9 Things to STOP DOING After 55 To Enjoy Life More

we've helped hundreds of people in their 50s and 60s retire over the past 15 years and one of the surprising things about the the most successful and the happiest retirees we know they're not the most happy because of the things that they've added to their lives it's actually because of the things that they stopped doing so I want to go over the the nine things that they stopped doing that actually increased their retirement success and it's increased their overall life satisfaction and quick warning here I might get a lot of negative comments for the eighth thing that I mentioned but it's that's part of sharing things publicly and I think that it's important and worth sharing so I'm going to do it and by the way if I haven't met you yet I'm Dave Zer co-owner of a retirement planning fir firm called streamline Financial in Illinois and we help people around the country when they're getting close to retirement and they're focused on tax planning income planning and investment planning so let's get into the first thing that the happiest retirees stopped doing and that first thing is they stopped taking their time for granted I don't know if you've ever seen this before got this from Bill Perkins but this becomes more and more real the older that we get we know that everyone's health is declining with age which is a normal part of life but wealth on the other hand typically tends to grow as we get older and we build up our Nest Egg but if you wait too long that declining Health that can actually put constraints on the enjoyment of our wealth as more physical activities become harder to do and everyone has different goals and many of us want to enjoy the fruits of our labor now and the other thing that motivates people that's related to this is this image I don't know if you've ever seen this one before either but this is your life in weeks so we can see over here your age starting at zero and each one of these lines going across is one year so 52 weeks and if you're 65 66 in your 60s it becomes quite apparent how many weeks we've got left so this is here just to recognize help us recognize the Limited time we've got left and we can make the most of it that way we want to treat each week as precious and just ensure we're using time wisely and meaningfully now if if work is that place that brings joy and it brings purpose and meaning to your life then keep going by all means there's I'm not saying retire if there's something you're doing that you're loving but if the stress and the negative of work is starting to really outweigh the the positives of work maybe it's start you know time to start thinking about or getting serious to what's next which is it's a good segue into the next one which is some of the happiest most successful retirees they stop saving unnecessarily we've met dozens of people who have enough and they're not going to run out of money but they keep working and it's not just for the reasons of Joy fulfillment and purpose of work but every six months they say you know I'm just going to work another six months or I'm going to do one more year and the main reason is not because of the meaning it's because of the they're thinking they're adding added security to their retirement plan but here's the secret when you get to this point and maybe you've been there already the amount that you have will never feel like enough now it takes a either a real big event at work or just a realization at work to know that you have enough or some internal reflection but it's true adding more can actually feel like you're adding security to your life or maybe it is uh a thought of adding an increased lifestyle in the future and you're working more and saving more but the trick here is to add to your plan and do an income plan and then what if you do work an extra year how is that going to impact the long-term outcome you know did it go go from a 98% success rate to a 99% success rate well is that really worth the extra year of life that limited time that we have is that worth it you've spent a lifetime saving if you've got a solid financial plan think about enjoying the fruits of your labor today because we don't know how much time or how many weeks we have left and this actually leads into the third point which is the most successful retirees that we've seen stopped compromising their health spoke with a couple just recently through a a video call and he said I think I'm I'm getting ready to retire and I said that's great exciting tell me tell me more he said it's just it's stressful it's getting more stressful now too and and he detailed some of the reasons behind what what he was feeling and then I asked his wife and I said Sarah what do you think about it and then she said Jim can I be honest and he says yeah then she says Dave this job is is hurting him the stress is horrible he comes home late he's always thinking about work he has no time to exercise he his sleep is getting impacted it's visible uh by him and me and Jim the whole time was in agreement of this and and this is the conversation you know we kept talking about things and this was one of the motivations to think about what's next for Jim and what he knew he wanted to do was prioritize health and well-being over other obligations you know he wanted to focus on sleep nutrition and exercise and those foundational things we need and it was time to stop investing time in the added income or the savings and then start investing time and resources in maintaining both physical and mental health now before we get into the next one if you'd be so kind can you let me know how you're thinking how how is this so far is it helpful I'd also love to hear from you in the the comments have you ever had this conflict in your mind of of work and health I'd be interested to hear what you've done about it or or just you know was your desire to work one more year there where you kept pushing off retirement did you keep working or did you stop a lot of times people say the comments are super helpful to see what other people are going through who maybe are a few years ahead of them but let's get into the next thing and that is the the successful retirees they stop worrying so much there's so many worries that are really being spoonfed or fed down our our throats every turn whenever we turn on the news or the newspaper and that can cause unnecessary fear in our life and it can actually impact our financial life as well and it's it's a lot of times it's not even a a real fear and let me see if I could pull