Ready For Retirement
Ready For Retirement
9 Things To STOP DOING After 60
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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If you are over the age of 60, then there are some things you should stop doing if you want to enjoy your retirement years as much as you possibly can, because, after working with hundreds of people in their 60s and beyond, these lessons that they taught me are things that I hope all of you can take with you to create the best possible future for yourselves. This is another episode of Ready for Retirement. I'm your host, james Canole, and I'm here to teach you how to get the most out of life with your money. And now on to the episode. The first thing that you should stop doing if you're 60 or above is you should stop saving Now. This might sound a little bit absurd, but let's take a look at it a little bit deeper. The reason that we save money today is so that we, or someone we love, can enjoy that money in the future. We don't spend it today so that we can spend more money in the future. It's as simple as that. We save today for future consumption. But what happens once we've saved enough to fully support that future consumption that we already desire? Once we've already done that, is there really a need to continue saving Now? This isn't to say that you shouldn't want your portfolio to continue growing once you're 60 and above, but what it is saying is that you can start to let your money work harder for you instead of having to do all the legwork yourself.
Speaker 1:Let's take a look at a very simple 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 per year and we're going to make the assumption that that money grows at 8% per year. Now what if we assume that you've done that from age 23 until age 60? $100,000 per year, the entire time, just to use a nice round number $10,000 invested, growing at 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't incredibly substantial for you. But now what happens when you've done that once? You've been doing that from age 23 until age 60? Well, if you do that and get that growth rate, you have about $2 million in your portfolio at that time. Once you have $2 million in your portfolio, if you are still growing, or if you get 8% growth on that portfolio, that comes out to $160,000 per year of growth on your portfolio. If you're still saving $10,000 per year, what you can start to see is that that savings is something, but it's not nearly as much as the growth on your investments. The growth on your investments in this very simple example is 16 times what you personally are putting into your 401k or what you are putting into your investment portfolio.
Speaker 1:This is the principle of compound interest, and once you're 60 or above many times you can let your portfolio continue to work for you. Once you're saving those dollars, you start to spend those dollars. You start to use those dollars for things you can do today, as opposed to deferring everything until the future. Now that takes us into the second thing you should stop doing in retirement and you should stop spending money on things that don't bring you joy. Now we just talked about spending money. Once you turn 60, you don't need to save as much. Assuming you have the right portfolio to support your needs at that time, you can start spending it.
Speaker 1:But don't just spend money to spend money. Spending money on things you don't care about isn't going to make you happy. Spending money to impress others isn't going to make you happy. Spending money out of a sense of guilt or obligation is not going to make you happy. A few weeks ago, I put out a podcast asking people to share with me their favorite spending stories. They shared some incredible things Family trips to places all around the world, taking kids and grandkids to NFL games, baseball games, sporting events all around the country, taking children to Disney World, buying a puppy, taking aging parents, fishing and doing things with the people you love. These are all specific examples of what people spent money on that brought them joy. Now, notice there was no mention of spending money on Roth conversions, spending money on putting more money into their 401k, spending money on things that didn't actually contribute to their overall happiness. So when you do spend money, don't just spend money for the sake of doing it, but when it is freed up, spend money on things that align with your values, and that is what's ultimately going to bring you more joy and more contentment as you align your money with the things you value most.
Speaker 1:The third thing you should stop doing after the age of 60 is stop trading time for money. Now you might hear that and automatically think retirement. That's not automatically the case. If you love what you do for work, you shouldn't stop. If what you're doing is purposeful, if what you're doing brings you great relationships, if what you're doing somehow contributes to your quality of life, there's no need to be in a rush to retire from that position. So continue working, but do it to the extent that you enjoy it. Do it to the extent that it brings purpose and it brings structure. Do it to the extent that you need that income, of course, to support today or future income needs. But the second you don't enjoy it, the second you don't get purpose from it, the second you don't need it any longer to continue supporting today's needs or future needs.
Speaker 1:Stop trading your time for money. What you'll start to realize is that time is so precious Money you can always make more of. Might be difficult, but you can always make more of it. We can never manufacture more of it. Might be difficult, but you can always make more of it. We can never manufacture more time. We can never get more time back. And so that trade-off becomes something that's very necessary. Certainly the beginning stages, the middle stages of our lifetime, but at a certain point we no longer need to trade our time for money and in fact it actually becomes an incredible risk to trade our time for money, because you start to realize we only have so much time to do the things we want to do.
Speaker 1:The next thing you should stop doing after the age of 60 is stop putting off experiences. I've talked to too many people who tell me about these incredible things they want to do and they're going to do them once they retire. I mean they're going to do them once they turn 65 or 67 or 70 or whenever that date is, and we'll have a conversation. We'll say, well, what's holding? But why not start doing them today? Why don't we at least start taking some of these things and doing them today?
