Is what I have enough for retirement?
MOST people think that retirement is based on the money you have saved through a pension account.
Did I retire upon reaching the optional retirement age of 55 and receive a huge lump sum? Did I retire because my kids have all finished college and there were no more big ticket education expenses?
As I have mentioned in a previous article, I retired when my sons were just in their teens. My youngest was still in grade two.
My corporate career was full of promotion, emotion and celebration. Over the 22 years of my corporate life, I had 11 promotions (three of which as an expat), four resignations, an agonizing retrenchment and, finally, a happy retirement.
Coming out of the corporate world, I had enough courage and professional experience to pursue what I really wanted. It was a choice based on:
Passion (fire to become the person I want to be);
Ambition (desire to enrich myself so that I can enrich others); and,
Devotion (to my family, especially my sons, for them to become socially responsible, productive and God-fearing people).
It is true that, as a door closes, new windows of opportunity open, allowing us to pursue our ambitions, passions and devotions.
Now let me ask which is more risky: To stay in a job or to build a business?
Building a business is risky. But, staying in a job is riskier, especially in the long-term.
Why?
A job, even if managed well, has a terminal point—retirement. A business, if managed well, may go on to the next generation.
Tenure in a job is fixed—This is why it’s called an “employment contract.” Tenure in business is flexible.
In a company, there can only be one president, and many fall in line to take over. Are you ahead of that line in your company? If you set up your own businesses, you can be the president of all your companies. You determine who is next in line to replace you. Beyond 60 years old, the company will decide if it’s time for you to go. If you’re in business, even beyond your time, the company can go on.
But, there’s something worse. Staying on the job and not planning for life after retirement is the riskiest. You may not be entrepreneurs upfront, but you can always have an enterprising spirit. As I have always mentioned, there are four windows of opportunity to be rich. You can:
Win it (through lotto or by marrying a rich partner);
Wait for it (through inheritance from a long lost aunt or a beloved grandfather);
Wrestle for it (through crime, which is risky, immoral and highly discouraged);
Work for it (through career and/or business).
Do you know the difference between the rich and the wealthy? Rich means money. Wealthy means fulfilled. The rich is strong in the pocket, while the wealthy is strong in mind and heart. The rich has more money, while the wealthy has more time. The rich is motivated by pleasure, while the wealthy is motivated by passion and purpose. The rich lives in luxury, while the wealthy leaves a legacy. You are wealthy if you have something money cannot buy. To have enough and be a happy retiree, you need to fill your life with moments that excite you. You need to be fully loaded every day. You need to be balanced.
There are books that you write with your life regarding Family, Firm (work), Finances, Fitness and Faith. You’ve always heard from corporate people that they “want a balance of work (Firm) and Family.” In reality, it’s a choice you make, whether you want to give your family presents or family presence.
It is often said that “health (Fitness) is wealth.” But, in reality, we use our health (energy or effort) to create wealth. In our old age, we will use wealth to sustain our health.
There’s a wrong notion that wealth (Finances) is about having lots of money. Wealth is about having enough, especially in old age, to buy things that can make your life comfortable. Real wealth happens when you want what you have. Real wealth is about having close connections versus collections of things. What should stand out when we die is the prospect of having our name inked in the Book of Life, as evidenced by how we believed and lived our Faith in our heavenly Father. Rewrite your book today so you can be happy, healthy, wealthy and holy. This is more than enough.
I’ve realized that there are many legs to stand on in life, and that work (firm) is only one leg. It’s dangerous to build your life on only one leg. You need a minimum of two legs to keep you standing: in particular, faith and family. If you have three legs—faith-family-finances, or faith-family-firm, or faith-family-fitness—that’s a bonus and quite solid.
In my “How to Become a Happy Retiree” book, I mention that you retire not expire, you’re retired not retarded, you retire to be renewed. As I repeatedly say, you only retire from a job, but you never retire from life.
At the moment, I am building the next half of my life, intertwined with a rich and meaningful life. I did retire at 43 (14 years ago) without regrets. I actually plan to die in my 90s. Literally, I’m in my next life toward a full life.
As the saying goes: “In youth we learn, in age we understand.” This is more than enough.
(The author is dean of the Entrepreneurship Circle of Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Club and a lead advocate of Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship Foundation Inc.-Go Negosyo. He is also an adjunct faculty on Entrepreneurship at the Asian Institute of Management. For happy retiree and entrepreneurship seminar-workshops, call 0916-6725070 or email [email protected].)
