Retirement - Why it needs to be renamed?
Why wait? Don’t wait until you retire to do some crazy things you wish you did when you were younger…
“I can’t wait until I retire! I will get a chance to do all the things that I have wanted to do, but never had the time to do them”.
How many times have we heard this sentence uttered from peoples mouths?
Too often for my liking.
I think the retirement concept has put too many of us onto a treadmill, that we don’t know how to get off. To me it is crazy. Why are we waiting until retirement before we start doing the things we enjoy? And if we enjoy work, why do we have to stop?
The way I see it, we currently have a two tiered system. From the age of 20 to 65 we are expected to work hard. Sure we take some holidays here and there, but for the most part during these ages there is an expectation that our predominant activity is working. And then a magical switch is flicked and we are no longer working, but are now able to enjoy life. This delineation has us set in a fairly rigid pattern that we don’t seem to escape from. I want to offer up an alternative to this. Please bear with me as I go through this.
Let’s Just Live Life!
Imagine this. You are 20 years old and you write down all the things you want to do in life. You write down your Bucket List. You then go about planning your life so that you can start ticking them off. Imagine the memories created when you run with the bulls in Pamplona at 23. They last a lifetime. As you get older you add things to your Bucket List and tick them off as well. You get to the end of your time and you look back. The things you have done are amazing and your life has been full.
Me! in Pamplona at age 23. Living my best life!
Now imagine at the same time you are doing this, you are working in a job you love, or running your own business that you love. This job or business is funding all those things that are on your bucket list. And because you love what you are doing, you see no need to stop working. You just keep doing what you love doing. At some point in time, you stop working but not because you have reached a pre-determined age. You stop working because you choose to.
Don’t get me wrong, what I am proposing here wont be easy and it will take some work and planning. But if you start the work and planning early then it is easier. Understand and embrace what is important to you. And set the plans in place early to achieve what is important to you. Don’t be put off by others, walk down your own manicured path.
If retirement is all about doing the things in life, then let’s start retirement early. That phrase “If you are doing a job you love, you will never work a day in your life” is so true. Don’t settle for second. And (shameless plug) we at The Bucket List Accountant can help you do this. We will help map out your plans and work towards achieving them.
Lets tackle life together, so that together we can do great things in this life.
David Patterson - Director The Bucket list Accountant
