A major problem I have with how retirement is currently practiced in America is that it doesn’t give you enough time.
If you retire at 65 and stay healthy and active until 75 (a stretch for many), then you’ve got 10 years to do everything you’ve been putting off for the last 40. To be blunt, 10 years is not enough.
How can we deal with that problem? The most obvious solution is to start retirement sooner. We don’t do this, though, because in our minds we’ve coupled retirement activities with age, work status, and assets. If we haven’t saved enough or we’re still working, then our dreams stay on the drawing board.
I’m putting the finishing touches on a free guide (you’ll be the first to see it) that will show you how to re-imagine retirement and jettison the idea that it can only start after the retirement party. The guide will be ready soon, but for now, I thought I’d point you to a few articles from the IR Archives that address this issue.
- How to retire early (i.e. today)
- The problem with delayed gratification
- Don’t wait. Start taking your dreams very seriously.
- Your plan for the New Year in 3 easy steps
We have quite a few new readers since our London Calling article got exposure on the front pages at Yahoo and MarketWatch, so to many of you the above articles will be new. For the rest of you they’re a good reminder.
Spend a few minutes reading them and then ask yourself this question: “What is one thing that I’ve always wanted to do in retirement that I can actually start doing now?” Maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to learn or a trip you’ve always wanted to take. There are four months left in 2012. Set a goal to do that one thing before we ring in the New Year. Then once you’ve done it, set a goal to do something else. Why save the best things in life until the very end?
~Joe