The above was the opening statement from a speaker called Mitch Anthony at an event we attended in late January 2019.
Mitch Anthony is from the States and has carried out considerable research in the area of retirement and speaks all around the world.
The room was full of Financial Planners and clients nearing retirement age.
Everybody sat up with disbelief having heard Mitch’s bold statement. The Pension industry has been pushing a visual retirement dream of lazing on a beautiful beach, lying on a sun lounger with our favourite cocktail for years.
Before we started having deeper conversations with our clients about retirement, we mistakenly believed that most people wanted to retire early to the beach as well.
Having listened to Mitch’s speech and drawing on what we have learned from our clients, like you, I would agree with Mitch’s comment.
But let me explain what he really meant.
Work, whether it is on a self-employed basis or being part of a small or large organisation, gives us the following:-
- Confidence that we are important.
- Challenges us to come up with solutions.
- Allows us to interact with others.
- Rewards us for our efforts.
- Takes up a large part of our day.
- Gives us enjoyment – most of the time.
- Helps us live longer.
- Makes us feel better about ourselves
Mitch explained that if this is taken away from us we will become bored and then something much worse happens – we become boring!
As well as looking after our loved ones and enjoying our leisure time, work provides us with a PURPOSE.
In its simplest definition, our PURPOSE is what gets us out of bed every morning. It is not because we have to be at our desks by 8.30 that we get out of bed. It is because we really enjoy whatever this purpose is and it gives us energy.
So to qualify Mitch’s initial statement “Work” is your Purpose in life. What gets you out of bed. By the way, you don’t have to get paid in order to have a Purpose.
If you are lucky enough to be doing a job that is your Purpose in life, then Mitch questions why you would stop just because you have reached a certain age. He believes that there is ageism within the retirement industry. Why should you have to stop simply because you are 65?
Mitch jokes that he has met old 40-year-olds and young 70-year-olds. The difference between the two is that the 40-year-old has no purpose and the 70-year-old has.
If you are not working on your Purpose then Mitch suggests that you try hard to find what this is. If you find it and you can afford to, then he suggests that you leave your job and focus on what really gets you out of bed every morning. As mentioned earlier, this change should not be determined by what you can earn from it.
This is where Financial Planner’s such as Mason Wealth Management come in. We can help you understand if you have enough money to make this change, so you can follow your purpose.
We are living longer than ever before. It is easy to plan for later life if you only live to 68 but more and more of our clients are living well into their 80’s. You cannot play golf every day.
The one thing we cannot buy is time so Mitch recommends that we take time out of our busy lives to try and figure out what our Purpose is and then follow it as best we can.
Although they have not been calling it purpose, this is what our clients in their 50’s and 60’s and 70’s, who are enjoying their lives, have. They have identified areas they would like to focus on and are making sure that they spend more time enjoying them.
In this age where we have less and less time, along with the demands of 24/7 contact through technology, we at Mason Wealth Management believe that finding what your purpose is, and making it happen, is very important.
Finally, we like one of Mitch’s last comments of the night “ You need Enough purpose to wake up in the morning and enough money to sleep at night”.
Please feel free to view Mitch’s youtube keynote speech by following the link below