March 18, 2025 • 16 mins
If you're over 60, it's time to stop certain habits that may be holding you back from fully enjoying your retirement. In this video, I’ll share key lessons learned from working with retirees, including how small shifts can lead to a more meaningful and financially secure future.
From when to stop saving, how to spend wisely, prioritizing health, and letting go of worries that no longer serve you, these insights will help you make the most of your retirement years.
📌 Watch now to discover how to live with more freedom, joy, and financial confidence!
Questions answered:
1. How can I make the most of my retirement years financially and emotionally?
2. What habits should I stop after 60 to live a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life?
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Timestamps:
0:00 - 1 - Saving
2:24 - 2 - Spending when it's not fun
3:38 - 3 - Trading time for money
4:52 - 4 - Putting off experiences
6:27 - 5 - Neglecting your health
8:15 - 6 - Caring what others think
9:17 - 7 - Watching dome-and-gloom news
11:16 - 8 - Neglecting your financial plan
13:00 - 9 - Making decisions as if you'll live forever
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you are over the age of 60, then there are some
things you should stop doing ifyou want to enjoy your
retirement years as much as youpossibly can, because, after
working with hundreds of peoplein their 60s and beyond, these
lessons that they taught me arethings that I hope all of you
can take with you to create thebest possible future for
yourselves.
This is another episode ofReady for Retirement.
(00:20):
I'm your host, james Canole,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
The first thing that you shouldstop doing if you're 60 or
above is you should stop savingNow.
This might sound a little bitabsurd, but let's take a look at
it a little bit deeper.
The reason that we save moneytoday is so that we, or someone
we love, can enjoy that money inthe future.
(00:42):
We don't spend it today so thatwe can spend more money in the
future.
It's as simple as that.
We save today for futureconsumption.
But what happens once we'vesaved enough to fully support
that future consumption that wealready desire?
Once we've already done that,is there really a need to
continue saving Now?
This isn't to say that youshouldn't want your portfolio to
continue growing once you're 60and above, but what it is
(01:08):
saying is that you can start tolet your money work harder for
you instead of having to do allthe legwork yourself.
Let's take a look at a verysimple example, using some nice
round numbers.
Let's assume that you make$100,000 per year and of that
$100,000, you're investing 10%of your income.
So you're investing $10,000 peryear and we're going to make
the assumption that that moneygrows at 8% per year.
Now what if we assume thatyou've done that from age 23
until age 60?
$100,000 per year, the entiretime, just to use a nice round
(01:31):
number $10,000 invested, growingat 8% every single year.
Well, after that first year,not much has happened.
You put in $10,000, but 8%growth is only $800.
That $800 of growth isn'tincredibly substantial for you.
But now what happens whenyou've done that once?
You've been doing that from age23 until age 60?
Well, if you do that and getthat growth rate, you have about
(01:51):
$2 million in your portfolio atthat time.
Once you have $2 million inyour portfolio, if you are still
growing, or if you get 8%growth on that portfolio, that
comes out to $160,000 per yearof growth on your portfolio.
If you're still saving $10,000per year, what you can start to
see is that that savings issomething, but it's not nearly
as much as the growth on yourinvestments.
(02:12):
The growth on your investmentsin this very simple example is
16 times what you personally areputting into your 401k or what
you are putting into yourinvestment portfolio.
This is the principle ofcompound interest, and once
you're 60 or above many timesyou can let your portfolio
continue to work for you.
Once you're saving thosedollars, you start to spend
those dollars.
You start to use those dollarsfor things you can do today, as
(02:34):
opposed to deferring everythinguntil the future.
Now that takes us into thesecond thing you should stop
doing in retirement and youshould stop spending money on
things that don't bring you joy.
Now we just talked aboutspending money.
Once you turn 60, you don'tneed to save as much.
Assuming you have the rightportfolio to support your needs
at that time, you can startspending it.
But don't just spend money tospend money.
Spending money on things youdon't care about isn't going to
(02:55):
make you happy.
Spending money to impressothers isn't going to make you
happy.
Spending money out of a senseof guilt or obligation is not
going to make you happy.
