The Death of Retirement

Retirement should be your last breath. If you’re under 45 and think this article doesn’t apply to you – it does.

I plan to work until I die.  Whenever I happen to mention it in conversation, the person I am talking to looks at me like I’ve just told them I regularly smoke crack. As a Pretiree, my approach to retirement differs significantly from most others.  Why? I don’t believe in retirement.  I think it’s a myth and buying into it will put my finances, family and happiness at risk.  Here is why:


The Retirement Myth
What we’ve been sold since our first day of work is that if we work hard and contribute to our retirement savings diligently, we will be rewarded with “golden years” filled with time and freedom to pursue our hobbies and dreams. Sounds great!  There’s a small problem. Today’s reality is significantly different from the sales pitch. The traditional retirement model worked 50 years ago, but now it is broken. Quite simply – the numbers just don’t add up anymore.

The Numbers Behind Modern Retirement
Advances in healthcare have afforded us longer lifespans made up of healthier years.  That’s fantastic, but how do we pay for the additional years we live beyond age 65?

The Simple Dollar points out that when the national US retirement age of 65 was established for the Social Security Act in 1935 (over 75 years ago!), the average American lifespan was 61.7 years. Today, we still think of retirement age as 65, but the average lifespan is now 78 years—16 years more. Also, note that you were likely to die BEFORE you retired back then, so saving wasn’t really much of an issue.

Today, assuming you start working at age 20 and retire at the typical age of 65, you need to save for a minimum of 16+ years retirement. Or, in the case of my grandmother who recently turned 90, she needed to save for 25+ years of retirement. That’s the equivalent of 55% of the total years she worked!

The Economic Realities of Retirement
As our economy shifts from manufacturing to knowledge-based work, people are more likely to change jobs frequently over their careers. The average person will change jobs 10-15 times over the course of their career.   The notion of “job security” and staying with the same company throughout your career is outdated and unrealistic.  People simply don’t work at places long enough to realize traditional retirement benefits, even if the benefits are available.

Due to current economic conditions, the emphasis on personal responsibility for your financial future has become critical. Mix in questionable social security, stock market volatility and the disappearance of the corporate pension and it becomes clear that the traditional retirement safety net has some major holes in it.

So where does that leave us?  For most, the notion of continuing to work after 65 is undesirable at best and a personal nightmare that keeps them up at night at worst.  Buying into a model of working to age 65 as a “hard stop” date has other consequences that many tend not to realize until it is too late.

The Consequences of Buying Into an Outdated Model
When we accept traditional retirement as our goal, we agree to exchange our time and energy while we are in our prime for less valuable time and energy when we are older and our possibilities for enjoying our free time are limited. For instance, it is highly unlikely that I would take up surfing in my 60s but I was able to take it up (and enjoy it) in my 30s.

With our eye on retirement at 65, we also agree to focus the majority of our time and energy on work at a time when our family needs us most. In exchange, we are promised a large block of time later in life when our children are grown and out of the house building their own lives.  It is also possible that by that time our marriage has broken and we have few friends left because all we learned how to do during our prime years was give ourselves to work and not to each other.

By accepting traditional retirement as our goal, we are also buying into a culturally-imposed “expiration date” of age 65 that is based on a reality that hasn’t existed in 40 years. For example, if someone had spent their years from 18 to 65 doing physical labour in a factory, they would likely be in a position that would render them physically unable to do their job properly and therefore should stop at 65.  For the majority of workers these days, this is far from the reality. Some estimates cite the percentage of knowledge workers as high as 45% of the US labour market. Knowledge work is very different from manufacturing in that it is not as physically demanding and tends to be intellectually stimulating and provides us with a means to engage with others.

If 50 is the new 30, then it stands to reason that many 65 year olds are still able to contribute significantly in a modern work environment. If we, and our brains, are vital at 65 why can’t we can keep going if we want to?

In fact, keeping some sort of engagement with the working world might just be the thing that we need to stay mentally and socially engaged in order to fight off the effects of aging.

Changing Our Perceptions of Retirement
Instead of accepting a model that doesn’t fit our reality when it comes to work and when to stop, why can’t we change the terminology and therefore how we think about it?  When you break it down, retirement is the most common form of financial independence.  Instead of the current all-or-nothing model, why can’t we work toward increasing amounts of financial independence as we progress through our careers and our lives? Why can’t we view financial independence on a spectrum rather than the all or nothing approach that is currently in play?

