What does preparing for retirement have to do with living a rich life?

In my work as a financial advisor I have had the opportunity to speak with thousands of people about topics such as retirement and life goals. I began to notice that those whose total focus was just to withdraw I often ended up living a life with no direction and no purpose.

I find this to be a sad situation, because these are people who thought they knew what they wanted. When retirement finally came, they realized that it wasn’t what they wanted after all.

I started to wonder what they did I really want in life, and why hadn’t they found out?

Am I saying that all concepts of retirement are inherently wrong? No problem. The danger I see is when people make retirement (the end of a working life) the main focal point of life. Statistics show that the mortality rate of early retirees is much higher than that of those who continue with a job or career. Were there so many retirees with terminal illnesses? or did Retirement simply cause them to slow down and stop living an active and productive life? And in doing so, they stop living total?

If retirement plans include only finance at the expense of living a full life, the results will always be less than the best for that individual

One of my clients, whom I will call Karla, always loved to paint. Her day job is at Corporate America, but you only have to talk to her for a moment to know that her heart is in her artwork. A few years ago she realized that she was wasting precious time thinking that she had to wait until she retired to be able to enjoy her art. She set up a studio in her basement and began devoting more and more hours to what she loved to do. She even sold a few pieces of her work, which served to confirm the direction she was taking. As Karla approaches retirement, she knows she’ll have more time to paint, but she’s so thankful she didn’t put off starting. She gets to fulfill her purpose in the NOW of her life.

This example shows one way to put retirement in perspective. Another approach is to forgo retirement altogether. I have known people who have discovered their life purpose; their lives are full of joy, peace and satisfaction. Their lives are so active and full that they have no plans to “retire.” In fact, they wouldn’t even think of it.

How does the whole concept of retirement fit into your life? Looking at retirement for retirement’s sake? Is it just a change of course? Or is the idea non-existent for you?

Don’t wait until it’s too late to put retirement into perspective in your life. Only then will you truly live the rich life.