A few weeks ago, I put out apodcast asking people to share
with me their favorite spendingstories.
They shared some incrediblethings Family trips to places
all around the world, takingkids and grandkids to NFL games,
baseball games, sporting eventsall around the country, taking
(03:17):
children to Disney World, buyinga puppy, taking aging parents,
fishing and doing things withthe people you love.
These are all specific examplesof what people spent money on
that brought them joy.
Now, notice there was nomention of spending money on
Roth conversions, spending moneyon putting more money into
their 401k, spending money onthings that didn't actually
contribute to their overallhappiness.
So when you do spend money,don't just spend money for the
(03:40):
sake of doing it, but when it isfreed up, spend money on things
that align with your values,and that is what's ultimately
going to bring you more joy andmore contentment as you align
your money with the things youvalue most.
The third thing you should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop trading time for money.
Now you might hear that andautomatically think retirement.
That's not automatically thecase.
If you love what you do forwork, you shouldn't stop.
(04:03):
If what you're doing ispurposeful, if what you're doing
brings you great relationships,if what you're doing somehow
contributes to your quality oflife, there's no need to be in a
rush to retire from thatposition.
So continue working, but do itto the extent that you enjoy it.
Do it to the extent that itbrings purpose and it brings
structure.
Do it to the extent that youneed that income, of course, to
support today or future incomeneeds.
(04:24):
But the second you don't enjoyit, the second you don't get
purpose from it, the second youdon't need it any longer to
continue supporting today'sneeds or future needs.
Stop trading your time for money.
What you'll start to realize isthat time is so precious Money
you can always make more of.
Might be difficult, but you canalways make more of it.
We can never manufacture moreof it.
(04:44):
Might be difficult, but you canalways make more of it.
We can never manufacture moretime.
We can never get more time back.
And so that trade-off becomessomething that's very necessary.
Certainly the beginning stages,the middle stages of our
lifetime, but at a certain pointwe no longer need to trade our
time for money and in fact itactually becomes an incredible
risk to trade our time for money, because you start to realize
we only have so much time to dothe things we want to do.
(05:05):
The next thing you should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop putting off experiences.
I've talked to too many peoplewho tell me about these
incredible things they want todo and they're going to do them
once they retire.
I mean they're going to do themonce they turn 65 or 67 or 70
or whenever that date is, andwe'll have a conversation.
We'll say, well, what's holding?
But why not start doing themtoday?
(05:29):
Why don't we at least starttaking some of these things and
doing them today?
And what you start to realize isthat sometimes work can become
this big excuse towards actuallyprioritizing what we want.
Because when we think aboutwhat we want, the hard thing
isn't doing what we want, it'sto know exactly what we want.
Because when we actually startthinking about what do I want to
do with my life, that requiresasking some pretty difficult
(05:51):
questions, that requires a lotof introspection, that requires
addressing some aspects ofourselves and our personalities
that maybe we don't want toactually address.
But if you can just block offsome time and ask yourselves
these questions of who am I andwhat do I want to do?
Yes, it's going to require someintrospection.
Yes, it might be a difficultprocess to actually figure that
out sometimes.
But if we don't do that, we'vemissed the point of it all.
(06:13):
If we're just in this constanthamster wheel of going to work
and doing the things that we'redoing because that's the way
we've always done it, are wemissing out on what life
actually has for us.
So don't put off theexperiences that you want to do
for retirement, becauseoftentimes that's just a way of
delaying the process ofunderstanding what we actually
want to do with our lives.
So begin doing that today.
(06:33):
Have those experiences today.
Have that fun, have thatadventure.
Do it today, especially becausetomorrow is not guaranteed.
The next thing that you need tostop doing if the age is 60 is
neglecting your health.
We wrongly look at retirementand think, okay, I might have
between 15 and 25, maybe even 35years ahead of me.
That might be true, but howmany of those years are healthy
(06:54):
years?
We need to ask ourselves once Ilose my health, what's the
quality of life like after that?
Sure, I might get 30 years, buthow many of those are healthy
years where I can actually dothe things that I want to do.
So stop neglecting your health.