Speaker 1:And what you start to realize is that sometimes work can become this big excuse towards actually prioritizing what we want. Because when we think about what we want, the hard thing isn't doing what we want, it's to know exactly what we want. Because when we actually start thinking about what do I want to do with my life, that requires asking some pretty difficult questions, that requires a lot of introspection, that requires addressing some aspects of ourselves and our personalities that maybe we don't want to actually address. But if you can just block off some time and ask yourselves these questions of who am I and what do I want to do? Yes, it's going to require some introspection. Yes, it might be a difficult process to actually figure that out sometimes. But if we don't do that, we've missed the point of it all. If we're just in this constant hamster wheel of going to work and doing the things that we're doing because that's the way we've always done it, are we missing out on what life actually has for us. So don't put off the experiences that you want to do for retirement, because oftentimes that's just a way of delaying the process of understanding what we actually want to do with our lives. So begin doing that today. Have those experiences today. Have that fun, have that adventure. Do it today, especially because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1:The next thing that you need to stop doing if the age is 60 is neglecting your health. We wrongly look at retirement and think, okay, I might have between 15 and 25, maybe even 35 years ahead of me. That might be true, but how many of those years are healthy years? We need to ask ourselves once I lose my health, what's the quality of life like after that? Sure, I might get 30 years, but how many of those are healthy years where I can actually do the things that I want to do. So stop neglecting your health. Start walking, start swimming, start lifting weights, start doing things that not only will bring you more health in the future, but will bring you more health, more energy, more vitality today.
Speaker 1:One of the best things you can do for your retirement, for yourself, is to give yourself that healthy, energized body, because without it doesn't matter how much you have in your portfolio, doesn't matter what your retirement plans are we're not actually going to be able to enjoy that. Let me give you an example. Would you prefer to have $20 million in your portfolio but poor health, low energy, chronically sick? Or would you prefer to have $1 million in your portfolio but you have vibrant health? You pop out of bed each morning eager to do the things that you're going to do that day, more than enough energy to get through those things and to fully 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 to choose that million dollars, but the health to fully enjoy what life has in store for us. Now, that's probably what we would choose when we hear this example, but unfortunately, I see too many people living in a way that seems to indicate they'd prioritize the former. They're prioritizing more money, more portfolio, more value in their financial plan and neglecting to do the things that are going to give them the health to actually enjoy those finances. Now, thankfully, these are not mutually exclusive things. You can both have your health and a significant portfolio balance. But make sure you are prioritizing your health so that you can both enjoy today and enjoy your future in retirement.
Speaker 1:The next thing that you should stop doing after the age of 60 is you should stop caring what others think. Now, of course, this is no excuse to be rude. This is no excuse to do things that are not kind of things to do, but we should stop caring what other people think. And now you might look at me and say James, you're 35 years old, what do you know about caring what others think after the age of 60? And you're exactly right. I personally don't have those experiences. But experiences. But, as I mentioned, I've worked with hundreds of people in their 60s and beyond, and not to mention, there's plenty of research that supports this.
Speaker 1:Bronnie Ware wrote a very well-known book and in it she lists the five regrets of the dying. The number one regret by far is people say they wish they had the courage to live true to themselves instead of doing the things that people expected of them. Or, in other words, people cared far too much about the expectations of others and they allowed those expectations to drive the things that they personally were doing. And then one day they wound up on their deathbed and they were reflecting on their life, and the number one regret of these people was they wish they hadn't done that. So how can we stop caring what other people think about us and start doing the things we want to do in our retirement years? The next thing we should stop doing after the age of 60 is stop watching the doom and gloom news.
Speaker 1:Now, this is not saying don't be informed. This isn't saying don't watch the news, but what it is saying is, once you're watching the news to an extent that your entire worldview, your entire level of happiness or lack thereof, is driven by what you're viewing on TV, that day that might be something you should stop doing. Have you ever known anyone that said they stopped watching the news? I haven't. My guess is you haven't either, but I know plenty of people who said that once they stopped watching the news, that was one of the best things they've ever done for themselves.
