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The happiness in retirement podcast is a holistic financial planning show that teaches you how to maximize your wealth and your happiness, and its for anyone who wants to squeeze all the juice out of their life - and their money.
SPEAKER_00:
Welcome to the Happiness in Retirement podcast, where we help you turn your retirement dreams into reality. Each week, we'll dive into smart financial strategies, lifestyle tips, and expert insights to help you build a fulfilling and secure retirement. Whether you're planning ahead or already enjoying retirement, this is your go-to place for inspiration and practical advice. So sit back, relax, and let's make your golden years the best years.
SPEAKER_01:
Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Why am I quoting a poem from Dylan Thomas? Well, I just found out that at the ripe old age of 94, Warren Buffett, legendary investor, greatest investor of all time, probably so. has decided to hang up his hat and retire at the end of the year. And he certainly isn't going gentle into that good night, is he? It got me thinking about retirement and the people across the spectrum. Why do people retire? Why do people continue to work? That's what we're going to talk about today in the Happiness and Retirement Program podcast. I'm your host, Bill Del Sette, creator of the podcast. the Happiness from Retirement program as well. I've been on a bit of a hiatus, a lot of volatility in the markets, a lot of things going on that have to take precedent. As much as I love this podcast, sometimes it's hard just to find the time to do it. I'm back though. I'm back and hopefully going to be recording this podcast every single week again. I hope you're enjoying it. So hope you're happy I'm back. Anyway, let's dig right in, shall we? So Warren Buffett retiring at the end of this year, age of 94, very long career, amazing career, amazing guy, just a incredible investor. But it got me thinking about this concept of retirement as I was laying in bed this morning, recording this on a Sunday and reading. And I'm like, gee, you know, and I think over my 30 year or so career as a retirement planner and why people retire and every single client that I work with. I have a pretty good idea of why they retire, what the reasoning is, but there's a lot of research now about retirement, why people retire, and a lot of people choose not to retire at any particular age. Maybe it's helpful if we go back and we look at the history of retirement. Obviously, there was a point in time where this idea of retirement was a foreign concept back in agrarian societies and Nice and shining armor right now if you were a peasant you just had to work you have a choice and it was this idea of retirement not working was crazy however your life span might have been forty years old so you would just die a very young age and you would work up until that time then i don't find this mark. actually came up with this idea of retirement and he decided that he would give anyone that made it to the age of 70 a pension, but they had to stop work. They had to stop work. Now, why did he do that? Well, older people were slowing down the factory lines. It was an idea to get them off the factory lines and give younger people employment and speed those factory lines up. It's just the reality of it. There was no age discrimination back then, but it worked. Of course, people died very young, so the chance of you making it to age seventy with slenderman and even if you made it to seventy you know what what were the chances you're gonna collect on that pension for very long you know it made sense and then i'm franklin delano roosevelt. Actually came up the american social security system during the great depression. and this safety net for retirees. And for a while, people had pensions. They could collect their social security and you could call it quits, collect that pension and collect social security. It was kind of like a rite of passage. A lot of people, again, in the industrial America, they didn't necessarily like their job. So hey, why not retire? Again, though, they would collect social security for a relatively small amount of time. They had their pension and then they die. Right? So people didn't live that long. They didn't live that long. So it just was not a big deal, the social security system to keep that funded. And it worked. So here we are today, what has happened? People are responsible for their financial lives quite a bit more. There is no blue chip company taking care of you anymore. The blue chip companies are no longer taking care of their employees in the form of a pension most of the time. And so people have to save more they have to do it their own gone are the days of working for the same company for twenty or thirty or even forty years and collecting attention people are much more mobile people come and go people stick around that long observationally. any one particular job and they are responsible for their retirement. Okay, so people are actually retiring later now. Age 62 is the average age of retirement. Not that long ago was I believe 57 or 58 years old, but now it's age 62, which by the way, if you retire at 62, that's three years shy of Medicare age. So you've got to to cover your health insurance somehow. Anyway, having said that, age 62 is the average age of retirement now. Now, why do people retire early? Interesting. Did a survey and they found that 56% of retirees said they retired sooner than they had planned. 