Start walking, start swimming,start lifting weights, start
doing things that not only willbring you more health in the
future, but will bring you morehealth, more energy, more
(07:15):
vitality today.
One of the best things you cando for your retirement, for
yourself, is to give yourselfthat healthy, energized body,
because without it doesn'tmatter how much you have in your
portfolio, doesn't matter whatyour retirement plans are we're
not actually going to be able toenjoy that.
Let me give you an example.
Would you prefer to have $20million in your portfolio but
poor health, low energy,chronically sick?
(07:36):
Or would you prefer to have $1million in your portfolio but
you have vibrant health?
You pop out of bed each morningeager to do the things that
you're going to do that day,more than enough energy to get
through those things and tofully enjoy everything that's in
front of you.
Now, if we look at that example, I think most of us almost all
of us, I hope are going tochoose that million dollars, but
the health to fully enjoy whatlife has in store for us.
(07:56):
Now, that's probably what wewould choose when we hear this
example, but unfortunately, Isee too many people living in a
way that seems to indicatethey'd prioritize the former.
They're prioritizing more money, more portfolio, more value in
their financial plan andneglecting to do the things that
are going to give them thehealth to actually enjoy those
finances.
Now, thankfully, these are notmutually exclusive things.
(08:17):
You can both have your healthand a significant portfolio
balance.
But make sure you areprioritizing your health so that
you can both enjoy today andenjoy your future in retirement.
The next thing that you shouldstop doing after the age of 60
is you should stop caring whatothers think.
Now, of course, this is noexcuse to be rude.
This is no excuse to do thingsthat are not kind of things to
(08:37):
do, but we should stop caringwhat other people think.
And now you might look at meand say James, you're 35 years
old, what do you know aboutcaring what others think after
the age of 60?
And you're exactly right.
I personally don't have thoseexperiences.
But experiences.
But, as I mentioned, I'veworked with hundreds of people
in their 60s and beyond, and notto mention, there's plenty of
research that supports this.
Bronnie Ware wrote a verywell-known book and in it she
(08:57):
lists the five regrets of thedying.
The number one regret by far ispeople say they wish they had
the courage to live true tothemselves instead of doing the
things that people expected ofthem.
Or, in other words, peoplecared far too much about the
expectations of others and theyallowed those expectations to
drive the things that theypersonally were doing.
And then one day they wound upon their deathbed and they were
(09:18):
reflecting on their life, andthe number one regret of these
people was they wish they hadn'tdone that.
So how can we stop caring whatother people think about us and
start doing the things we wantto do in our retirement years?
The next thing we should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop watching the doom and gloomnews.
Now, this is not saying don't beinformed.
This isn't saying don't watchthe news, but what it is saying
(09:40):
is, once you're watching thenews to an extent that your
entire worldview, your entirelevel of happiness or lack
thereof, is driven by whatyou're viewing on TV, that day
that might be something youshould stop doing.
Have you ever known anyone thatsaid they stopped watching the
news?
I haven't.
My guess is you haven't either,but I know plenty of people who
(10:02):
said that once they stoppedwatching the news, that was one
of the best things they've everdone for themselves.
Now, this isn't a politicalstatement, because I have
clients on the left and I haveclients on the right, and
they're all wonderful people,but something that's in common
is I can tell very much so whenthey do too much watching of the
news, because the conversationswe have about their portfolio,
about the world, about thethings that they're concerned
(10:22):
about, is occupying all of theirattention.
And while we're trying to planfor this wonderful retirement,
this wonderful opportunity to dothings with the people they
love, there are fears aboutwhat's going on that disallow
them or prevent them from doingthe things they could be doing.
And those fears, of course, areall fueled by where they're
spending their attention.
So, be informed, absolutelyknow what's going on, but at a
(10:43):
certain point, if yourretirement, if your life, is
suffering because of whereyou're spending your attention,
it might be time to ask yourselfis there a better way I can
spend my attention?
Can I set my sight on betterthings?
Is there a way that I can beintentional with the thoughts
that I have, as opposed tohaving my thoughts delivered to
me by whatever news program Ichoose to tune into, and for
(11:04):
those of you that might havetrouble doing this, just ask
yourself a simple question whatpositive impact upon you or the
community around you has youtuning into this doom and gloom
news actually had?