Speaker 1:Now, this isn't a political statement, because I have clients on the left and I have clients on the right, and they're all wonderful people, but something that's in common is I can tell very much so when they do too much watching of the news, because the conversations we have about their portfolio, about the world, about the things that they're concerned about, is occupying all of their attention. And while we're trying to plan for this wonderful retirement, this wonderful opportunity to do things with the people they love, there are fears about what's going on that disallow them or prevent them from doing the things they could be doing. And those fears, of course, are all fueled by where they're spending their attention. So, be informed, absolutely know what's going on, but at a certain point, if your retirement, if your life, is suffering because of where you're spending your attention, it might be time to ask yourself is there a better way I can spend my attention? Can I set my sight on better things? Is there a way that I can be intentional with the thoughts that I have, as opposed to having my thoughts delivered to me by whatever news program I choose to tune into, and for those of you that might have trouble doing this, just ask yourself a simple question what positive impact upon you or the community around you has you tuning into this doom and gloom news actually had? There's been no positive impact. There's been no action you've taken to be part of the change, to be part of a solution. Is it really that beneficial? If not, can we set that aside and start to think about all the wonderful things that you could be doing with your time and with your retirement years? The next thing that you should stop doing after the age of 60 is stop neglecting your financial plan. Why after 60? Well, after 60, of course, you're getting pretty darn close to those retirement years, if you're not already there.
Speaker 1:The importance of a financial plan, the importance of knowing what you need to do to support the rest of your life, once you're no longer working, that obviously becomes magnified. But here's the thing. There's a dichotomy out there. You see a lot of people who spend 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 on what their plan is going to be, and that leads to disaster. Failing to plan, of course, is planning to fail. We don't want that. But on the flip side, I see far too many people who view everything through the lens of their financial plan. When they talk about taking a vacation, they want to know, well, what's the impact of that on the potential Roth conversions. I can do this here. When they talk about spending more to do things they want to do, all they can think about is what's the long-term impact on my financial portfolio if I were to do this Now. Of course, these questions are valid to an extent, but when people process everything through, what's the financial impact? How is this going to help me optimize or not optimize the financial side of things? We've missed the bigger picture.
Speaker 1:The sign of a great financial plan is a life well-lived. So if you're so focused on the financial part of that plan that you can't focus on the life well-lived part of it, we're missing it. So, yes, have a plan, have contingencies in place for if things don't go according to plan, but then live your life. Then do the things that you want to do, because if we're so focused on the financial that we miss out on life, we're not going to be in a good spot, but to the same effect. If we're so focused on life that we never get around to the financial, that's not going to be great either. So once you're 60 and above, you absolutely need to get that plan in place that makes sure that you're tying together the financial aspects with what you want to do so that you can be fully freed up to enjoy everything that retirement has to offer. Then, finally, the last thing that you should stop doing once you're over 60 is stop making decisions as if you will live forever.
Speaker 1:Once we're 60 or above, mortality becomes something that's a little bit more top of mind. Maybe we've lost parents by this point, or siblings, or friends or co-workers, so we see this all around us In. Rationally, we know that we're not going to live forever, but we still continue to make decisions as if we are. In my experience, I think one of the best things that we can do to enjoy our life is to realize our life is not going to last forever. So can you ask yourself what if you 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? It's not feasible to think that every single day we're going to live fully like that.
Speaker 1:But if you do ask yourself that question and you do spend some time thinking about it the things you would do, the things you would say, the people you would talk to is there any reason you can't do some of those things today? Is there any reason you can't prioritize some of that or plan for some of that now? If we don't ever ask ourselves some of those questions, we push 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 something happens that prevents us from doing the things that we could have done had we simply prioritized them at a younger age. One of the best ways that we can fully appreciate what we have in front of us is to truly recognize that we won't have that forever, whether that's our health, whether that's our relationships, whether that's our own life. Even. How can we be fully aware of that, so that can inform more intentional and better living today and we can start getting the most out of our retirement years as we possibly can. So that's it for today's video. Once you're 60 or above, these are things you can stop doing, because if you stop doing these things, we can more fully prioritize the things we should be doing to get the most out of life with our money.
Speaker 1:Root Financial has not provided any compensation for and has not influenced the content of any testimonials and endorsements shown. Any testimonials and endorsements shown have been invited, have been shared with each individual's permission and are not necessarily representative of the experience of other clients. To our knowledge, no other conflicts of interest exist regarding these testimonials and endorsements. Hey everyone, it's me again for the disclaimer. Please be smart about this. Before doing anything, please be sure to consult with your tax planner or financial planner.
Speaker 1:Nothing in this podcast should be construed as investment, tax, legal or other financial advice. It is for informational purposes only. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ready for Retirement podcast. If you want to see how Root Financial can help you implement the techniques I discussed in this podcast, then go to rootfinancialpartnerscom and click start here, where you can schedule a call with one of our advisors. We work with clients all over the country and we love the opportunity to speak with you about your goals and how we might be able to help. And please remember, nothing we discuss in this podcast is intended to serve as advice. You should always consult a financial, legal or tax professional who's familiar with your unique circumstances before making any financial decisions.
