Retirement: Time for Truth

Most people say travel and family are
priorities in retirement.(psiloveyou image)

Retirement is a time for confronting basic truths about oneself, and it's not just about money.

Former physical therapist and retirement advisor Chris Mamula reflects on his own experience and compares what happened vs. what he had envisioned. [bold added]

When sharing my thoughts one year after early retirement, I wrote priorities won’t magically change when you retire. After three years, I believe this even more strongly...

We use work as an excuse for everything that we choose not to make a priority in our lives or that we’re afraid to do. With all due respect, I’m calling bullshit on the excuses.

If there’s anything that you think you will do in retirement that you’re not doing now, I’m going to be brutally honest. You probably won’t.

There is a good reason you’re not already doing that thing. It is not a priority in your life. If you want things to change, you need to own that.

If you plan to start exercising, meditating, or eating better when you retire, start now!

If you plan to become a better spouse, parent, child, or friend when you retire, start now!

If you are going to try that hobby, develop that new skill, or learn that foreign language you’ve always wanted to when you retire, start now!

If you want to travel in retirement, start traveling now! (OK, you might want to wait a little bit on that one until it’s safe, but I think you get the point.)

So much of retirement planning is wishful thinking. I was guilty of it, and I commit to being brutally honest about it in my writing so I don’t contribute to spreading that mindset to others. I encourage you to start building your best life today, even if you can’t retire yet.

Three years into full retirement, I thought that I'd be working on my golf game, take 1 or 2 cruises a year, read a book every two weeks, and volunteer more. Except for charity work--which has been drastically cut back in 2020-- I've done very little of the rest.

In other words, don't kid yourself. Having more time rarely means doing stuff you're not doing already.