There's been no positive impact.
There's been no action you'vetaken to be part of the change,
to be part of a solution.
Is it really that beneficial?
If not, can we set that asideand start to think about all the
(11:25):
wonderful things that you couldbe doing with your time and
with your retirement years?
The next thing that you shouldstop doing after the age of 60
is stop neglecting yourfinancial plan.
Why after 60?
Well, after 60, of course,you're getting pretty darn close
to those retirement years, ifyou're not already there.
The importance of a financialplan, the importance of knowing
what you need to do to supportthe rest of your life, once
you're no longer working, thatobviously becomes magnified.
(11:47):
But here's the thing.
There's a dichotomy out there.
You see a lot of people whospend far too little time with
their financial plan.
They don't want to look at it.
It's too overwhelming.
They don't want to focus onwhat their plan is going to be,
and that leads to disaster.
Failing to plan, of course, isplanning to fail.
We don't want that.
But on the flip side, I see fartoo many people who view
everything through the lens oftheir financial plan.
(12:09):
When they talk about taking avacation, they want to know,
well, what's the impact of thaton the potential Roth
conversions.
I can do this here.
When they talk about spendingmore to do things they want to
do, all they can think about iswhat's the long-term impact on
my financial portfolio if I wereto do this Now.
Of course, these questions arevalid to an extent, but when
people process everythingthrough, what's the financial
(12:29):
impact?
How is this going to help meoptimize or not optimize the
financial side of things?
We've missed the bigger picture.
The sign of a great financialplan is a life well-lived.
So if you're so focused on thefinancial part of that plan that
you can't focus on the lifewell-lived part of it, we're
missing it.
So, yes, have a plan, havecontingencies in place for if
things don't go according toplan, but then live your life.
(12:50):
Then do the things that youwant to do, because if we're so
focused on the financial that wemiss out on life, we're not
going to be in a good spot, butto the same effect.
If we're so focused on lifethat we never get around to the
financial, that's not going tobe great either.
So once you're 60 and above,you absolutely need to get that
plan in place that makes surethat you're tying together the
financial aspects with what youwant to do so that you can be
(13:10):
fully freed up to enjoyeverything that retirement has
to offer.
Then, finally, the last thingthat you should stop doing once
you're over 60 is stop makingdecisions as if you will live
forever.
Once we're 60 or above,mortality becomes something
that's a little bit more top ofmind.
Maybe we've lost parents bythis point, or siblings, or
friends or co-workers, so we seethis all around us In.
(13:32):
Rationally, we know that we'renot going to live forever, but
we still continue to makedecisions as if we are.
In my experience, I think oneof the best things that we can
do to enjoy our life is torealize our life is not going to
last forever.
So can you ask yourself what ifyou knew for certain that this
was going to be your last day?
What would you do?
Who would you call?
What would you say?
Now?
(13:53):
It's not feasible to think thatevery single day we're going to
live fully like that.
But if you do ask yourself thatquestion and you do spend some
time thinking about it thethings you would do, the things
you would say, the people youwould talk to is there any
reason you can't do some ofthose things today?
Is there any reason you can'tprioritize some of that or plan
for some of that now?
If we don't ever ask ourselvessome of those questions, we push
(14:14):
things off, and push things off, and push things off, and one
day we realize it's too late,either because of our mortality
or those around us, or somethinghappens that prevents us from
doing the things that we couldhave done had we simply
prioritized them at a youngerage.
One of the best ways that wecan fully appreciate what we
have in front of us is to trulyrecognize that we won't have
that forever, whether that's ourhealth, whether that's our
(14:37):
relationships, whether that'sour own life.
Even.
How can we be fully aware ofthat, so that can inform more
intentional and better livingtoday and we can start getting
the most out of our retirementyears as we possibly can.
So that's it for today's video.
Once you're 60 or above, theseare things you can stop doing,
because if you stop doing thesethings, we can more fully
prioritize the things we shouldbe doing to get the most out of
(14:58):
life with our money.
