Edition 522 – When Are You Going To Retire?

My wife and I are having a conversation with our youngest son Fraser, whilst visiting him and his partner, Jay, in Nelson Bay, just north of Sydney, on a week’s holiday recently?

“When are you going to retire? he asks my wife. She’s a little older than me. He’s looking at me as he asks the question, in a way that is virtually saying, when are you going to alllow Mum to retire.

“Why do you ask?” my wife responds.

“Don’t you want to do other things with your life?” Fraser replies.

The conversation goes back and forth. He raises his eyebrows when I mention that I’d like to continue working for at least another 15 years for plenty of reasons, the main one of which is, I enjoy what I do, and making a difference in the lives of our clients, their businesses, and everyone associated with those businesses, on a daily basis.

I’ve had clients that seemingly, wish their life away, and talk incessantly of what they’ll do when they retire. In fact, I remember a now retired financial planning colleague who, when you walked into their office, had a large picture of a beach house on the reception wall with the question “what is your idea of financial freedom?” For a lot of the conversations that I was a party to in that office, the talk was not of living a better life, but of what you’ll do when you retire.

Or, in other words, you have to retire, to start living.

My response to that is simple – bollocks!

If you love what you’re doing every day, then why stop?

If you still are making a contribution to those around you, why do you need to retire?

If you get a buzz out of meeting people, creating products, solving problems and, in the process, making some money, then who is to say that, if your health holds up, you can’t keep doing it beyond what some people believe is the age in life that you should be retiring?

For me, I wouldn’t lack the humility to say I’m operating at the top of my game. However, I believe, that with the select number of family business clients that we work with, we’re really making a difference in their business, and in the lives of the family that are the fortunate beneficiaries of the work of those businesses. We’re helping business owners to build a business that lets them and their families live their best lives.

I’ve seen retired business owners wither on the vine, because they’ve had nothing to retire to. They might play golf, or like travelling. But beyond that, unless they approach their retirement with the same element of purpose they did their working life, and that purpose involves making a difference, rather than growing bonsai or restoring an old car, I can honestly say, I don’t know how they will continue to function cognitively into their advancing years.

So, the answer to our youngest son is “not yet”. Not whilst we’re enjoying what we’re doing, and with whom we’re doing it.

When you wake up each day, and truly know you’re going to make a difference in the life of someone, that’s all the fuel you need to power you through the day, the year, or the decade.

This Week’s Tip

“The Age Pension was introduced in 1908, to commence at age 65, when the average life expectancy was 66. With life expectancy in Australia now into the mid 80’s, should the age pension age be closer to 80 than the current 67?”