How many
marvelous things would you like to do, see, experience, become, that you have
postponed until retirement? If you are not yet retired, I bet you have a long,
exciting list. And if you have retired, I wager that the list has gotten even
longer.
As we get
older, we are aware of one great truth. Life starts right now, and it keeps on
coming until it is over. There is no intermission…no time out after which the
future “officially begins.” We owe it to ourselves to be financially ready for
that future as it becomes the present and before it is dissolve, bit-by-bit
into the past.
For me, the
highest prize of longevity is more time to correct mistakes…to say we are sorry…to
love more…and to fulfill more dreams. So if you have an idea, even if a bit
risky, go for it. You’re never too old or too young to be who you want to be.
If we don’t
learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it. When I turned 50, I declared
it “the best time of my life.” I had never been fitter, busier or more
enthusiastic about the future. I found my friends and many of my law clients
equally turned on by their mounting birthdays. But there was a subtle
undercurrent of trouble that was tough to define in that very prosperous time.
It was 1998, and we were still partying like it was 1990!
Although many
middle-aged Boomers, like my friends and me, had the money to fulfill most of
our lifelong dreams, we continued to tread water…to do more of the same, get
more of the same. There was no adequate explanation, yet we weren’t fulfilling
on those dreams.
For example, one friend went looking for her dream house by the Jersey shore and ended up sinking a ton of money into redoing her kitchen instead. An executive client, who had spoken of early retirement for five years refused a terrific golden parachute deal and kept working. My long-time buddy who swore she would start her own business as soon as her son went to college never got around to it.
My 50th
birthday party took place in a fancy restaurant across from Lincoln Center in
New York City. First, we all had cocktails in my new apartment. Afterward, I
treated everyone to a wall-climbing experience in the atrium of the building.
It was a brash statement from all of us—“We’re fifty, we’re headed upward, and
we’re terrific.”
Less than
four years later, the world had turned around. Five people at the party were
out of work. One was struggling with office politics to keep his job. One
couple had divorced, and one close friend had been diagnosed with breast
cancer. With September 11 and the economic downturn, most everyone I knew was seriously
hurting, and many of them were just plain scared. But what struck me the most was how all of them regretted not having
taken advantage of the recent good financial times to realize their dreams.
There were so many, “I should haves,” that I knew it was time to declare what I
know to be true—“It’s NOT the economy, stupid!”
What we do with our lives is not a function of what we have in our
wallets. It is a function of our self-created stop signs and red lights. No matter what your life is like right now, I bet you are making
plans for tomorrow when the “really” good stuff will start. For big dreams,
like traveling around the world or starting a business, tomorrow may mean
sometime after retirement or when an early pension kicks in or when the kids graduate
from high school or college. For other dreams, like pursuing a hobby or
learning to play an instrument, tomorrow may be next summer or when the kids
are in camp or when the slow season starts at work. Or if you are my age, when
the HOA starts a club or your arthritis simmers down.
Longevity offers a massive opportunity. Today, we have a massive opportunity to
create a secure retirement, even if we start from scratch. But we must begin.
And I want you to feel the fulfillment and excitement that aging well brings.
I am concerned with articles
like “Why I Hope to Die at 75,” published in The Atlantic in 2014, which
encourages us to get off the stage of life sooner than later, as we have no
business taking up space after a certain age.
Of even more significant
concern to me is Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2019 book Natural Causes, which
posits an “epidemic of wellness” and suggests that we admit we will die, so why
burden ourselves with treadmills and Mediterranean diets?
These age-haters are
compelling because they are articulate and know how to make a point—aging
stinks, so why save for it, exercise for it or live long enough to experience
it?
Don’t listen to them. We can
live longer and healthier if we are enthusiastic about longer, contributive
years. But living longer and being healthy is not enough to stop the ageism
that sees elders as a burden. If our place in society makes us irrelevant, the
ageists will win! We don’t fight ageism with money. We fight it with Gusto! We
make things happen.
For my younger readers, I hope my generation will
change the view of aging from a time of decline to a time of productive
contribution. The best way to make that happen FAST is to postpone NOTHING!
That’s why I end every episode of my radio show and podcast, Generation Bold, The Fountain of Truth, with these words… “Get out there kids, and make it happen!”