7% retired later than expected. and only 37% retired on their own schedule. So does that mean that planning is for naught and setting an age? Absolutely not. But what's up with the 56% of people who retired sooner than they expected? Well, nearly half of the people blame their health. That's right, physical limitations, illness, disability. All those things we plan for here at Del Ceti, when we do the asset protection planning, no surprise, a big part of what we do, and a lot of folks blame their jobs. They were laid off, downsized, lured into early retirement, or they were just simply no longer happy at work. Burnout, stressed out. In the healthcare field, my experience has been a lot of people in the health profession are getting burnout and retiring. So generally speaking, again, 37% of people retire on their own schedule, many people because of health reasons, many people because of job reasons. So there's a gentleman, the guy's name is Mo Wang, University of Florida, known for his research on retirement and older worker employment. According to his research, now this is really interesting. Hirees who retire from stressful jobs and very physically demanding jobs, retirement is a great thing. This podcast is named the Happiness and Retirement Program Podcast, our planning process, the happiness retirement process. How many people though, very interesting question, when they retire, actually experience really good happiness and well-being improvement? Only 5% of workers, only 5% actually go into retirement and just like, man, this is great. They actually experience improvement. For about 20 to 25% of workers, according to Wang's research, and I definitely, I see this all the time as a retirement planner, For those folks, when they retire, they experience a well-being decrease. Why? You stop working and a well-being decrease? Well, it's usually because they retire from a job that they enjoy, that has meaning. It's maybe in a learned profession. maybe it has a higher status, okay? So they actually can have a well-being decrease. If you lose the very thing that gives you meaning in your life, then obviously then your well-being can suffer. And there are some other effects here that can make retirement very difficult for some people. Work-related identity very important for a lot of people. And for a lot of folks, and I can attest to this myself, work is actually synonymous with self-identity. And absolutely for me, there isn't anything else I'd rather do most of the time except this job because I love it so much. So if I were to stop working tomorrow, man, I would be lost. I mean, the thought of that just scares me. Maybe that's why I have a plan to work a lot longer. Anyway, having said that, there are some other issues to consider. What about marriage? People that are married and they retire, and all of a sudden they're spending all of their time with their spouse. If that relationship wasn't a good one to begin with, it's only going to exacerbate problems. There is something called the gray divorce. More and more older people are divorcing around retirement age. It's a trend. And maybe that's part of it. You know, you go from working a 40 or a 50 hour week for 30 or 40 years to waking up and spending all of your time with your spouse with whom you don't necessarily have a great relationship. Well, that could cause some stress. I have seen that in my practice, but generally speaking, what ends up happening, yeah, I mean, divorce does happen, but also people end up working on their own hobbies and they have their own schedules. So maybe they're only together four or five hours a day, you know, and that's it because they're off doing their own thing. I think that's healthy anyway, but there again, you know, many people Many retirees and they spend all of their time together. Lucky you folks. So the great divorce, maybe people, that's another reason when they retire, it's bad. Senior entrepreneurship is way up. So many people are actually looking at a second act. You know, we talk in prior podcasts of healthspan and lifespan and your healthspan is the healthy years in your lifespan. And if you're healthy at 70 or 75 years old, and you want to start a career, a new career, or have a second act, why not start a business? Many, many people are doing that. And by the way, they have the skill sets and the knowledge and the experience, the life experience to do that. Interesting. If you Google seniors and entrepreneurship, you'll find many seniors succeeding at starting and running businesses in their financially independent years. People are living longer. Better life expectancy, by the way, much greater life expectancy, and that can contribute to your idea of whether or not you want to retire. All very, very interesting. And so There's a lot of research now also on the skill sets that older people have. Guy by the name of Stephen Cutler, K-O-T-L-E-R, Google him, wrote a book called Gnar Country, G-A-N-A-R, about in his face he decided to take up park skiing, which is a young person's game for sure. People laughed at him. He did it, he did it. Now that wasn't what the book was really about. The book was really about peak performance aging. fascinating stuff. Ellen Langer, Ellen Langer researcher, has done a major study on this and ongoing work about the connection between aging mindset and how you actually age. And according to her research, I would Google it, take a look. Fascinating. She has found That mindset is a very, very strong predictor of aging, how you age. If you have a mindset that, oh, you know, I'm just really not that useful anymore. I'm getting old and I can't do this anymore. I'm getting old and I can't exercise or I can't, you know, whatever it may be, very, very bad. And societally speaking, that is a across societies, most societies view aging negatively, and that's very bad. If you view aging according to Ellen Langer positively, and you view it as if, hey, I'm not old, right? Yeah, you know, I'm not old. I'm still exercising. I'm still contributing. I'm doing all these things. I don't have that mindset of that I'm aging, then you can literally reverse aging. You can live longer and you can be healthier. Strong, strong correlation between that aging mindset and how you age. Interestingly enough, a strong social life also. Very, very, very big predictor of your life expectancy. Quality of life, strong social life. And that again is one reason why many people choose to continue to work. They find meaning and it's part of their social life. Again, I can attest to that. My work can be stressful. Whose can? But there's a strong social aspect to it. Very, very strong. You know, I form bonds with people that I've known for 30 years. Boy, why would I ever give that up? Not to mention, the meaning in the work, which by the way, is why we are big, big advocates of life planning at any age. You've got to be introspective and frequently you've got to be asking yourself, is this providing meaning in my life? What is providing me meaning? What is a goal I can shoot for at any age? Really, really important to have those goals because they're going to help you to live longer. They're going to help you to find Meaning another guy by the