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The Retirement Roundtable III

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Retirement Wisdom · Mar 14, 2022 ·

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In this third installment of The Retirement Roundtable, previous guests Michelle Pannor Silver (author of Retirement and Its Discontents, Ted Kaufman, and Bruce Hiland (co-authors of Retiring? Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money) return to discuss the challenges of retirement – and the work it takes to prepare well to overcome them and create a fulfilling next chapter.

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Bios

Dr. Michelle Pannor Silver

Michelle Pannor Silver is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and author of numerous studies on retirement and aging. Her book, Retirement and Its Discontents, draws from in-depth interviews she conducted with people whose departure from their life’s work meant losing a core and fundamental component of their personal identity. Her work calls attention to ageism and societal loss associated with retirement while highlighting the personal struggles that can be arise when there is a mismatch between one’s idealized retirement and the reality of giving up identity, income, and status. Michelle received her PhD from the University of Chicago in 2010 and did her undergraduate and masters studies at the University of California Berkeley.

Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland – Co-authors of Retiring?: Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money

Ted Kaufman is the former U S Senator from Delaware succeeding Senator Joseph Biden. He was Biden’s Chief of Staff for 19 years and headed up his 2020 Presidential Transition. He retired in 1995 and over the next 22 years taught courses at Duke University in the Law School, Fuqua School of Business, and Sanford School of Public Policy. At eighty-three, he and his wife, Lynne, celebrate their sixty-third anniversary this year.

Bruce Hiland’s entire career – Brown University, Navy officer, Wharton MBA, McKinsey, CAO at Time Inc., 20 years of CEO-level consulting, four startups and considerable community service – focused on the challenges and opportunities people experienced in their work life. With that history, focusing on the challenges of succeeding at retirement came naturally. Now eighty-one, he and Ginny, his wife/partner of fifty-eight years, enjoy their family, deal with aging and are harvesting the fruits of their labor.

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For More on the Guests

Michelle Pannor Silver website

Retirement and Its Discontents: Why We Won’t Stop Working, Even If We Can

Retiring? website Retiring?: Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money

(100% of proceeds are donated to charity)

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson

A Tapas Life – Andy Robin

When Will You Flip the Switch? – Dr. Barbara O’Neill

What Are The Keys To A Successful Retirement? Fritz Gilbert

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Wise Quotes

On the Challenges of Retirement

“There’s these great, airbrushed images that we see of retirees relaxing on the beach enjoying life to the fullest, finally having the free time to sit on a park bench and enjoy cruises, right? These are the very common images we see and the idea that we just have tons of leisure time to spend and do all these exciting things. And I think there’s a real disconnect that people often feel, particularly when and the work that they’ve dedicated their lives to suddenly is not part of their daily routine. And so the sense of reality that my days are no longer structured or are no longer connected to what gave me a sense of worth, whether that was a paycheck or the work that one was doing, or the sense of accomplishment and the sense of acknowledgement for the work that you did, those dissipate. And sometimes it dissipates very quickly, like literally the day that you retire. It can feel like a real loss in terms of personal identity, not just in terms of the structure or the clocking in aspect of it.”

On Changing the Rhythm of Life

“Nowadays people still expect people to retire in their sixties. It’s not the same way as when we were all working with corporations. And I find this next generation, 10, 15, 20 years younger than me, have a different approach. But the approach is that there’s kind of a time for you to retire, but even then you have a 15, 20 year expanse of life. The other point I’d make is that if you wait too long, we believe that one of the most important things to have to deal in retirement is to change in rhythm from work in these 24/ 7 environments and you’re on the go and the rest of it. Now, all of a sudden you gotta pull it down…One of the key things is you’ve got to change the rhythm of your life. And that is very hard. And the problem you got is the longer you wait, the harder it is to do. So you see many people who wait until 65, 70, 75… We look at ’em and say, [they] just waited too long. They can’t change the rhythm of life. They get up every day, [and think] I’m used to doing ten things today and I’m only doing two things today. They get depressed. The next thing you know, they’re gone.”

On the Opportunities Retirement Offers – and Doing the Work to Prepare

“All of a sudden you can make the decisions on how you use your time and what you do with your time. We start the book around getting it right in terms of your body, your mind, your heart, and your soul. I don’t care whether you’re retired or not. Those are areas that are worth attention, but somehow the change in work situation or the change in your time allocation gives you a marker so that you can stop, think and act – and stopping is an important part of it. What Ted and I are saying in the book is you’ve got to do the work. You gotta do the work. It’s not just talking about it. It’s not just sitting there flipping the pages. There are tough questions. You’ve got to work them out.”