A New Model to Replace Retirement
If we focus on financial independence through earning, investing and spending wisely then we really can have it all – now AND in the future. The result will be a more fluid mix of work and free time to do typical “retirement” type activities, like travel, pursue hobbies and spend time with those we love. We call it Pretirement.

Retirement as we’ve known it all our lives no longer exists and that’s ok.  In fact, the death of retirement might just mean that was have a chance at living more fulfilled lives because we won’t be saving it all until the end like our parents and grandparents did.  If that means working a bit more when we’re older, that’s ok too.  We no longer have an expiration date for working. We can allow ourselves to ease out of work and into financial independence based on our personal needs and desires, not some arbitrary number.

I personally hope never to retire.  I want to continue to contribute until I die. As Loretta LaRoche put it, “retirement should be your last breath.” It’s time to let go of how things have always been done.  It’s time to write some new history.  Are you willing to accept the realities and make them work to your advantage?  If you are, there is no better time to be in the working world. You can choose to pursue your career in any way you choose with no fear of the hard stop.  Doesn’t that feel better already?

To living life now,

Shannon & Diana

Top Travel Products 2012 – Luggage and Bags Category

Travel is a huge part of many Pretirement plans. We travel a lot, so we’ve put together our Top Travel Products picks for 2012 to share. Today, we’ll start with luggage and bags, the foundation of travel products. Whether you’re traveling for a weekend get-away or a multi-month, multi-country adventure these are the bags and accessories to take with you!

Top Travel Products: Luggage & Bags

Heys Packing Cubes $$
Heys Packing  Cubes will change your traveling life – seriously.  Not only do they allow for organized packing so that everything fits in ‘blocks’ into your suitcase but when you arrive at your destination simply take out each cube and place it on the shelf or in  drawers. No more unpacking and repacking. (These cubes also provide peace of mind that no large insects or other critters get into your clothes).

We have a set of 3 (small, medium and large) for each family member and everyone gets their own color for easy recognition. The beauty of the cube comes down to this. Can’t find something? You know immediately which cube to go to.

 

Tumi Hanging Travel Kit $$$
These cases are on the pricey side, but worth the investment.  They are well designed for maximum capacity and efficiency. We can’t believe how much you can get into this little bag!  The Tumi is also waterproof so if anything spills inside, you’re safe. And it has a few pockets and compartments that make it easy to organize. Make sure to get the bag with the hook. It hangs from virtually any fixture or can sit on the counter. We have always found a place to hang it in the bathroom, which means it’s off the counter giving us a lot more room! And it’s also out of reach of little hands.

 

Heys Hardside Spinner $$
The Heys Hardside Spinner is Diana’s favorite luggage because when they open up they become two drawers (due to their hard case). If you’re staying in a place that’s short on space open the suitcase, tuck it under the bed and there are your drawers. Bonus: As it is Heys brand the Heys packing cubes fit perfectly inside!

 

 
Ogio Terminal Bag $$
Shannon’s luggage of choice is the Ogio Terminal Bag because of the sheer amount of stuff you can cram into it and the mesh packing panels on the inside.  Also,  it’s rugged enough to handle anything baggage carriers can throw at it and be pulled successfully along a dirt road once you reach a remote destination.

 

 

Heys xScale Luggage Scale $

This is the world’s smallest portable luggage scale and it’s digital! With airlines being so strict on suitcase weight these days, this is an essential. Know the exact weight of each bag before you leave for the airport. If you use Heys packing cubes, simply swap cubes between suitcases until the weight is evenly distributed and under the required allowance.

 

 

Adidas Sackpack $
These type of bags are typically found on soccer fields and at swim practice, but they make a great beach bag as well. We love them because they are lightweight, compact and big enough to fit the beach essentials. Just throw one on your back and go!  This bag is a low-priced alternative so if you happen to lose it you won’t be heartbroken, either.

 

 

Happy travels!

P.S. In case you were wondering, all the products included here are simply because we love them.  There were no kickbacks or anything of the like involved!

Train Yourself to Do More in Less Time with Productivity Sprints

There is a brand new video on the Pretirementliving.com home page. We think it communicates “what Pretirement is all about” better than anything we’ve produced before. In fact we’d love your feedback on what you think of it!

