My wife went to visit her sister a few weeks ago in New York.  While she was gone, my daughter and I felt like doing something fun, so the two of us went to Washington D.C. to see the cherry trees in bloom.  A hundred years ago, either one of those trips would have been costly, dangerous and impractical.  Now for a few hundred dollars and a little planning, you can start your day at home and end it a few thousand miles away.

I sometimes take for granted how crazy that is and it illustrates a gradual change that has been happening for decades: The declining cost of distance.  Technology has utterly transformed the cost, effort, time and risk involved with getting from A to B.  In many cases, you don’t even need to get off your couch.  Here are some examples from just the last few decades.

• Email has replaced physical mail.
• Expensive long-distance calls are a thing of the past.
• Video conferencing options like FaceTime and Skype allow us to see and stay connected with those we love.
• The internet has not only put the world at your fingertips, but allows you to have it delivered in 2 days or less.
• Cars have become safer and more fuel efficient.
• Flights have gotten cheaper and more prevalent.
• Services like Airbnb and Uber make travel easier, more enjoyable and less expensive.

This trend will likely continue and the cost of distance will become more and more negligible (think virtual reality, hyperloop, automation, 3D printing and supersonic air travel).  How should this affect your retirement planning?  Here are a few thoughts:

Live where you want.  As the cost of distance continues to decline, location becomes less important.  When distance is expensive, deciding where to live often involves some serious tradeoffs.  “Should I live by my grandkids in the Midwest or in that laid-back beach town in Southern California?”  When distance is cheap, you can afford to choose “both/and” instead of “either/or.”  It just takes a bit of money, planning and intentionality.

Don’t get stuck in the past.  Take advantage of the new economics of distance to live life and do interesting and fulfilling things both now and in retirement.  That’s pretty self-explanatory.  Don’t get stuck in the old way of thinking and orient your life around a “distance is expensive” fallacy.

Embrace technology.  Look for ways to shrink the cost of distance further.  Be the grandparent who is an expert at FaceTime.  Be the first of your friends to have a virtual reality headset and use it to “visit” famous museums and faraway cities without leaving home.  You might even consider becoming a medical tourist.  Need heart surgery or hip replacement?  India caters to medical tourists needing those types of procedures.  They have some of the best hospitals and physicians in the world and the costs on average are about one-tenth of the cost in the US.

One last thought

Before I sign off for today, I mentioned that my daughter and I saw the cherry blossoms.  Part of that decision was inspired by a poem I like by A.E. Housman.  His sentiments are similar to our philosophy here at Intentional Retirement, so I thought I’d share it.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Stay Intentional,

~Joe