Retirement should not be viewed as the third and final phase of life

Here are my top 3 takeaways following Episode 7 of the podcast with Dr Thomas Mathar

1. Have a meaningful connection to the future in order to balance pleasure and purpose.

A key component of this connection is understanding the importance of balance between pleasure and purpose. Happiness is found in the combination of both of these elements. Pleasure is the gratification we feel when we relax and enjoy ourselves. It is the moments of joy and contentment that come from activities that make us happy.

Purpose is the feeling of competence, usefulness, and worth that comes from activities that challenge us and help us grow. We must strive to find a balance between these two elements to ensure we are living our best lives.

Having a strong connection to the future will help us make better decisions about our money. We must let go of the past and make sure our money aligns with our values and what is important to us. We need to make sure that we are not spending too much, or too little, but instead finding the right balance.

It is important to remember that wealth is not necessarily a requirement for having a strong connection to the future. Age is also not the most important factor. What matters most is understanding what gives us joy and purpose in life. If we can identify this, we can ensure we are living our best lives and making the most of our retirement years.

In conclusion, having a strong connection to the future is essential for making the most of our retirement years. We must develop a mindset tool to help us make this connection and focus on finding a balance between pleasure and purpose. We must also make sure that our money aligns with our values and what is important to us. If we can do this, we can ensure we are living our best lives and making the most of our retirement years.

2. Experience life, not evaluate it.

As we enter our retirement years, it is important to remember that we should experience life and not just evaluate it. Too often, we become so focused on the evaluation of our lives and our goals that we forget to enjoy the present moment. We can become so wrapped up in the future that we forget to enjoy the present. To make the most of our retirement years, we must find the things that bring us joy and purpose and spend our money on them.

Paul Dolan’s work invites us to distinguish between how we evaluate our lives and how we experience them. This is an important concept to consider when making decisions about our future. We must evaluate our lives and our goals, but we should also take the time to experience the moments that bring us joy and gratification.

In addition to finding joy in the present moment, we must also consider how our money is spent in the future. We must make sure that our money aligns with our values and what is important to us. This will ensure that we are spending our money in a way that is meaningful to us and that we are making the most of our retirement years.

The idea of finding joy in the present moment and spending our money in a meaningful way is not an easy task. It takes time and effort to understand what brings us joy and purpose. However, if we can take the time to reflect on our experiences, we can make sure that our money is spent in a way that is meaningful to us and that our retirement years are filled with joy and purpose.

3. Write your own story.

One way to do this is through the technique of "predictive hindsight". This involves visualizing certain aspects of our future in creative ways and connecting to our future selves. By imagining what our lives will be like in 10 years time, we can start to think about what we want our lives to look like and what decisions we need to make now to get there. For example, we can think about where we will be living, who we will be spending time with, and what we will be doing day in and day out.

This technique can help us to create a story for our future selves and to think about how we can make the most of our money and our time. It can also help us to connect to our future selves and to think about what our future selves might be grateful for. By taking the time to think about our future, we can make sure that our stories are ones of joy, purpose, and fulfilment.

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that as human beings, we are storytellers, not calculators. We live for stories and find joy in them. By taking the time to write our own stories, we can make sure that our retirement years are filled with meaning and purpose.