So, what does the video have to do with your productivity? It reminded us of a key productivity tactic that we haven’t used in awhile. We call them “productivity sprints”. You see, we turned the video around in 3 days including storyboarding, scripting, design and production. It required a full-on sprint to get it done. It was stressful and challenging, but it was also  rewarding and we’re really happy with how it turned out!

Productivity sprints go directly against the traditional approach to project management. People assume that creative projects need time to develop and take shape and that they need be meticulously created and continually massaged to get to their final form. This project reminded me that not all projects are like that. All the massaging and letting things take shape isn’t possible with a tight timeline. These type of projects require sitting down and just getting it done. For many projects, a tight timeline can create better outcomes than if you had all the time in the world.

Of course, as with running sprints, you don’t do productivity sprints every day (would only lead to burn-out), but every so often they are a great way to up your productivity game.

The tight deadline we had for the video was external, but is a great idea to set tight timelines for certain internal projects just to achieve the same effect. Just make sure you’re accountable to someone external for the deadline so you can’t let yourself off the hook (see the bottom of the post if you need someone to keep you in line)!

Pretirement is about creating time. In order to do that we have to be able to do more in less time. Of course, outsourcing to other people to do the work for you is optimal, but not always an option. You have to do at least some of the work yourself and the goal is to get it done as quickly as possible so you can get back to living.

Heightened productivity doesn’t just happen magically. It takes practice and training. By employing productivity sprints to your training, you’ll get that much further ahead faster!

Ready to take this week’s Productivity Sprint Challenge?
Step 1. Take one of your deadlines and cut in half (at least).
Step 2. Tell someone the new deadline or tell us in the comments section or email us at pretirement (at) ontrackco.com. You better believe we’ll follow-up to see if you were true to your word!
Step 3. Get to work!!

On Traveling and Letting Go of Expectations

I’m a Pretiree, dammit. I’m living in paradise and life should be awesome! Except it isn’t, yet. Before you stop reading or find a way to virtually smack me, let me qualify that. It’s not bad…don’t get me wrong. I’m living in a beautiful little surf town in Costa Rica for the next 3 months. The awesomeness of that fact isn’t lost on me.

However, I’ve been getting a bit down lately because things aren’t going exactly the way my husband and I planned this trip. I figured that many of you could understand because you may be like me – a Type A Planner. Planning is WHAT I DO BEST and when plans don’t work out the way I..well…planned, it frustrates me to no end.

You see, coming to Costa Rica is what I consider a retreat every year. It is a time I set aside to get away from the typical pressures of everyday life so I can really focus on the important things – my family, my health and building my business. In past years, these elements have fallen into place rather easily.

One of my 'offices' in Costa Rica

I have been particularly focused on the health and wellness aspects since we arrived last week. In my quest, I vowed to meditate and do yoga every day we are here. So far, I have meditated 3 times and done yoga 0 times. Yesterday I worked 14 hours and barely even went outside. Um, not winning.

Then, there’s the food. Costa Rica offers an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and it can be a culinary adventure to eat here! In fact, a friend of mine who lives down here runs a world-class raw, vegan chef service complete with celebrity clients. Did I mention that this friend also has a gorgeous bikini model body despite being in her late 30′s and the mother of two? This also inspired me, or made me jealous enough to take action…but really what’s the difference?

I decided to make only super-healthy meals for my family from then on. The first thing I did was voraciously scour the Internet for raw, vegan recipes and soon enough my Pinterest Food Board was teeming with them! And that’s pretty much where it ended. I have made all of 0 of those recipes so far (but they look really great, you should try some!). Oh, and I had fried cheese for dinner last night. Woops.

Then, last Saturday, I went to the weekly organic market held on the beach. “Wellness, here I come”, I thought. I would buy a ton of healthy, organic vegetables to make all my awesome raw, vegan Pinterest recipes! Yes! What I didn’t know is how seriously people in this town take their organics. There was a minor free-for-all once the green light was given to start shopping! It was a bit like a crunchy version of Black Friday at WalMart.

I got caught up in the moment and my competitive nature *may* have gotten the best of me. The results?:

- $45 worth of vegetables (not as many as you might think, the prices were at Whole Foods level)
- 2 vegan “burger” patties that tasted like cardboard
- $14 jar of almond butter that tasted like ground-up cardboard (the ultimate prize!)

Shortly after opening the almond butter, my husband smashed it onto the floor “by accident”. I have a suspicion it was the on purpose type of accident so I wouldn’t make him eat the rest of it – because we paid $14 for it, dammit!

