Meaning & Purpose in Retirement, Ep #6
In this episode of the One for the Money podcast, I share what you can do to ensure you have a fulfilling retirement. The process has less to do with money than you might think. In the tips, tricks, and strategies portion, I’ll share the first of many tax strategies as we approach the individual tax filing deadline of Monday, April 18th, 2022. You’ll learn the multitude of reasons you should seriously consider Roth IRAs for your children. Listen in to learn this and more!
In this episode...
- Looking back to look forward [01:15]
- Replacing your work identity [04:48]
- Preventing loneliness [07:55]
- Preparing your kids for retirement [11:38]
Meaning and purpose
A successful early retirement is way more than pursuing the correct financial strategies. It’s having a plan that enables you to do the things that matter most. In the inaugural episode of this podcast, I went over where happiness is ultimately derived. In this episode, I dive deeper into two of those areas: meaning and purpose.
You may be baffled by the idea that retirement can feel a bit depressing for some people. For early retirees, it can feel more so. We forget that we get a lot of meaning and purpose from our careers. Finding that same level of meaning and purpose in retirement doesn’t happen accidentally. It requires significant planning.
When you look up the word retirement, you’ll see images of people relaxing on a tropical beach or traveling the world. These images convey feelings of liberation, relaxation, happiness, and joy. But reality can be very different from what you see online. However, your retirement can be even more meaningful with the right type of planning.
Finding deep meaning
As I shared in the first episode, much of what makes us happy has nothing to do with money. True meaning doesn’t have to be something grand like solving world hunger. It can be as simple as spending more meaningful time with your family or volunteering for your community. Ideally, we can find an activity that provides meaning, purpose, and true fulfillment.
Another way retirees plan for success is by staying relevant and connected. As an early retiree, many of your friends and family will still work. Losing connections at the workplace can lead to increased feelings of loneliness. Because of that, it’s crucial to become involved with organizations before you retire so you can look forward to spending time with people you already know.
The exponent of time
In the episodes leading up to the 2022 personal tax filing deadline, April 18th, I’m going to be going over strategies to not only prepare you for early retirement but to do so in ways that may reduce the taxes you pay in the process. While our focus is on early retirement planning, you may also want to consider helping your children get started on their early retirement planning as well.
We always want to pay taxes when it’s to our advantage. Obviously, that would mean paying when income tax rates are the lowest. As a child, that rate could be as low as zero. Therefore, contributing to a Roth IRA as a child can mean never having to pay taxes on the amount contributed during this period. As an investor, the single most powerful thing you can do is increase your time horizon. By having your kids set up a Roth IRA, you give them the gift of decades more time for their investments to benefit from compound interest.
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