Category Archives: Health

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends

Early Retirement Lifestyle, Health, Retire Often,

I don’t always pursue paying opportunities of interest and passion in my early retirement. But when I do I prefer being healthy enough to do it. Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends.

So you may be wondering why the play on good health. It seems that good health or at least not having bad health is key to living the retired lifestyle you dreamed of. Particularly those who wish to work at something new in their retirement according to a recent survey of retiring boomers.

The study by Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement – “New Expectations, New Rewards: Work in Retirement for Middle-Income Boomers” finds that Middle-income Boomers view employment as a part of the retirement experience. Of which I, Leisure Freak Tommy with my “retire early and often” mantra just can’t help but smile to know I am not as big a freak as I thought I was.

This may have surveyed Boomers. But the results should apply to any retiring generation. People are people. The survey found that 28%, almost a third of retired Boomers said they are now employed or have been employed for pay during their retirement. Of those currently employed, 61% work because they want to. Not need to work. Oh yes, the true definition of retirement: The absence of needing to work defines retirement, not the absence of working.

The survey dug deeper. It found that 59% worked for non-financial reasons. Like remaining physically active, to have a sense of purpose, and/or staying mentally alert. Finally I want to also list here that 78% of these employed retirees state they are as satisfied or more satisfied with their work when compared to their pre-retirement job or career.

A whopping 32% reported they were much more satisfied now than their pre-retirement career. All of this is exactly what my experience has been. But I now want to get to the purpose of this post. With all the wonderful results for the 28% who successfully pursued paying opportunities of interest and passions. What of the rest of the survey respondents?

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends Because Poor Health Crushes Plans.

Of the surveyed retired Boomers who have not or are not currently engaged in paying work almost half (48%) would like to pursue paying opportunities but can’t, more than not because of health reasons.

It is bad enough to not need to work and having dreams of an encore career crushed by having to sit it out due to poor health but it is a very raw situation for those who need to work for pay to supplement their retirement income.

  • For many of the surveyed retirees they wanted to work longer but found themselves retiring earlier than planned due to poor health reasons. In total, 69% said they had to retire earlier than expected. Of that a huge 79%, almost eight out of ten people retired for reasons beyond their control like personal health reasons (39%), having to care for a loved one (9%), or being laid off (19%).
  • Of all the surveyed retired middle-income Boomers who had never worked for pay in retirement, half (48%) would like to work but can’t, either because of their own health reasons (35%), the health of a loved one (5%) or because they can’t find a job (8%). Health reasons is the biggest issue keeping retirees from finding any kind of retirement work.
Health has to be a higher priority.

We spend a lot of energy and planning setting the perfect frugal lifestyle budget, paying off all debt and keeping it paid off, and saving/investing a large percentage of our income to reach our early retirement and financial independence goals. But how much are we doing to insure we are as healthy as we want to be and need to be when the time comes to live the lifestyle that we envisioned and created? It is never too late to start taking our Health seriously and making it a priority.

  • Stop smoking. Why keep doing something you know is slowly killing you.
  • Don’t drink too much alcohol. Moderation is the key.
  • Eat healthy. We all know we can’t get away with eating Pizza like a college student anymore. Make an effort to eat better.
  • We should continue to exercise daily and plan for it to be part of our envisioned retirement lifestyle. Ride your bicycle, hike, use the stairs, and join a gym if that is what it takes to keep you motivated.
  • Get your Medical checkups. Get your physical exams, colonoscopies, mammograms, etc. as recommended. We never know when something goes wrong with us medically. Catch it early and chances are it won’t ruin the rest of your life or crush your retirement dreams.
  • Correctly take your prescribed medication. Pay attention to the directions and make sure you take them as recommended and take them regularly.
  • Drink more water. Time to move away from soft drinks and energy drinks.
  • Get plenty of sleep. More and more the importance of getting enough sleep comes up as important to good health.
Final Comments

The survey was targeting the most current group of retirees who happen to be Boomers. I hope that seeing “Boomer” didn’t turn any of my non-boomer readers off from reading the rest of this post because the same issues will be true for the next generation coming behind the Boomers. Check out the survey. It is an easy read and has some interesting findings.