We’ve also had transportation challenges since we arrived. Outside of a $100 a day car rental, we have no way to get my son from our vacation rental to the preschool we have him enrolled in. The rental was supposed to be an expensive, but necessary short-term solution until we found a car or ATV to buy. This has been much more difficult than expected with lots of time wasted chasing dead ends. We are living in a small community and there are only so many vehicles to go around. I shouldn’t have assumed we could just snap one up like we would on Craigslist in Vancouver.

What makes it worse is that there is actually a solution to the school transport issue. My son could take the bus. There is a bus service to the school and about 15 kids his age (3 and 4 year olds) take it every day. But I can’t bring myself to put him on it. It is just too much. He’s only 3! Isn’t it enough to send him off to school in a foreign country every day?

I suppose what I need to remember is that the chaos and figuring things out through trial and error is actually what traveling is all about – new and unexpected experiences and stretching outside of your comfort zone. If I wanted to know exactly what was going to happen everyday (or at least have the illusion of such knowledge) I should have stayed home. I also have to remember to take it one step at a time. The point is not to get it all done in a week. I have 3 months. That’s the beauty of Pretirement. There is time.

So, I will carry on and hope the transportation gods smile upon us. For a good day at the ‘office’ I will reward myself and surf, hoping the waves will be forgiving. I will rejoice in the fact that my son is being taken care of and taught by loving people who are introducing him to new experiences. Most of all, I will look up at the sky and remember to not focus too much on the obstacles and just keep on living.

Update: I wrote this post a couple of days ago and hadn’t had a chance to post it yet. Our luck has turned and we found a bought an ATV (yay) and can now get to my son’s school and to all the neighbouring beaches. I’ll try the organic market again tomorrow and use a bit more restraint with my purchases! Have a great weekend everybody.

Our Changing Roles as Adult Children

Our roles as adult children are changing.  For many, there is a new role of caregiver for aging parents.   Judy Brooks from Nurse Next Door did a great job in her recent post re: this important issue.

Here’s an Excerpt:

…Since then I have been so acutely aware that, more often than not, conversations with women involve’ what they need to do; what they haven’t done; or where they are struggling with, caring for their parents.

The conversation has shifted. We moved from trying to figure out how to be good parents to trying to figure out how to be good children again. Caregiver children.

Read the full article here.

 

 

Business in Vancouver’s Forty Under 40 Awards Celebration

I’m en route to Vancouver today with my husband to attend Business in Vancouver’s Forty under 40 Awards Celebration. My parents were also supposed to be with us but a quick change to Plan B had to happen this morning with my son getting sick and my parents needing to stay home. As my mum said “life is so unpredictable with young children.”

It sounds like an amazing event; a who’s who of Vancouver business people coming together to recognize BC’s best and brightest in business. Jen Schaeffers recommends that “The 40 Under 40 Awards is one of Vancouver’s premiere networking opportunities.” Good times!

I’m absolutely honoured to be one of the forty being recognized, and in such stellar company as Val Litwin, Erin Chutter, and Andrea Baxter. I am also looking forward to connecting with one of the coolest ‘new kids on the block’ Jillian Walker and hopefully putting a face to the name Jen Schaeffers.

But what’s really on my mind is how one person is very much missing from this event. The one person that should be standing right beside me, who deserves this award just as much as I do.  That person is Shannon Ward, my business partner, my work-spouse, the person who has traveled with me through every single part of the roller-coaster entrepreneurial dream/hell of building a business (three times over)! When thinking it through, in my entrepreneurial career of almost 10 years I’ve always been recognized with Shannon, never as a single entity. I think this is the reason I am a bit uncomfortable with the spotlight only on one of us. With any great business and great business partner, the responsibility is equal and that is something that has been the key to our success from the beginning. We talked about this when we were interviewed by Momcafe on the “Secrets Behind a Successful Business Partnership” and have written about it on our site . Sadly, she can’t make it to the ceremony as she is on a 3 month surf trip to Costa Rica. Darn Pretirement. ;-)

Not only does it take a kick-butt partner, it also takes a close network of very trusted and talented people to succeed in today’s business environment and I’ve been lucky enough to be surrounded by such people. As I stand up to be recognized, I will be thinking of the hard-working, dedicated business people that have inspired me, taught me, mentored me: Judy Brooks, Jill Earthy, Cybele Negris, Brenda Moretto, Michelle Kelsey, Tacey Gosling, and Tara Morris to name just a few. I am a huge believer in the power of mentors in your life. If you don’t have one, please find one!