“People do not realize how much hard work it’s going to take to get to where they want to be and how much they’re going to have to change. This is why Bruce and I wrote the book. People, for a lot of reasons, do not engage in the hard work to actually transform their life into a whole new area.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

Are you ready to do the work to create a great retirement?

I help people create a multipurpose retirement, with the right mix of interests, activities and pursuits to invest your time wisely.

Schedule a call to see if a 1-on-1 program or a small group Designing Your New Life program can give you an edge in your next chapter.

Don’t fall for quick fix approaches.

Visit retirementwisdom.com for tools and resources to help you retire smarter.

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Intro and Outro voiceovers by Ross Huguet

Retirement Wisdom · Mar 7, 2022 ·

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It’s wise to look back before you go forward. William Damon, one of the world’s leading developmental psychologists, shares insights from an unexpected life review sparked by information on the father he never knew. His new book A Round of Golf with My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace with Your Present illustrates how a life review can shape your future and sense of purpose.

William Damon joins us from California.

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Bio

William Damon is the director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, a professor of education at Stanford University, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Damon’s research explores how people develop integrity and purpose in their work, family, and civic life. Damon’s current work focuses on vocational, civic and entrepreneurial purpose among the young and on purpose in families and schools. He examines how young Americans can be educated to become devoted citizens and successful entrepreneurs. Damon’s work has been used in professional training programs in fields such as journalism, law, and business and in character and civic education programs in grades K–12.

Damon’s recent books include Failing Liberty 101; The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life (2008) and Taking Philanthropy Seriously (2006); Damon’s earlier books include Bringing in a New Era in Character Education (Hoover Press, 2002); Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in Our Homes and Schools (1995); and The Moral Child (1992).

Damon is editor in chief of The Handbook of Child Psychology, fifth and sixth editions (1998 and 2006). He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association.

Damon has received awards and grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Thrive Foundation for Youth, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Before coming to Stanford in 1997, Damon was University Professor and director of the Center on the Study of Human Development at Brown University. From 1973 to 1989, Damon served in several academic and administrative positions at Clark University. In 1988, he was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Puerto Rico, and in 1994–95 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Damon received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his PhD in developmental psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is married and has three children.

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For More on William Damon

A Round of Golf with My Father: The New Psychology of Exploring Your Past to Make Peace with Your Present

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson

The Second Curve of Life – Arthur C. Brooks

The Future You – Brian David Johnson

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

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Wise Quotes

On Purpose versus Meaning

“…purpose is more than meaning. It goes beyond meaning. You have a goal, you have something you’re trying to accomplish. It’s a commitment to do something that makes a difference in the world. And even more than that, there’s a bit of a beyond the self aspect to purpose, almost like a transcendent quality. If I have a purpose in life, it’s something I’m dedicated to that I care about so much, because I think it will leave something to the world at large, the world beyond the self. And so the word meaning signifies all kinds of interesting things that you can do. You go to a movie – that’s meaningful. You can read a poem – that’s meaningful. All those things are great, nothing wrong with them. But purpose goes beyond that. Purpose is an effort and an intention to accomplish something that makes a difference in the world beyond the self.”

On the Accessibility of Purpose

“…a lot of people are put off by the idea of purpose because they think of Achilles bravely going forth into battle. And of course there are heroic purposes, but raising a family, that’s very ordinary. A lot of people raise families and have the purpose of wanting to do right by their children. Every kind of job, the most ordinary, mundane job can be done purposefully. It isn’t always done purposefully, and that of course makes a huge difference. But that’s true of people in high status jobs, as well as low status jobs. They can either be purposeful or not purposeful. And the person that sweeps the streets, if that person is dedicating himself or herself to it, and is really trying to do a good job and understanding how important it is, that person has every bit as much purpose as the President of the United States or anybody else in society.”

On Life Review

“You think about your history of purposes in life and bring that forward to the present.”