name of Dan Sullivan. He runs a company called strategic coach. For those of you entrepreneurs out there, you've probably heard of him. I highly recommend you go through his program, strategic coach program. Amazing. He's coached over 20,000 entrepreneurs. Um, and he, by the way, is well into his eighties and man, the guy is just all about goals, but he wrote a book called my plan to live to 156. Now, before you laugh too much, he really believes this. Let's get back to mindset and Ellen Langer's study. He truly believes and he lives into that future that he's going to live that long. And his point is, it's all made up anyway. So why not make up an age? If you're going to be healthy, if you can be healthy, make up an age and live, live into that age, do the things that will keep you young. And he says, even if I don't live to 156, I'm not going to be around to know the difference. And I've led a really active life because I believe that this mindset of aging, he continues to work. He continues to be a big advocate for folks having a growth mindset at any age. I have gone through Dan Sullivan's exercises. Um, where he has you consider how long you want to live. And for me, it's not quite 156, but I'll take 100. If I worked age 98, wouldn't that be awesome? So that's my mindset that keeps me going and keeps me young. I don't have this idea of whether or not I'm going to be able to get up and down the stairs. Maybe I should, but I don't. It's not just something on my radar in terms of which house I buy or where I live. I climb three flights of stairs multiple times a day. Anyway, you get the idea, this mindset. So when you retire, find something to give you meaning. If you're going to retire, First of all, if you have to retire, you have to retire. If it's a physical issue, there's not much you can do about that. Again, that's why asset protection planning and income planning, income protection planning, very, very important. Things happen. Going back to this study by Transamerica, the people that retire because a physical ailment, a disability, right? So sometimes you can't do a darn thing and you have to retire. Not speaking to that, but for the folks who have a job that they enjoy, if you are financially independent, meaning you can retire, you can stop, working. You have a work-optional lifestyle, then you're working because you want to. And if you're finding meaning and growth, why the heck would you ever stop? Why would you ever stop? And if you do stop, you better have a plan to make up for the value that you're adding to society, to make up for the meaning that you're going to lose outside of work. Start early. Start thinking of hobbies and other things you can be doing. Many people volunteer the second act. Maybe start a business. Why not? It's all made up anyway. Make up an invented life that you love. And again, don't view retirement as being placed out of service. The definition, not at all. It can be a second act. It can be a fun time. It can be meaningful. Continue to work if you want. People are bridging their retirement now. That simply means is they're phasing into retirement. Maybe You know go down to three or four days a week and then down to two at work by the way again getting back to steven kotler who wrote in our country he also did research around the skill sets that older people have and how valuable they are they are the exact skill sets that today's employers need. If you're older i mean it's not like it used to be. Where everyone worked at a factory and this age discrimination many people any business owners will hire an older person any day of the week. They're conscientious they show up they do what they say they're gonna do they have life experience they're knowledgeable older people tend to be generally happier. That's right you know all of these things more creative etc etc etc. fascinating research so continue to work whether you have to or not why not if it's adding meaning to your life keep a positive mindset about aging keep a positive mindset going going back into ellen langer and in one of the studies she performed she literally took people and she brought them back in time and had them stay in a made-up community of homes that were made to look like they were from 25 years ago. Literally, from the furniture to the food to what was playing on the radio, people basically stepped into a time machine and went back in time. Even so far as when they got there, they took the luggage out of the car themselves. There was no one there to help them with it. I know it's of crazy. But what they found as a result of that experiment, after that experiment, spending a couple of weeks, I think it was, um, 20 years back in time, people literally, the markers of aging were reversing. Fascinating. People who saw these people said they looked younger, they felt younger. Amazing, fascinating stuff. Mindset is extremely important to extend your Healthspan and work longer if you want. So, so important. So consider that as well. And you know what? If you're not getting any meaning out of work, put together a life plan. Figure it out. Figure out what you want the second act to be. And it can be as simple as, again, spending time with family. That's a heck of a lot of meaning. Or it could be traveling the world. Who knows what it is for you? So there we have it, a stream of thought podcast today. I hope it made sense to you of the new retirement and how important mindset is for that. Hope you enjoyed this podcast. If so, subscribe, Spotify, Apple, visit us at happinessinretirement.com. Send me an email, Bill at happinessinretirement. We will see you next week. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00:
Del Ceti Capital Management, LLC. Del Ceti is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Del Ceti and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. For additional information, please visit our website at www.happinessinretirement.com. That's it for today's episode of the Happiness in Retirement Program podcast. We hope you found some valuable insights to help you create the retirement you deserve. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who's planning for their future. For more tips and resources, visit happinessinretirement.com or the Del Ceti Capital Management Facebook page. Until next time, here's to a happy, healthy, and financially secure retirement.