Then there is my biggest motivation, my family – including my 5 year old son who, when he saw the Okanagan Business paper in our living room that had my picture on the front page, promptly squealed “Mommy, is that you?!” I proudly said, “Yes it is,” thinking it must be very cool to see your mom appear in a newspaper. As I was waited for some profound statement to come from his little one-tooth missing mouth, he pondered. Then he said “Wow, Mommy. Hmmm. Wow. It just doesn’t look anything like you.”

There’s nothing like children to put things in perspective… and to make sure you always have a Plan B.

Victoria to Costa Rica Update – Legs 3 & 4

I had wanted to update you all yesterday on how the last two legs of the journey to Costa Rica went, but we’ve been without Internet at our vacation rental.  In fact, the landlord is MIA so we’re lucky we even got into the place! The good news is we made it safe and sound.

The third leg of our journey was an overnight flight from Denver to San Jose, Costa Rica.  The flight went remarkably well and passed quickly with all of us sleeping some despite my 3 year old son lying down crammed between us. We got off the plane at 6 am local time and picked up our luggage. Then off to the rental car agency. Turned out the car we booked was a mini in all senses of the word. I immediately fell in love with it because it was so cute (and brand new) and called a Byr (it was named after Beer…awesome!). We packed all the luggage in (barely) and hopped in.  Well, I hopped in.  My 6’5″ husband attempted to pretzel himself into the car a few different ways but it just wasn’t happening.  So, we had to unload the car and give my little friend back in exchange for a small SUV.  Boo. Oh well, such is life when you marry a giant! It wouldn’t have fit surf boards anyway…

From San Jose, we started out on a 1.5 hour gorgeous and pot-hole filled drive to Puntarenas to catch a ferry to Paquera.  Luck was on our side and we just made the ferry. This pleased me greatly as no one should have to spend any significant amount of time in Puntarenas. It is truly Costa Rica’s armpit. The ferry ride is another gorgeous journey across from the mainland to the Nicoya Peninsula.  The ferry ride reminds me in some ways of the Tsawwassen/Swartz Bay run in BC., it’s as if the Gulf Islands were in the tropics.

Once on the peninsula, it was another 1.25 hour drive through palm trees and pot holes as my jet lagged son tried to sleep in the back of the car.  I’m surprised he doesn’t have whip lash with the way his unconscious head was bobbing around!

Today, it’s 32 degrees and sunny.  The weather is unlikely to change much in the three months we’re here.  We’re quickly getting settled and have already run into some friends. Next up, first surf session of the season (aka get consecutively pummeled and humbled by waves for a few hours). Oh well, I could use a good sinus rinse anyway after the last few weeks of winter!

Leg 3: Denver to San Jose

Leg 4: San Jose to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

The Journey from Victoria to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Leg 2 Victoria to Costa Rica Complete – Seattle to Denver

Leg 2 complete!  We made it from Seattle to Denver despite being separated on the plane and snow in both cities. About to grab a little dinner at the Denver airport while we wait for our red-eye to San Jose, Costa Rica. Watching the snow come down my fingers and toes are crossed we get out on time.  Next stop – sun!

Leg 2: Seattle to Denver

The Total Journey from Victoria to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Leg one: Victoria to Costa Rica

Hello from a hotel room in downtown Seattle! I’m writing this while watching the Golden Globes and eating Domino’s pizza in bed.  The pizza is a tradition for our family.  You see, the online ordering system for Dominos is just so awesome that every time we’re in the States we order their pizza just so we can go through the online experience!

My husband, son and I have just completed leg one of 3 (long) legs of travel from Victoria, BC to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.  The first leg tonight was a simple 3 hour boat ride. Tomorrow is where the interesting part begins – air travel with a 3 year old!

This is the third year we’ve made the long voyage to spend 3 months in a small community in Costa Rica.  We work while we’re there, but we also focused on aligning all of the areas of our lives that seem to fall out of line the rest of they year (and surf as much as possible). Can’t wait to get there!

The Entire Journey from Victoria, BC to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Tonight's Journey - Leg 1: Victoria to Seattle

Instead of micro-management, why not trust?

Instead of micro-management, why not trust?