On Learning from a Life Review

“Well, first of all, I learned that I, maybe like a lot of people, am prone to the mistake of avoiding difficult emotional conversations with people. And that to me is important, not because my parents are still alive, they’re not, but of course, I have children and grandchildren and friends. And I’ve learned that it’s really important while I’m still alive to have the important conversations with people. And to be honest and let them know everything that is important to them, because I’m not going to be here forever. And a lot of these conversations are not easy. And I also learned that I have the capacity to grow, even late in my life. And I enjoy that. This is kind of a no pain, no gain [thing]. Sometimes working through things that are difficult, you end up on the other side of them feeling really, really good about them and that’s an important learning experience for people to have.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring from their primary career – and aren’t done yet – discover what’s next.

A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste.

Schedule a call today to discuss how we can work together to make yours great.

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Retire smarter. Explore retirementwisdom.com

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Intro and Outro voiceovers by Ross Huguet

Retirement Wisdom · Feb 28, 2022 ·

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What’s the bigger picture context for your retirement? Demographics and scientific advancements in longevity are changing the way we live. Demographic futurist Bradley Schurman, author of The Super Age, joins us to talk about what these megatrends mean for your retirement.

We discuss:

His journey in writing The Super Age book
The two megatrends creating The Super Age– the science of longevity and demographics and how they’re changing the world we live in.
How to “Make Home and Community Gray Again.”
The major upsides of the Super Age.
The biggest challenges that will need be solved by governments – and by individuals.
The cost of doing nothing.
The lessons we can learn from Japan.
How “retirement” will look in the future.
Two different paths for people who want to work longer .
Why the scientific advances aren’t enough.
The challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community with retirement – and how might things evolve in the Super Age.
How the policies, programs and practices of companies will need to evolve to attract, develop, and retain a more age diverse workforce.
The key messages he’d like readers to take away from The Super Age.

Bradley joins us from Washington, D.C.

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Bio

Bradley Schurman is a demographic futurist and opinion maker on all things dealing with the business of longevity. You might know him as the founder of The Super Age – a global collective of change-makers that offers information and professional business consulting services geared to help organizations respond to demographic change, as well as harness the opportunities of an increasingly older and generationally diverse population, or for the groundbreaking AARP Aging Readiness and Competitiveness Report. Bradley is a social connector that has built his reputation by helping leading organizations understand our increasingly older and generational diverse world. He explains how shifting demographics and the collision of the megatrends of decreased birthrates and increased longevity are remaking social and economic norms in the United States and around the world.

Prior to launching The Super Age, Schurman was Co-Founder and Managing Partner of EconomyFour, where he led business development in Asia and Europe. He also served AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) – the world’s largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of older people – where he was Director of Global Partnerships and Engagements. Schurman got his start at LeadingAge (formerly the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging) – the non-profit trade association representing non-profit providers of long-term care, housing, and support services.

Schurman was instrumental in securing the topics of aging and longevity as focus areas at both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and World Economic Forum (WEF). He was also responsible for visioning and executing the Aging Readiness and Competitiveness Report – a groundbreaking collaborative research project between AARP and Foreign Policy Group.

Schurman has been featured on NBC’s TODAY Show and CHEDDER, and has been quoted in the New York Times, HuffingtonPost, and USA Today, as well as in local and national media outlets around the world. He speaks regularly at thought leader forums and corporate retreats, and has advised national leaders and corporate executives on their longevity strategies.

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For More on Bradley Schurman

The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny

The Super Age (company website)

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Second Curve of Life – Arthur C. Brooks

The Age Tech Revolution – Keren Etkin

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

Who Will Take Care of You When You Are Older? – Joy Loverde

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Wise Quotes

On Choosing Your Own Adventure in Retirement

“[Retirement] won’t look like it does today. It’s already changing. People do seem to want to work longer. But retirement is retirement. It just won’t look like your mom and dad’s – or your grandparents. I think it’s very likely that things like a gap year will become more commonplace, where perhaps you exit your legacy career for a year or two and then go back to work at either a part-time or full-time job – or perhaps the gig economy. I think that that’s entirely possible. You know men derive a lot of value from paid work. Women, I think, probably enter retirement better than men. Because they have better attachment to the community and better attachment to friend groups that aren’t necessarily exclusively tied to work. But I think people will go in and out more often. You’ll choose your own adventure.”

On Lifelong Learning and Being Prepared

“…have the right pieces in place to take a step back. Sure, it helps out a lot whether you put money aside for education or you’re just mentally prepared for the shift. I am a strong believer in lifelong education. A lot of companies offer education in-house. Take those classes. Take those courses. They are free. They’re giving them to you. It’s the best way you can keep up on your skills. There are plenty of things you can do obviously within the community. Community colleges, for example, are a great resource that people should be leaning into on a regular basis. But be prepared for disruptions. The lives that our parents and our grandparents led where they were in work for 30 years, or sometimes more, with the same company, that’s gone by the wayside. You have to be prepared. You have to build up your own defenses for what the future may bring.”

