It’s time to think more broadly about retirement and include ourselves as our most important asset.
A day doesn’t go by that I don’t hear people talk about retiring or their retirement accounts. It’s a national preoccupation. I, for one, don’t want to retire in the traditional sense. (Saving to live in a Del Webb community in Phoenix and play golf all day? Not for me.) The reality is that we are human and and there’s no shortage of things to worry about.
How many years of good health remain to us? What if we should die today? Or if we become ill and confined to bed? Or if the social security trust becomes insolvent? What if the stock market crashes? Global recession? The worries go on and on.
From a planning standpoint, we are taught that we are coming from a lack of—money, health, years left to us. We are encouraged to plan for the worst contingency, with few creative options, by stock piling money into a petulant stock market.
Yet, systems are vulnerable and mostly outside our control despite our best planning.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care or plan for life’s contingencies. Rather, it calls us to recognize and accept we can’t control everything.
Maybe I’m foolish for having not made the pursuit of financial security my sole focus in life and I’ll regret that I cashed in a pension and 403b early on in my career to fund the pursuit of several passions—passions that did not pan out. My brother and I joke how I took on the philosophy of my mother – live on just enough to get by and God will take care of the rest.
Perhaps you’re in a similar situation. You cashed in your future on a passion or two. And now you’re older and wiser and not necessarily richer.
Regardless of how your resources are shaping up for our later years, we do have resources available to us.
You’re an entrepreneur and a survivor. You’re not afraid to take jobs of lesser pay and prestige for an opportunity. Better yet, you’re highly resourceful and create opportunities. You’re always thinking about positioning yourself for the next thing. You’re a hustler and a bit of gambler but not in the traditional sense of the words.
You’re not afraid to do what you have to, to survive. Chances are you probably do better than survive. You are humble, and not afraid to say yes to work gigs – driving Lyft, house-sitting, dog-walking, bagging groceries, or whatever.
Your enthusiasm and spirit have brought you flexibility, versatility and resilience. You know how to re-invent yourself, most people don’t (unless it’s something that is lock-step in sync to their career trajectory mapped out on their LinkedIn profile).
We’ve made choices on following passions. We’ve made sacrifices too. In non-traditional ways we have enriched ourselves and others on our way to being true to ourselves in pursuit of our passions. We’ve listened to our mind, heart and soul and allowed ourselves to be led. We’ve learned things that money can’t buy. Sometimes we have been naïve in our pursuits, but we gained more than we lost.
You’re an artist. By following your passions, you chose to craft your life instead of waiting to do it in retirement. You’ve woven a rich tapestry with an intricate and unique design. And you’ve applied fortitude, courage, sweat, know-how and guts that MBA programs only talk about.
You’ve got resources to get you through, you’ve got YOU and don’t ever forget that!
