Almost every ad you see or article you read treats retirement like it’s a date on the calendar. What’s your “number?” When do you want to retire? At what age can you start collecting Social Security? It’s worth remembering that retirement is not a date, but a phase of life. It’s a path you walk down, not a door you walk through. Stop planning for a day and start planning for a decade. Or two. Or three.
Greetings from the bottom of a cold, dark lake somewhere in Nebraska. What ridiculous set of circumstances brought me here, you ask? As you may remember, this month’s learning challenge was supposed to be learning how to make croissants with my wife. I had to call an audible, however, and shift to SCUBA diving so that some friends and I could make sure to have the certification process finished for an upcoming trip. Thankfully, my wife was a good sport and agreed to postpone the croissants as long as I promised not to drown.
For those not familiar with our 30-Day Challenges, here’s a quick review. In order to stay disciplined and intentional about learning new things, I do periodic “30-Day Challenges” where I will learn about something that interests me and then write about it here at the blog. Hopefully some of you will be inspired to follow along at home each month and we’ll be able to add something fun and interesting to our “life skills resume.”
For those keeping track at home, here’s our list so far:
Why do this? One of the central messages here at Intentional Retirement is to pursue knowledge and experiences that enrich your life. I’m a big believer in the importance of learning and doing new things. It keeps your mind sharp and engaged. It helps you figure out what you like. It gives you new people to interact with and results in a sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction. With that said, here’s the skinny on SCUBA.
SCUBA Certification: The process
Getting SCUBA certified involved a combination of classroom work, pool work and open water dives. Somewhat surprisingly (for a landlocked state), Nebraska has one of the nicest dive shops in the country. The classroom work was really interesting, covering things like equipment, skills, the science of how your body reacts underwater, tides, waves and marine life. The pool work allowed you to practice what you learned in the classroom each night and the open water dives (four dives over two days) allowed you take everything you learned and practice it on actual dives. As mentioned earlier, the open water dives weren’t in the most beautiful lake, but it was much less expensive to get the certification dives done here than on an actual dive trip.
What I learned (or was reminded of) as part of this particular challenge
Be willing to spend for experiences. Sometimes hobbies are cheap. SCUBA is not one of those hobbies. The certification is pricey. The equipment is pricey. Traveling to worthwhile dive locations can be pricey. Sometimes the best things in life are free. Sometimes they cost an arm and a leg. Don’t be afraid to spend on experiences. For more of my thoughts in this area, read:
Be willing to take risks. We all know to avoid the business end of a shark, but there are plenty of less obvious ways to get hurt diving. For example, did you know that holding your breath while ascending from a dive can cause your lungs to explode? Or that the deadliest creature in the ocean is a Jellyfish called a Sea Wasp? Each class was a reminder that diving (and life) is full of risks. But doing nothing is full of risks as well—the risk that you will lead a boring, unfulfilling life. So don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and take a chance on things.
Look for complementary hobbies and skills. When we were learning about different dive locations our instructor Pat mentioned Belize, Bonaire and the Great Barrier Reef. Thanks to last month’s geography challenge, I knew where all of those places were! Pat is also a very skilled underwater photographer. Since photography is one of my other hobbies, we spent time looking at his photos and he gave me information on an underwater photography class that he teaches. Those skills/hobbies of geography, photography, diving and travel can all cross pollinate to make richer overall experiences. Look for similar opportunities as you consider the types of things that you want to learn and do.
Look for fresh perspectives. The world is 70 percent covered by water. Since I enjoy breathing, the underwater world was largely off limits to me prior to getting SCUBA certified. Now I can spend time exploring the two-thirds of the planet that was formerly a no-go zone. I’m looking forward to getting a fresh and interesting new perspective.
What’s next?
The croissants are still on deck, but I have a bit of travel in June, so I may not have a pastry update for you until sometime in July. In the meantime, be thinking about things that you’ve always wanted to learn. Hopefully these posts will be inspiration to start a 30-Day Challenge of your own. Better yet, email me about what you’d like to do and we can work on it together.
Have a great week and remember to keep life interesting.
Joe
As some of you may know, I write a column on retirement for the Omaha World Herald. Today’s column was an open letter to the Class of 2012. Since many of you have graduates in your life, I thought I’d pass it on so you could share it with them. Here’s a link:
An Open Letter to the Class of 2012
Also, each month I post a quick summary of the new articles at Intentional Retirement for anyone who may have missed something. May’s articles are below.
Have a great weekend! Don’t ever hesitate to touch base if I can help.
Joe
I had lunch with a client last week who was just diagnosed with Leukemia. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of that lately. Maybe it’s just the stage of life that I’m in. During my 20s it seemed like every other week I got invited to a wedding. Now it seems like every other week I hear of another client, friend or family member who is facing a physical, emotional, or financial challenge that they hadn’t expected when they got out of bed that morning.
This has been a good reminder for me that you don’t always get to choose your path in life. Sometimes our well laid plans and best intentions are derailed by the unexpected.
My wish for you is that you live a long, healthy, happy life, but what if it doesn’t work out that way? Rather than saving the best for last and deferring your dreams to a far off date (i.e. retirement), what are you doing to live a full life right now? My advice to you is to be intentional with each new day. Do meaningful work. Spend quality time with friends and family. Repair broken relationships. Seek out fun and adventure. Learn new things. Visit new places. Take risks.
Yes, you should save, invest and plan. That will allow you to continue to live life to the full for as many days as you’re given. But what a tragedy it would be if all that planning was in vain. As Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “Don’t die with your music still inside you.” Take this one life that you’ve been given and use it to do what brings you joy and purpose. You don’t need to wait until 65 to start. Start today.
Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Joe
I used to think that frugality was only spending money on the very basics in life. Don’t eat out. Don’t drink expensive coffee. Pinch pennies where you can. As I’ve gotten older my position has evolved. Rather than living like Scrooge, I spend extravagantly on things that are important to me and miserly on things that aren’t.
That kind of budgeting meant that my wife and I spent more on travel last year than we did on house payments. I spent more on coffee than I did on car payments (not difficult since we drive older cars and don’t have car payments). We still saved for retirement, ate out once in awhile and added to the wardrobe now and then, but for the most part we chose to allocate our limited resources in very intentional ways. Call it our extravagantly modest lifestyle.
When deciding where to allocate money, it helps to think like an investor. Investors allocate capital and expect a Return on Investment (ROI). For me, travel has a high ROI. I get time with my family and friends. We make memories that will last a lifetime. I get to practice my photography hobby, see new places and experience new things.
Alternatively, the type of car I drive has a low ROI. I drive a Honda Accord that’s a few years old. Trading up to a BMW would give me a small bump in my ROI, but it wouldn’t be worth it to me if it meant giving up the travel. If I could afford both, I’d probably do it, but for now I’m happy to drive a modest car if it means I can get the family on the road four or five times a year.
How about you? Are there line items in your budget that are eating up your paycheck without providing much ROI? Are there things you’d love to do (now or in retirement) that are stuck on the drawing board for wont of capital? Think through your budget and align your spending with your priorities. Be frugal, but don’t be afraid to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave on those things that really matter to you.
Have a great week!
Joe