On The Future

“…Change is inevitable. And it’s here. And we have two options. We lean into it or we hide from it. The second is hiding from it and that will only cause things to fall apart. Pretending the change does not exist will cause the systems that we really hold near and dear to our heart to collapse. The third is that opportunity exists everywhere in periods of change. And fortune has always favored the brave. It has favored individuals who have said: Okay, this is my reality, this is our reality, or this is the reality that’s coming, and we can adjust to meet the demands of tomorrow. So with those three things in mind, I have a very optimistic view of our future because I think that historically humans, and certainly from an American perspective, when opportunity presents itself, we really lead into it. So I think this could be a very great period for us. It’ll also allow us to embrace some things that we’ve shied away from for a long period of time, including questions of equity and inclusion and if we do lean into it, this could be a golden period for us. So I look on the the bright side for this at the end of the day.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

Planning for retirement goes well beyond your 401k or IRA. How will you invest your time after your full-time working years?

You’ll need another portfolio.

I help people create an active multipurpose retirement, with the right mix of interests, activities and pursuits to invest your time wisely. And for many, like me, it includes a new version of work – redefined on your own terms.

Schedule a call to see if a 1-on-1 program or an upcoming small group Designing Your New Life program can give you an edge in your next chapter.

Visit retirementwisdom.com for tools and resources to help you retire smarter.

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Intro and Outro voiceovers by Ross Huguet

Retirement Wisdom · Feb 21, 2022 ·

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Are you thinking big enough about your retirement? The traditional one-size-fits-all retirement isn’t the right fit for many people today. You can create a version that’s best for you. Dr. Grace Lordan, author of Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want explains how findings from behavioral science can help you do just that, by overcoming cognitive biases and other obstacles. Many of my favorite books for retirement aren’t about retirement, but the principles can give you an edge in thinking big and building your future.

We discuss:

Her idea of ME+ in Think Big
How the concept of Your Future Self can help you think big
Why new can narratives help us
When the “stories we tell ourselves” get in our way
How cognitive biases present obstacles
A cognitive bias many people aren’t aware of – but should be
The dangers of all or nothing thinking
Why identifying and managing your Time Sinkers can be a game changer
How small, positive actions done regularly drive make progress
Why being compassionate toward others matters

Grace Lordan joins us from London.

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Bio

Dr Grace Lordan is the Founding Director of The Inclusion Initiative and an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Grace is an economist and her research is focused on quantifying the benefits of inclusion within and across firms, as well as designing interventions that level the playing field for under-represented talent within firms.

Grace is an expert advisor to the UK government sitting on their skills and productivity board, is a member of the UK government’s BEIS social mobility taskforce and is on the Women in Finance Charter’s advisory board.

Her academic writings have been published in top international journals and she has written for the Financial Times and Harvard Business Review. Grace is a regular speaker and advisor to blue chip finance and technology firms.

Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want, is her first book.

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For More on Grace Lordan

Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want

Website

SMILE in 2022 – London School of Economics Business Review (a 3 minute read on six life lessons from behavioral science you can put to good use this year)

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

How to Begin – Michael Bungay Stanier

The Future You – Brian David Johnson

The Mind-Body Connection and The Rabbit Effect – Kelli Harding

Tiny Habits Can Lead to Big Changes – BJ Fogg

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Wise Quotes

On Visualizing Your Future Self

“In behavioral science one of the things we know for sure is that people who visualize their future self in the present are much more likely to invest in themselves. There’s lots of things that are going on that can distract us from investing in our future selves. So, it’s really bringing the idea of yourself, not just the kind of vision and the lifestyle the person will actually have, but what they will actually be doing on a Monday to Friday [basis] in life is really what gets you there – through imagination. I can’t reiterate enough how well visualization works to bring the future to life. But it also works to bring the future into the present day, which is really when you needed to get motivated to take these small steps that will get you there.”

