Retirement Planning and the Big Picture
by
Attorney Ralph Warner
When planning for retirement, money may not be the most important consideration.
Millions of Americans buy the retirement industry's familiar song: Unless you save upwards of a million dollars, you are likely to end your days living on the street eating cat food.
Wrong! Though it makes sense to save a few dollars for a rainy day, there is no evidence that great wealth is needed to enjoy a safe, secure, fulfilling retirement. In fact, the toll on the human body and spirit it takes to amass large sums of money can make your retirement worse, rather than more comfortable.
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At first this contrarian notion may be difficult to swallow. After all, given a choice, most of us would be delighted to have lots more money. But you may be more willing to rethink the conventional wisdom (that richer is always better) if you think about the older people you know. I bet you can name several wealthy people whom you would classify as miserable old farts. And I'll also wager that at least a few of the people of retirement age whom you admire most have very modest savings.
Consider the Toll of Working Too Hard
The problem with saving big bucks for retirement is not, of course, that you end up with a fat bank account, but that for most of us it requires working incredibly long hours during what otherwise should be some of life's most enjoyable and creative years.
Too often, the nasty side effect of overinvesting in one's financial life is that other more important concerns are neglected, including spending time with friends and family, taking care of your health and, most important, developing and nurturing authentic personal interests that will save you from being a bored, crotchety TV addict later in life.
Think About Your Priorities
When thinking about how important it is to retire rich, ask yourself this question: When you were in your twenties or thirties, what were your most important concerns? People often come up with a list which involves some or all of the following:
- enjoying one or more close personal relationships
- learning new things (going to school)
- maintaining good family relationships
- being self-sufficient (working)
- spending time with old friends and making new ones
- maintaining good health (getting enough exercise, eating well and so on), and
- devoting time and energy to one or more personal interests (poetry, music, a sport -- you name it).
The point is that although financial issues usually appear somewhere, they don't dominate the list.
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