Root Financial has not providedany compensation for and has not
influenced the content of anytestimonials and endorsements
shown.
Any testimonials andendorsements shown have been
invited, have been shared witheach individual's permission and
are not necessarilyrepresentative of the experience
of other clients.
To our knowledge, no otherconflicts of interest exist
regarding these testimonials andendorsements.
(15:19):
Hey everyone, it's me again forthe disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
(15:40):
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call with one of ouradvisors.
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
(16:01):
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
If you are over the age of 60, then there are some
things you should stop doing ifyou want to enjoy your
retirement years as much as youpossibly can, because, after
working with hundreds of peoplein their 60s and beyond, these
lessons that they taught me arethings that I hope all of you
can take with you to create thebest possible future for
yourselves.
This is another episode ofReady for Retirement.
(00:20):
I'm your host, james Canole,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
The first thing that you shouldstop doing if you're 60 or
above is you should stop savingNow.
This might sound a little bitabsurd, but let's take a look at
it a little bit deeper.
The reason that we save moneytoday is so that we, or someone
we love, can enjoy that money inthe future.
(00:42):
We don't spend it today so thatwe can spend more money in the
future.
It's as simple as that.
We save today for futureconsumption.
But what happens once we'vesaved enough to fully support
that future consumption that wealready desire?
Once we've already done that,is there really a need to
continue saving Now?
This isn't to say that youshouldn't want your portfolio to
continue growing once you're 60and above, but what it is
(01:08):
saying is that you can start tolet your money work harder for
you instead of having to do allthe legwork yourself.
Let's take a look at a verysimple example, using some nice
round numbers.
Let's assume that you make$100,000 per year and of that
$100,000, you're investing 10%of your income.
So you're investing $10,000 peryear and we're going to make
the assumption that that moneygrows at 8% per year.
Now what if we assume thatyou've done that from age 23
until age 60?
$100,000 per year, the entiretime, just to use a nice round
(01:31):
number $10,000 invested, growingat 8% every single year.
Well, after that first year,not much has happened.
You put in $10,000, but 8%growth is only $800.
That $800 of growth isn'tincredibly substantial for you.
But now what happens whenyou've done that once?
You've been doing that from age23 until age 60?
Well, if you do that and getthat growth rate, you have about
(01:51):
$2 million in your portfolio atthat time.
Once you have $2 million inyour portfolio, if you are still
growing, or if you get 8%growth on that portfolio, that
comes out to $160,000 per yearof growth on your portfolio.
If you're still saving $10,000per year, what you can start to
see is that that savings issomething, but it's not nearly
as much as the growth on yourinvestments.
(02:12):
The growth on your investmentsin this very simple example is
16 times what you personally areputting into your 401k or what
you are putting into yourinvestment portfolio.
This is the principle ofcompound interest, and once
you're 60 or above many timesyou can let your portfolio
continue to work for you.
Once you're saving thosedollars, you start to spend
those dollars.
You start to use those dollarsfor things you can do today, as
(02:34):
opposed to deferring everythinguntil the future.
Now that takes us into thesecond thing you should stop
doing in retirement and youshould stop spending money on
things that don't bring you joy.
Now we just talked aboutspending money.
Once you turn 60, you don'tneed to save as much.
Assuming you have the rightportfolio to support your needs
at that time, you can startspending it.
But don't just spend money tospend money.
Spending money on things youdon't care about isn't going to
(02:55):
make you happy.
Spending money to impressothers isn't going to make you
happy.
Spending money out of a senseof guilt or obligation is not
going to make you happy.
A few weeks ago, I put out apodcast asking people to share
with me their favorite spendingstories.
They shared some incrediblethings Family trips to places
all around the world, takingkids and grandkids to NFL games,
baseball games, sporting eventsall around the country, taking
(03:17):
children to Disney World, buyinga puppy, taking aging parents,
fishing and doing things withthe people you love.
These are all specific examplesof what people spent money on
that brought them joy.
Now, notice there was nomention of spending money on
Roth conversions, spending moneyon putting more money into
their 401k, spending money onthings that didn't actually
contribute to their overallhappiness.
