I’m sure we’ve all got dreams for when we retire. The older I get a the more I hear more people talking about their pension pot and how they are looking forward to a happy, healthy, fun filled retirement. Let me tell you a quick story about a guy I knew who’s big plan was to retire at 60 years of age and live out the rest of his life with no financial worries supporting his wife into a grand old age in the village of Cookan- Dean where they first met and fell in love. 1996 was going to mark the beginning of the rest of his work free life. He died in 1987 aged 50. ‘When I retire’, never happened. So all the years of hard work, the saving and the financial planning meant nothing as his big dream never became a reality.
That man was my father and the saddest thing for me is knowing that because of the sacrifices he made in the last years of his life to fund his retirement he took decisions had made him terribly unhappy. He took on a five year contract in an extremely well paid job in another country but, separated from his family he felt terribly alone and isolated and after three years away from us all he found out he had cancer.
We never know what’s around the corner and none of us know how much time we’ve got left so, while securing a solid pension a sensible idea avoid spending too much time planning for your distant future. Build your business to create the life you want, not for when you retire but for now!
Let’s live our lives to the full by living every day as though it’s our last. Let’s not say, ‘This is what I’m going to do when I retire’. Let’s say, ‘This is what I’m going to do now’.