Stay Healthy my Retiring Friends, no matter what generation you are or how young you are when you can pull retirement off.

Do you put your Health as a high priority just like you do your finances?

Pay Yourself First is More than Money

Health, Non-financial Aspects of retirement, , , ,

In the financial independence world we hear a lot about pay yourself first. But pay yourself first is more than money. Unfortunately setting a budget, living a smart-frugal life, paying off debt, saving and investing our money is what we put our highest focus on. For many years that is exactly what I did. What about our health? Shouldn’t that also be just as important? Is it a coincidence that Health and Wealth are only separated by a single letter?

LiveHealthy-pay yourself first is more than moneyWhile I was in my second retirement over the last several months I had the time to make my health my primary focus. I did this by exercising every day for 2 to 3 hours. I was successful in losing 40 pounds and knocking several years off my age. I still have a ways to go to reach my health goals. But now that I have started this new side hustle it isn’t as easy to pull off. My struggle to pay myself first with dedicating time to exercising after work is what made me take a little self-assessment of my financial independence pay myself first short-comings.

Pay Yourself First is More than Money- Time For Self Assessment

  • I enjoy and look forward to my bi-annual meeting with my financial adviser. We go over my fund performance and discuss investment strategy and goals going forward.
  • I don’t feel the same about my bi-annual doctor appointment for blood tests. Where we also meet to discuss my health, what I am doing to improve it and strategies to meet my health goals. I always dread going in. Perhaps because I wasn’t making any improvement until these last several months.

 

  • I will without fail track my spending and saving. I never miss a beat with my finances. I eagerly look forward to my financial statements.
  • I am less than committed to tracking my exercise for the day and any health gains or loses. It can always wait and when I am tired or busy with anything else. When busy I put exercise as secondary. Not much to track anyway. I don’t hold myself accountable for my health goals.
Bingo. My brain says there is a problem

I have only worked 5 days at this full-time side hustle. I admit that the first two days I did come home and just told myself it is alright to not exercise. Just relax and chill after a rewarding but long day. I thought a lot about this over the weekend. Dammit! I come to realize that my health is just as important as my wealth. I better start treating it that way. I have to start treating it as paying myself first just like the financial stuff.

All the thinking I did about saving my side hustle income in a 401K to shield it from taxes this year and not one minute worrying about fitting in a sufficient amount of time to exercise daily. I basically lost all the weight that I had gained working until retirement number two for these exact lack of exercise reasons and I don’t want to gain it back. I feel healthy now but I won’t for long if I don’t stick to it.

Pay Yourself First is More than Money, it’s Also About Your Health

Making the pay myself first health and exercise plan
  • I made a scaled down version of my larger and longer exercise routine so that I now commit to at least an hour after work. I have set that time as my own from 6:00 to 7:00 PM during the week.
  • I started tracking my exercise and health gains during my retirement for the first time. I will now continue to do the same while working this side hustle to hold myself accountable.
  • I will honestly communicate with my doctor instead of just getting through it as quickly as I can. I will be a fully active participant in this bi-annual get together which is done for me in the first place. I was so stupid!
  • I will work to improve my healthy diet knowledge and start incrementally moving to a more healthy diet.
  • I will read my Health related magazines more in-depth instead of gleaning through them. Maybe learn something. My doctor had recommended my using and joining (membership) a company called “Life Extension” for both the periodicals and the vitamins they offer. I also recommend them to anyone who wants improved health and knowledge. (BTW, Full disclosure. I do now have an affiliation with Life Extension. Although this is a personal recommendation based on my own use of their products, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you use these Life Extension links or the Life Extension Ad in the sidebar to place an order. Do your research and if you decide to use their products follow all instructions and consult your doctor when recommended.)
Conclusion

Pay yourself first is more than money. It also includes our health by paying ourselves with the time and commitment to be the healthiest that we can be. What good will wealth do anyone if their health is poor and they are unable to enjoy the freedom that financial independence will give? Aside from the misery that poor health can cause, all the effort to reach financial independence wasn’t just to hand it over to cover high medical costs due to preventable health issues.

Do you struggle to commit to exercise and a healthy lifestyle because you are too busy or do you have it down and can share how you are able to stay committed to your personal staying healthy plan?