Restyle Don’t Retire Are you letting numbers dictate your life: Wondering how much you will need to retire? And if you should retire at 65 or wait until later? Or are you in the mindset…” I will never be able to retire.” You are stuck in the retirement rut. Retirement is an old and out dated concept. Today’s retirement mindset often stems from the number 65 which was the full retirement age when Social Security was instituted in the 1940’s. The idea of social security retirement funds was to keep people out of poverty. However, when Social Security was begun, the average age of death was 63. That is right, you were guaranteed an income if you lived two years more than average. Now many folks find themselves retired for fifteen, twenty, thirty or even forty years! Seventy years later, what do we still consider the retirement years? 65 — give or take five years. However, over those seventy years, we have had many technological, medical and health advances. Very few other ideas or programs are still in service. Antiquated is what we call those old black, heavy rotary corded phones. So if Retirement is dead or at least antiquated, where does that leave you? Restyle, do not retire! Restylement is an opportunity to change your lifestyle and do what you always wanted. The term was coined by a colleague of mine who sold her financial investment practice and rented her house. She moved to Mexico to live in an Airstream with her husband. She has never felt so free and happy. Living on less and learning new skills. She is even considering raising goats as her husband earns a few pesos doing handyman jobs. Once she was willing to let go of what she had projected to be the perfect retirement, all sorts of opportunities came her way. She restyled. With retirement no longer the endpoint and goal, your future is like a three act play where you get to write the script. Typically, later in life you have built your career, raised your family, and are past your most demanding earning years. Your diligent savings and investing may have increased your assets at this point, though they may not provide you the resources to live for decades. Time to reinvent yourself. Take care of yourself. Stage one may be creating enough money to live on through a part-time job, hobby, or work in a field that may interest you. Stage two may involve selling your home and downsizing to an easy to care for place in a location you love. Possibly your stage three will be to live off of your investments at a slower pace. Once I got to meet a centurion at my aunt’s assisted living complex. Later we got to ride the elevator alone together, I asker her secret to a long and happy life. “Let nothing bother you,” she said with a big smile. “There will be ups and downs.” So with all of life’s ups and downs stop planning for a dead concept. The watch does not exist, the guaranteed pension is no longer assured. Instead, start planning for your Restylement. You have the power, the control and the choice. Start to reflect on: Where will you live? What will you do? Who will you surround yourself with? Change the questions for the next stage of your life. Start to use your dreams to create your new life. Restyle. Do not Retire. C. D. Moriarty is a financial speaker, writer, and coach dedicated to empowering others around their money. Her financial wisdom, information and free email newsletter is available at: www.moneypeace.com.