Welcome to How to Retire on Time, a show that answers your questions about all things retirement, including income, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, and more. This show is an extension of the book How to Retire on Time, which you can grab today on Amazon or by going to www.howtoretireontime.com.
This show is intended for those within 10 years of their target retirement date or for those are are currently retired and are concerned about their ability to stay retired.
Retirement is not healthy for people. And here's what I mean. Okay. Humans are hardwired to work. We need responsibility.
Mike:We need a reason to get out of bed. We need to serve other people. We are hardwired to connect and you don't connect by focusing on yourself. So the financial services space does everyone a disservice by saying, Hey, let's get you retired. And then you go on a permanent vacation because in those situations, there's a high probability that you'll actually speed up your date of death.
Mike:Welcome to How to Retire On Time, a show that answers your retirement questions. We're here to move past the oversimplified advice that you've heard a 100 times. Instead, we get into the nitty gritty because the truth is there's no such thing as a perfect investment, product or strategy. In fact, there's no such thing as a riskless retirement. That's why it's so important to put together a retirement plan that's designed to last longer than you.
Mike:Text your questions to (913) 363-1234, and we'll feature them on the show. Let's jump in.
David:Hey, Mike. I think I can afford to retire, but
Mike:I don't know what I'd do if I did. Any thoughts? Yeah. Retirement is not healthy for people. And here's what I mean.
Mike:Okay. Humans are hardwired to work. We need responsibility. We need a reason to get out of bed. We need to serve other people.
Mike:We are hardwired to connect and you don't connect by focusing on yourself. So the financial services space does everyone a disservice by saying, hey, let's get you retired and then you go on a permanent vacation. Because in those situations, there's a high probability that you'll actually speed up your date of death, that your cognitive, mental, physical abilities decline at a faster rate. We've had several calls where someone, whether their spouse passed or whatever it might be, their identity is on work. It's focused on just work like that is who they are, their ability to produce at it, at some sort of occupation that if they didn't have that, that they wouldn't know what they would do with their time.
Mike:In those situations, they probably should not retire, at least not yet.
David:You
Mike:have to have some people, they go on missions for their church. Some people, they volunteer at the local food bank or community. I've had people take jobs that are more fun jobs, encore careers, as we call them, that they don't need the money, but they're just doing something more fun. Like we had a client years ago, said previous practice, but when I first started out in business, she retired and just became a national park ranger and just traveled the country, enjoying national parks. That was her thing.
Mike:So the reason why I bring this up is it doesn't mean you should just work for the rest of your life. It doesn't mean that you should just retire and figure it out later. It means you should start deliberately figuring out how do you structure a life that gives you happiness, joy, and overall an elevated sense of well-being.
David:And that could mean different things to different people, presumably.
Mike:Yeah. Wealthy people have the same social stresses. They still have relationship issues. In fact, there are many wealthy people that are worse off, that are more miserable than less wealthy people. There was some documentary on Netflix I saw a while ago that was interesting to watch about how, you know, one of the southern places where there was like insane poverty and they were the happiest people because they knew how to connect with others.
Mike:They knew how to serve others. There was a sense of community. There was a sense of purpose. Comfort is almost the enemy in some sense because you need to engage in some sort of critical thought. You want some stress in your life.
Mike:You want some responsibility. The trick is. Can you structure your relationship with your spouse if you're married, a relationship with your kids, a kind of rules of engagement of what those even look like, and then have other social groups and so on so that you build a system in retirement that gives you the highest quality of life that you've ever had. More fulfillment, more happiness, more joy. That's the step that has to happen next.
Mike:And it doesn't happen. Instead, we're we're telling people as financial professionals, hey, guess what? You can retire today. Do whatever you want. You'll be happy.
Mike:That's kind of like sending people to the Pinocchio Island. Yeah. And then they alternate to donkeys. Yeah. There are some very startling statistics of people that retire.
Mike:I think it's like one third. Don't quote me on this, but it's around one third of retirees become like depressed within the first year of retirement because they have no idea what to do. They've lost their identity because their identity was work. This is a huge problem that is not addressed.
David:Yeah. We've kind of romanticized retirement, haven't we? Like, oh, this is something we're all striving for and we can't wait to get there. Then once we do, it's like, Oh, what do I do now if you don't have a plan?