So when you do spend money,don't just spend money for the
(03:40):
sake of doing it, but when it isfreed up, spend money on things
that align with your values,and that is what's ultimately
going to bring you more joy andmore contentment as you align
your money with the things youvalue most.
The third thing you should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop trading time for money.
Now you might hear that andautomatically think retirement.
That's not automatically thecase.
If you love what you do forwork, you shouldn't stop.
(04:03):
If what you're doing ispurposeful, if what you're doing
brings you great relationships,if what you're doing somehow
contributes to your quality oflife, there's no need to be in a
rush to retire from thatposition.
So continue working, but do itto the extent that you enjoy it.
Do it to the extent that itbrings purpose and it brings
structure.
Do it to the extent that youneed that income, of course, to
support today or future incomeneeds.
(04:24):
But the second you don't enjoyit, the second you don't get
purpose from it, the second youdon't need it any longer to
continue supporting today'sneeds or future needs.
Stop trading your time for money.
What you'll start to realize isthat time is so precious Money
you can always make more of.
Might be difficult, but you canalways make more of it.
We can never manufacture moreof it.
(04:44):
Might be difficult, but you canalways make more of it.
We can never manufacture moretime.
We can never get more time back.
And so that trade-off becomessomething that's very necessary.
Certainly the beginning stages,the middle stages of our
lifetime, but at a certain pointwe no longer need to trade our
time for money and in fact itactually becomes an incredible
risk to trade our time for money, because you start to realize
we only have so much time to dothe things we want to do.
(05:05):
The next thing you should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop putting off experiences.
I've talked to too many peoplewho tell me about these
incredible things they want todo and they're going to do them
once they retire.
I mean they're going to do themonce they turn 65 or 67 or 70
or whenever that date is, andwe'll have a conversation.
We'll say, well, what's holding?
But why not start doing themtoday?
(05:29):
Why don't we at least starttaking some of these things and
doing them today?
And what you start to realize isthat sometimes work can become
this big excuse towards actuallyprioritizing what we want.
Because when we think aboutwhat we want, the hard thing
isn't doing what we want, it'sto know exactly what we want.
Because when we actually startthinking about what do I want to
do with my life, that requiresasking some pretty difficult
(05:51):
questions, that requires a lotof introspection, that requires
addressing some aspects ofourselves and our personalities
that maybe we don't want toactually address.
But if you can just block offsome time and ask yourselves
these questions of who am I andwhat do I want to do?
Yes, it's going to require someintrospection.
Yes, it might be a difficultprocess to actually figure that
out sometimes.
But if we don't do that, we'vemissed the point of it all.
(06:13):
If we're just in this constanthamster wheel of going to work
and doing the things that we'redoing because that's the way
we've always done it, are wemissing out on what life
actually has for us.
So don't put off theexperiences that you want to do
for retirement, becauseoftentimes that's just a way of
delaying the process ofunderstanding what we actually
want to do with our lives.
So begin doing that today.
(06:33):
Have those experiences today.
Have that fun, have thatadventure.
Do it today, especially becausetomorrow is not guaranteed.
The next thing that you need tostop doing if the age is 60 is
neglecting your health.
We wrongly look at retirementand think, okay, I might have
between 15 and 25, maybe even 35years ahead of me.
That might be true, but howmany of those years are healthy
(06:54):
years?
We need to ask ourselves once Ilose my health, what's the
quality of life like after that?
Sure, I might get 30 years, buthow many of those are healthy
years where I can actually dothe things that I want to do.
So stop neglecting your health.
Start walking, start swimming,start lifting weights, start
doing things that not only willbring you more health in the
future, but will bring you morehealth, more energy, more
(07:15):
vitality today.
One of the best things you cando for your retirement, for
yourself, is to give yourselfthat healthy, energized body,
because without it doesn'tmatter how much you have in your
portfolio, doesn't matter whatyour retirement plans are we're
not actually going to be able toenjoy that.
Let me give you an example.
Would you prefer to have $20million in your portfolio but
poor health, low energy,chronically sick?