this one up I've heard that fear is the caution over a real and present danger but a lot of times it's anxiety which is worry over an imagined thing of future danger that hasn't even happened which reminds me of that Mark Twain quote I've had a lot of worries in my life most of which have never happened and there is an antidote to worry and it's not just to not worry it's really just the realization that we there's things in life that we can't control right we can't control the markets or inflation or interest rates or what's happening in the world or the elections but we can control things that are somewhat related like your portfolio allocation tax expenses spending behavior and how much news you are watching it's amazing to see the visible difference between lightening up on news consumption and happiness directly correlated so the famous verse is don't worry about tomorrow tomorrow will worry about itself each day has enough trouble of its own worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's trouble it just steals today's peace the next thing is they stop spending time with people who don't uplift them themselves you know people anybody make you feel worse when when spending time with them or people who might transfer their negativity to you do you have anyone like that in your life you know sometimes it might be a family member which is always difficult and you know you might be one of the only people in their their life this actually has happened uh just recently a real life example a client couple was talking they were in the office and we're talking through some things and they've got somebody in their life that is a family member who doesn't have anybody else that they love but the negativity is just so so much and and a lot of times a positive positive person and a negative person meet and the negativity can just take over and zaps all the energy from the positive person so every time they get into their house or visit this person they just get mentally prepared and and they see themselves as as a light right and this negativity as a Darkness the light can drive out the negativity that's how they view it to pump themselves up but there's other Solutions too right you can you can have a candid conversation with that person about how the subjects they talk about uh drain you and just how it impacts you and and just be honest because you can you can uh you can share it makes you feel worse about yourself or about life in general or whatever it might be and just how difficult it can be when they talk about these these things the other thing you can do if it doesn't ever change and people do this it's again harder with family but you can just you know be upfront and then maybe start to distance yourselves hard to do with family but being honest and open about it I think is is a way to go if this is something happening to you now the next thing successful retirees stop doing is they stop spending money on things that aren't aligned with their values if you haven't done the values exercise yet then think about taking 10 minutes I I'll I'll put another Link in the video in this video at the end of minute number two of the four uncomfortable retirement truths so that'll pop up and it's just a few minute exercise that will walk you through and you'll see that coming up after this video but a short action step now is just reflect on your spending over the last month or or year to date think about investing in experiences and relationships that bring genuine Joy rather than just material possessions that might bring just limited time happiness next is the one that could get a lot of push back and that is the happiest retirees stop over supporting their adult children which is often it creates dependence among among the kids right this is this is so hard because our kids it feels like it's our our responsibility and we're the reason that they're struggling but I think that we can agree that you've got less time than them right it's important to make sure that your retirement is is shorted up insecure before extending financial support to adult children you know they've got more time and they have the ability most likely in other means to improve their finances where you you're towards the end and starting to use those finances to support you for the rest of your life so that's a hard one but that's a big one we see uh the next one it's it's related to really the biggest regret that uh that people have said on their deathbed and that comes from the bronny wear book on the five big regrets and the the big regret is I wish I had the courage to be true to myself and not the life that others expected from me so what the happiest retirees do they stop pretending to be someone one that they're not right be authentic be your true self Embrace who you are stop trying to conform to the people around you or others expectations and it reminds me of that one quote when you're 20 you care about what everybody thinks when you're 40 you stop you start caring less of what everybody thinks and then when you're 60 you realize no one even cared or was thinking about you in the first place and the next thing is stop living with regret so let go of those past regrets and and living uh start living in the present and living in the future too because your future is bigger and better than your past here's the proof If You're 60 if you're 70 you've got some things to look forward to look at this chart of peak satisfaction for people and ages here's a normal retirement date of 65 and it's interesting all the way into 70s and things stay pretty pretty good towards this period of Life we've seen this is the area of most contentment in life out of the their entire life so forgive yourself for past mistakes and just make the most of the time you have now and for more practical tips look at minute two of this video that's on the screen and that's the values exercise then I'll see you in the next one take care

Channel: Streamline Financial

Views: 129,633

Keywords: retirement calculator, retirement planning, retirement income, retirement investing in your 50s, financial planning, how to retire, 4% rule, retirement, roth ira, investing, 3 buckets strategy, how to withdraw money in retirement, how much to save for retirement, financial advice, social security retirement, how much do i need to retire, retirement withdrawal strategy, retirement planning at 60, retirement planning at 50, Chicago financial planner, naperville financial planner

Id: Zhm-2Ju60Mg

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 23 2024