Mike:Yeah. I saw a recent statistic on our dependency of money and happiness that someone's going get upset with me saying this. I don't care. We own the show.
David:That's
Mike:right. So, we'll say what we want as long as it's true. Yes. Always speak the truth. But no, the statistics said those who are making 50,000 or so or less believe they need to make 150,000 to be happy.
Mike:Well, those who make 100 to 150,000 or so believe they need to make 200 to 300,000 just to be happy. And the problem is we've relied on consumerism or the ability to buy happiness. Now, look, inflation's been a huge issue. The cost of food is a huge issue. It is more difficult to afford the ability to live today.
Mike:I don't want to discount that. My purpose in saying these statistics is buying experiences is not the road to happiness. Understanding how to have a deep connection with your spouse, with your kids, to build a community of friends, to serve other people. That is how you find happiness in life. And instead, we're saying, hey, go on a cruise.
David:Yeah. Right.
Mike:Which cruises are great. Yeah. Love cruises. Go with your family on a cruise. Go golfing every day and you'll be happy.
Mike:It's not true. It is a, what what's, what's a good analogy here? A hollow house, an empty house. I don't know. You get what I'm saying.
Mike:So, you know, in fact, actually, let me, let me throw out something for everyone listening, whether you're on YouTube podcasts, all this is released. We are doing a special one time event with Doctor. Richard Hammer, who's just published the book, Your Encore Years. Now I was a collaborator in this book. So I mentioned in the acknowledgements, but on Thursday, August 28 at 6PM limited seats, we're actually hosting an Encore year workshop.
Mike:It has nothing to do with finance. The entire two hour workshop is going to be focused on how do you go from where you currently are to designing a life that's going to give you hopefully maximum happiness, joy and well-being. How do you become the best version of yourself? How do you truly encapsulate the meaning of life and really actually be happy? I mean, depression, anxiety, it's a huge thing.
Mike:It doesn't have to be that way. He's going to be in our office. He just published his book. He's going to be in our office and we're doing a limited workshop. Only a couple of couples will be able to come in and participate with this.
Mike:It can be about two hours, six p. M. To eight p. M. Or so in our offices here at Corporate Woods, Overland Park, Kansas.
Mike:I mean, if you're listening on YouTube or podcast, you want to fly in. You're welcome to. Yeah. For all those locally here in Kansas City, you're welcome to come as well. We're charging $99 per attendee.
Mike:Dinner is included. Very limited seats. So when you call in, you're automatically on the wait list and then we'll call and have the conversation and see how many people we can get in here. This is a one night event on August 28, Thursday, August 28 at six.
David:August 28?
Mike:August 20. Oh, August 20. That's right. Yeah. End of this month.
David:I think in my mind, was seeing September.
Mike:Yeah. No, August Okay. '20 So I mean, it's right around the corner here.
David:That is.
Mike:That's limited seats, though. If you do want to sit down with with Doctor. Himmer, somebody who specializes in helping people, I mean, do this. Been doing this for a long time. You'll get a free copy of his book or a complimentary copy of his book.
Mike:Dinner will be provided. We're doing barbecue. It'll be here in the office. It may be one of the most effective workshops you've ever had when it comes to your general sense of happiness and fulfillment fulfillment in life.
David:That's saying a lot.
Mike:It's, it's quite impactful. It's emotional intelligence. It's how do you have a healthy relationship with your kids? How do you repair relationships with your kids? We're talking about how do you build a structure that you're going be able to be happy, connect with your spouse?
Mike:I mean, it's it it is a psychological deep dive into everything nonfinancial that you need to know about retirement so that you can retire and actually be happy. Recording. That's all the time we've got for today's show. If you enjoyed the show, consider telling a friend, leaving a rating, and most importantly, that you are subscribed to it so that you don't miss a thing. For more resources, including a copy of my book, on demand courses, and so much more, just go to www.retireontime.com.
Mike:If you want help putting your retirement plan together, go to retireontime.com and click the button that says get started. But seriously, from all of us here at Kedrick Wealth, we wanna thank you for spending your time, your most precious asset with us today. We'll see you in the next episode.