(07:36):
Or would you prefer to have $1million in your portfolio but
you have vibrant health?
You pop out of bed each morningeager to do the things that
you're going to do that day,more than enough energy to get
through those things and tofully enjoy everything that's in
front of you.
Now, if we look at that example, I think most of us almost all
of us, I hope are going tochoose that million dollars, but
the health to fully enjoy whatlife has in store for us.
(07:56):
Now, that's probably what wewould choose when we hear this
example, but unfortunately, Isee too many people living in a
way that seems to indicatethey'd prioritize the former.
They're prioritizing more money, more portfolio, more value in
their financial plan andneglecting to do the things that
are going to give them thehealth to actually enjoy those
finances.
Now, thankfully, these are notmutually exclusive things.
(08:17):
You can both have your healthand a significant portfolio
balance.
But make sure you areprioritizing your health so that
you can both enjoy today andenjoy your future in retirement.
The next thing that you shouldstop doing after the age of 60
is you should stop caring whatothers think.
Now, of course, this is noexcuse to be rude.
This is no excuse to do thingsthat are not kind of things to
(08:37):
do, but we should stop caringwhat other people think.
And now you might look at meand say James, you're 35 years
old, what do you know aboutcaring what others think after
the age of 60?
And you're exactly right.
I personally don't have thoseexperiences.
But experiences.
But, as I mentioned, I'veworked with hundreds of people
in their 60s and beyond, and notto mention, there's plenty of
research that supports this.
Bronnie Ware wrote a verywell-known book and in it she
(08:57):
lists the five regrets of thedying.
The number one regret by far ispeople say they wish they had
the courage to live true tothemselves instead of doing the
things that people expected ofthem.
Or, in other words, peoplecared far too much about the
expectations of others and theyallowed those expectations to
drive the things that theypersonally were doing.
And then one day they wound upon their deathbed and they were
(09:18):
reflecting on their life, andthe number one regret of these
people was they wish they hadn'tdone that.
So how can we stop caring whatother people think about us and
start doing the things we wantto do in our retirement years?
The next thing we should stopdoing after the age of 60 is
stop watching the doom and gloomnews.
Now, this is not saying don't beinformed.
This isn't saying don't watchthe news, but what it is saying
(09:40):
is, once you're watching thenews to an extent that your
entire worldview, your entirelevel of happiness or lack
thereof, is driven by whatyou're viewing on TV, that day
that might be something youshould stop doing.
Have you ever known anyone thatsaid they stopped watching the
news?
I haven't.
My guess is you haven't either,but I know plenty of people who
(10:02):
said that once they stoppedwatching the news, that was one
of the best things they've everdone for themselves.
Now, this isn't a politicalstatement, because I have
clients on the left and I haveclients on the right, and
they're all wonderful people,but something that's in common
is I can tell very much so whenthey do too much watching of the
news, because the conversationswe have about their portfolio,
about the world, about thethings that they're concerned
(10:22):
about, is occupying all of theirattention.
And while we're trying to planfor this wonderful retirement,
this wonderful opportunity to dothings with the people they
love, there are fears aboutwhat's going on that disallow
them or prevent them from doingthe things they could be doing.
And those fears, of course, areall fueled by where they're
spending their attention.
So, be informed, absolutelyknow what's going on, but at a
(10:43):
certain point, if yourretirement, if your life, is
suffering because of whereyou're spending your attention,
it might be time to ask yourselfis there a better way I can
spend my attention?
Can I set my sight on betterthings?
Is there a way that I can beintentional with the thoughts
that I have, as opposed tohaving my thoughts delivered to
me by whatever news program Ichoose to tune into, and for
(11:04):
those of you that might havetrouble doing this, just ask
yourself a simple question whatpositive impact upon you or the
community around you has youtuning into this doom and gloom
news actually had?
There's been no positive impact.
There's been no action you'vetaken to be part of the change,
to be part of a solution.
Is it really that beneficial?
If not, can we set that asideand start to think about all the
(11:25):
wonderful things that you couldbe doing with your time and
with your retirement years?
The next thing that you shouldstop doing after the age of 60
is stop neglecting yourfinancial plan.