On Small Steps and a New Narrative

“I think fundamentally the stories that we tell ourselves define our actions. So if you believe that you don’t deserve something, you’re probably never going to get it. If you believe that you don’t belong to be in a particular situation, you’re unlikely to find yourself in that situation. If you believe that you don’t have enough time, which is a common kind of self-destructive narrative, then you’re you’re definitely not going to be able to do the things that you want to do. And part of the book Think Big is exploring the narratives that are holding you back. You can spend a lot of time with CBT and wrestling with yourself in order to try to disrupt those narratives, but I sometimes say: Actually why not get on with it and write a new narrative? So figure out how would you describe the person that you want to be in 5 years time. What are the actions that they’re taking daily? And now you start taking those actions – those really, really small steps. And I think there’s there’s a blurry line somewhere where you become that person, if you repeat those actions over a very long period of time.”

On Cognitive Biases

“One of the kind of biases that people have studied the most is Loss Aversion. This is the idea that if I lose something it causes my happiness to deteriorate much more than it would gain if I if I had gained the same thing on the other side. For me when I think about success, one the most interesting things is this idea of anticipated loss aversion. So there’s really great evidence has shown that the majority of people when they anticipate a negative event coming, they really overestimate the impact of the negative event is going to have on them as a person. So if you can imagine yourself putting out there being nervous about being turned down for a gig. The idea is when you’re imagining that you think it’s going to feel much worse than it actually is. I think the sad fact of that anticipation or anxiety, as it would manifest in some people, is that it does give real physiological reactions. So blood pressure increases, body tension increases, and your head aches. And it often stops people taking action.Had the person actually gone and tried what they wanted to do, had they even failed the negative impact on their happiness will be much less than what they anticipated it to be – because as human beings we’re really, really resilient.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

Planning for retirement goes well beyond your 401k or IRA. How will you invest your time after your full-time working years?

You’ll need another portfolio.

I help people create a multipurpose retirement, with the right mix of interests, activities and pursuits to invest your time wisely. And for many it includes a new version of work in some form– redefined on your own terms.

Schedule a call to see if a 1-on-1 program or a small group Designing Your New Life program can give you an edge in your next chapter.

Visit retirementwisdom.com for tools and resources to help you retire smarter.

________________________________

Intro and Outro voiceovers by Ross Huguet

Retirement Wisdom · Feb 14, 2022 ·

Podcast (retirement-wisdom-podcast-feed): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:31 — 33.4MB)

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How are you approaching the second half of life? There are inevitable declines to deal with. But there are gifts that emerge that, if you’re attuned to them, can create greater meaning, renewed purpose, and happiness as you retire. Arthur Brooks, Harvard Professor and happiness columnist in The Atlantic, joins us to discuss his new book From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. Are you ready for The Second Curve?

Arthur Brooks joins us from Massachusetts.

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Bio

Arthur C. Brooks is the Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. Before joining the Harvard faculty in July of 2019, he served for ten years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of the world’s leading think tanks.

He is also a columnist for The Atlantic, host of the podcast “How to Build a Happy Life with Arthur Brooks,” and subject of the 2019 documentary film “The Pursuit.”Arthur has written 12 books, including the national bestsellers “Love Your Enemies” and “The Conservative Heart.” His most recent book is “From Strength to Strength,” available on February 15, 2022.

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For More on Arthur Brooks

Order From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

Website: arthurbrooks.com

Twitter: @arthurbrooks

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Episodes You May Like

Everyday Vitality – Dr. Samantha Boardman

Successful Aging – Daniel Levitin

Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson

Are You Ready for The New Long Life? – Andrew Scott

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Mentioned in This Episode

HOW TO WANT LESS: The secret to satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff. (The Atlantic)

Your Professional Decline Is Coming (Much) Sooner Than You Think: Here’s How to Make the Most of It. (The Atlantic)

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

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Wise Quotes

On The First & Second Curves

“I noticed that analysis and innovation get harder as we get older and and I started looking into why that was. And there’s a whole body of research that shows that there’s something called fluid intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is what makes you good at what you’re good at. So you were a Wall Street (HR) guy and and what made you good at your job was that you were able to answer other people’s questions and solve other people’s problems faster than anybody else. That’s what makes you really good in the knowledge business and the ideas business. And that gets easier, and better, through your 20s and and into your 30s. And then in your late 30s, according to the research, that fluid intelligence, the ability to do that actually starts to decline, and is really in free fall in your 40s. That’s why certain things for people who are in perfectly good health and have high levels of skill, find their job getting harder and just more challenging than it used to be. That’s why lawyers find that in their 40s they’re not as sharp as they were in their 30s and surgeons find the same thing – whether they’re willing to admit it or not.

