money to retire?” question comes from the financial planning industry.  If you ask a financial planner, of course, they will say you’ll never have enough money to retire, because that’s how they make their money.

If you ask the government they don’t want you to retire either.

It’s in everyone’s best interest for you to keep working hard and contributing right up until the end.

And by the end, I mean the real end, not retirement.

But here’s the real, unvarnished, unpolished, untreated, unambiguous truth.

The truth is, believe it or not, you can retire any time you want.

Nobody is stopping you.  They can’t make you work.

“But I won’t be able to pay my bills!”  OK, but that’s different.

I mean, yeah, depending on your circumstances, you may starve, you may lose your house and your kids may be thrown out of that expensive school, but those are all choices.

Again, you are confusing retirement with earnings.

I bet if you thought about it hard enough you could find a way to live on what you have.

Then there is the government’s definition of retirement.  Of course I can only talk to what the US government rules for retirement are.

In the US we have a system where when you get to retirement age you are given a fixed income based on what your earnings were during your lifetime.  You can start collecting it when you get to 62 years old.  But the longer you wait the more you get.  You get the most at 67 years old.

Why 62 years old?  Because when they created the law no one lived much longer than 62 years old.  It’s insurance logic.  It’s based on statistics.

Again, the government wants you to keep productive until you die.

I won’t beat a dead horse, but when it comes to retirement, make sure you’re asking the right questions.

It’s really not about money.

I would bet most people are avoiding retirement out of fear.  They have no idea what they are going to do if they don’t have that 9-5 job to give them purpose.

In the end, retirement, like life, is about finding purpose.

And that’s hard.

What’s different today is that people are living longer.  You might get another 20-30 years of life after you retire.

So that retirement is more of a second life than a brief spell.

With all that potential free time to fill, you need a plan.  Not a financial plan.

A purpose plan.

Just like life, you don’t need to wait for an epiphany.  You can begin working on a plan.

Because the worst thing you can do when you get to retirement is nothing.  Those are the people who fade away and die.

They invested all of themselves in work.  When the work is gone, they have no purpose.

Sitting on the couch all day eating chips and watching soap operas is just as bad a life choice in retirement as it is in life.

What do you do while you’re waiting for that epiphany?  Go looking for it.

Seriously, get out, get engaged in something and live.

This is the planning part.  Make a list of all the things you have ever wanted to do and start planning.

Do you want to travel?

Are there events you always wanted to do?

Make that list.

What new things have you ever wanted to learn?

Make that list.

What are the things you never had time for?

Make that list.

This is your homework.  Compile that big, long list of potential things to pursue, now, so that you have something to aim for in retirement.

Another thing you will realize when you start making the list is that you need to be physically fit or at least healthy to do many of these things.

You’re not going to live forever.

This is where being an athlete, having a healthy lifestyle, will pay off.  With any luck we get a few more years of ambulatory, drug-free lifestyle than the fast-food coach potatoes.

But the clock is ticking so do those things first.  Hike the trails.  Ride across the country.  Do all those things on your list.

That’s your homework.  Make a list.  Start planning.  Ask the right questions.

Don’t ignore thinking about what your second life is going to be.

Before I move you to the exit there is one more thing.

Friends.

The people who live the longest in retirement have lots of friends.  Lots of social engagement.

You need those connections.

So as you start your planning, as you are making your lists, also think hard about how you will build or join a community that you can be part of.

Open up that old address book and invite some people to dinner.  Go to one of those events that you get invited to.

Open up and let people in.

Build people who you like to spend time with into your life.

Relationships can be taking and difficult, but they will keep you alive.