Why after 60?
Well, after 60, of course,you're getting pretty darn close
to those retirement years, ifyou're not already there.
The importance of a financialplan, the importance of knowing
what you need to do to supportthe rest of your life, once
you're no longer working, thatobviously becomes magnified.
(11:47):
But here's the thing.
There's a dichotomy out there.
You see a lot of people whospend far too little time with
their financial plan.
They don't want to look at it.
It's too overwhelming.
They don't want to focus onwhat their plan is going to be,
and that leads to disaster.
Failing to plan, of course, isplanning to fail.
We don't want that.
But on the flip side, I see fartoo many people who view
everything through the lens oftheir financial plan.
(12:09):
When they talk about taking avacation, they want to know,
well, what's the impact of thaton the potential Roth
conversions.
I can do this here.
When they talk about spendingmore to do things they want to
do, all they can think about iswhat's the long-term impact on
my financial portfolio if I wereto do this Now.
Of course, these questions arevalid to an extent, but when
people process everythingthrough, what's the financial
(12:29):
impact?
How is this going to help meoptimize or not optimize the
financial side of things?
We've missed the bigger picture.
The sign of a great financialplan is a life well-lived.
So if you're so focused on thefinancial part of that plan that
you can't focus on the lifewell-lived part of it, we're
missing it.
So, yes, have a plan, havecontingencies in place for if
things don't go according toplan, but then live your life.
(12:50):
Then do the things that youwant to do, because if we're so
focused on the financial that wemiss out on life, we're not
going to be in a good spot, butto the same effect.
If we're so focused on lifethat we never get around to the
financial, that's not going tobe great either.
So once you're 60 and above,you absolutely need to get that
plan in place that makes surethat you're tying together the
financial aspects with what youwant to do so that you can be
(13:10):
fully freed up to enjoyeverything that retirement has
to offer.
Then, finally, the last thingthat you should stop doing once
you're over 60 is stop makingdecisions as if you will live
forever.
Once we're 60 or above,mortality becomes something
that's a little bit more top ofmind.
Maybe we've lost parents bythis point, or siblings, or
friends or co-workers, so we seethis all around us In.
(13:32):
Rationally, we know that we'renot going to live forever, but
we still continue to makedecisions as if we are.
In my experience, I think oneof the best things that we can
do to enjoy our life is torealize our life is not going to
last forever.
So can you ask yourself what ifyou knew for certain that this
was going to be your last day?
What would you do?
Who would you call?
What would you say?
Now?
(13:53):
It's not feasible to think thatevery single day we're going to
live fully like that.
But if you do ask yourself thatquestion and you do spend some
time thinking about it thethings you would do, the things
you would say, the people youwould talk to is there any
reason you can't do some ofthose things today?
Is there any reason you can'tprioritize some of that or plan
for some of that now?
If we don't ever ask ourselvessome of those questions, we push
(14:14):
things off, and push things off, and push things off, and one
day we realize it's too late,either because of our mortality
or those around us, or somethinghappens that prevents us from
doing the things that we couldhave done had we simply
prioritized them at a youngerage.
One of the best ways that wecan fully appreciate what we
have in front of us is to trulyrecognize that we won't have
that forever, whether that's ourhealth, whether that's our
(14:37):
relationships, whether that'sour own life.
Even.
How can we be fully aware ofthat, so that can inform more
intentional and better livingtoday and we can start getting
the most out of our retirementyears as we possibly can.
So that's it for today's video.
Once you're 60 or above, theseare things you can stop doing,
because if you stop doing thesethings, we can more fully
prioritize the things we shouldbe doing to get the most out of
(14:58):
life with our money.
Root Financial has not providedany compensation for and has not
influenced the content of anytestimonials and endorsements
shown.
Any testimonials andendorsements shown have been
invited, have been shared witheach individual's permission and
are not necessarilyrepresentative of the experience
of other clients.
To our knowledge, no otherconflicts of interest exist
regarding these testimonials andendorsements.
(15:19):
Hey everyone, it's me again forthe disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
(15:40):
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call with one of ouradvisors.
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
(16:01):
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
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