But here’s the good news. Actually the research shows that’s not your only intelligence. The first intelligence curve goes up and comes back down – but there’s another intelligence curve behind it called the crystallized intelligence curve, which makes it much easier for you not to answer somebody else’s questions, but to ask the right questions. You get much better at taking the information that’s out there and assembling it into a coherent storyline and solving problems that way now. That’s a different task than I’m going to answer your questions and solve your problems faster and better than anybody else. It’s: I’m going to go figure out what the right questions are and then I’m going to put together a team that’s going to solve them. It’s a different discipline. You’re basically going from innovator to instructor, from visionary inventor to master teacher.

That’s the crystallized intelligence curve and that goes up through your 40s, it goes up through your 50s and it stays high in your 60s and 70s, and even in your 80s, so as long as you’ve got your health and your marbles. You could be a sage. You can be a master teacher. You can be the Dalai Lama basically is what it comes down to. But you got to jump from that first curve to the second curve.”

On Happiness

“So just as food is made up of proteins, carbohydrates and fat, happiness is a combination of enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose. Those are the 3 macronutrients that go into happiness. And you will find that people say that they’re happy when they have all 3 in abundance and in balance. And people notice that they’re not very happy if they’re missing one or more of those macronutrients, just like you’d be. You won’t feel well physically if you’re missing one of those macronutrients from your nutritional profile. So those are the three. Now enjoyment is pretty obvious, although there’s a big research literature on what it means. Satisfaction is tricky because satisfaction is the reward and the joy that comes from a job well done – and as Mick Jagger sings I can’t get no satisfaction. The truth is you just can’t keep no satisfaction. And that’s because of the the way your brain is designed to make you run and run and run and run and run. I do a whole lot of research on how to break that in the book. I actually talk about the formula for breaking the back of that tyranny. And finally, purpose or meaning actually requires challenge and trauma and hardship and pain – and actually requires unhappiness paradoxically. So these are kind of complicated phenomena, but altogether, everybody can get better at getting happy if you’ve got the knowledge and skills.”

On Habits

“But there’s also the habits to develop for the people who are the happiest people. Now the habits of the unhappiest people are that they maximize 4 things: money, power, pleasure, and fame (or prestige). Most people don’t want to be famous actually, but they want to be admired. They want the prestige, so that’s the formula that people think will bring them happiness. And it just does not. That’s the formula for chronic dissatisfaction and yeah, your Grandma told you that. But you know your Grandma’s always right.

The real formula is what we need to pivot to – and these are the habits. This is based on 10,000 research articles and so I’m boiling the ocean here, but the habits of the happiest people is that they think every day about putting a deposit in 4 accounts. This is important retirement wisdom here. You got to put this in these 401(k) accounts for your happiness. And that’s your Faith, your Family, your Friendship and Work – and that is not necessarily paying work because a lot of people retired to listening to this. It is work that that where you earn your success by, in other words creating value with your life and by serving other people who who need you.

Faith, by the way, is not necessarily a traditional religious faith. It’s a sense of the transcendent – something bigger than you. Friendship is pretty obvious. Family: The ties that bind and don’t break and that we don’t choose (and God knows in many cases we wouldn’t choose) but these are the people that we can count on. These are the 4 accounts. So start your spiritual journey. I have a whole chapter in this book on how to start your spiritual journey, how to re-cultivate the root system in your life for your family.\

On Relationships

If you’re retiring, and if you have adult kids, call them. Re-establish these relationships. You need to go move near him if you’ve got grandkids. Don’t be like: I‘m gonna live in Florida because it’s warm and I can golf. No, that’s not going to bring you happiness like being near your grandkids is going to bring you happiness. Friendship is critically important. There are a lot of people who are retired today, older people who just don’t even know how to make friends. Successful people from Wall Street, they got tons of deal friends, but no real friends. I have a whole chapter about how to make real friends, not just deal friends, and find meaningful work where you serve other people. Those are the secrets: Faith. Family. Friendship and Work. That’s those are the habits of the highest happiness people.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

Planning for retirement goes well beyond your 401k or IRA. How will you invest your time after your full-time working years?

You’ll need another portfolio.

Schedule a call to see if a 1-on-1 program or a small group Designing Your New Life program can give you an edge in your next chapter.

Visit retirementwisdom.com for tools and resources to help you retire smarter.

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Intro and Outro voiceovers by Ross Huguet

The Retirement Roundtable III

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