ABOUT THE GUESTS

Jan Cullinane

ABOUT Jan

ABOUT HOSTS

Joseph Anderson

ABOUT Joseph

Alan Clopine

ABOUT Alan

Published On

March 6, 2018

Best-selling author, retirement expert and fluent backward-speaker Jan Cullinane lets us in on how many of the Seven Secrets for a Happy, Successful Retirement have to do with money, and how many don’t. You won’t have to understand backward-speak to get it! Big Al’s got a whole new mindset for happiness after visiting South America, why it might be a mistake to get married later in life – or at all if you’re Joe – and the fellas discuss a gentleman who finds himself bored after early retirement.

Show Notes

(01:01) Big Al Returns from Chile, and Why Getting Married Later in Life Might be a Mistake
(11:24) Jan Cullinane – The First 3 Secrets for a Successful Retirement
(23:15) Jan Cullinane – The Final 4 Secrets for a Successful Retirement
(32:06) Bored After Retiring Early. What to Do?

Transcription

“My question is more of a strategy question, I guess.” “Now I want to retire and preserve my capital. I want to invest in options.” “I’d like to get some information if I can regarding donor-advised funds.” “Now I have a whole bunch of money in my IRA that, when I turn 70 and a half, it’s gonna kill me. How do I know how much money to move into a Roth?” Your Money, Your Wealth® listeners, it’s your turn! If you’ve got a burning money question, call (888) 994-6257 for your chance to have Joe and Big Al answer it live during Your Money, Your Wealth®. Whether it’s about retirement, investing, Social Security, taxes or preparing your portfolio for the inevitable market volatility, there’s a pretty good chance these fellas can give you the insight that will help you make better money moves. That number again is (888) 994-6257. (888) 994-6257 for your chance to have your question answered live on Your Money, Your Wealth®. And now, some important thoughts from today’s guest. Listen carefully!

“‘Knaht uoy yrev hcum rof gnivah em no ruoy wohs. Ti saw a tol fo nuf.” (laughs) I know, it sounds like gobbledygook, doesn’t it?” “It is so cool!” “That’s about as much understanding when I was in Chile, trying to speak Spanish.” – Your Money, Your Wealth ep. 158 highlights

That’s best-selling author, retirement expert and fluent backward-speaker Jan Cullinane. Find out what the heck she just said, today on the happiness episode of Your Money, Your Wealth®. Jan will let us in on how many of the Seven Secrets for a Happy, Successful Retirement have to do with money – and how many don’t. And you won’t have to understand backward speak to get it! Plus, Big Al’s got a whole new mindset for happiness after visiting South America, why it might be a mistake to get married later in life – or at all, if you’re Joe – and the fellas discuss a gentleman who finds himself bored after early retirement. C’mon get happy with these two, here are Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA.

1:55 – Big Al Returns from Chile, and Why Getting Married Later in Life Might be a Mistake

JA: All right. Well, Big Al’s back from Chile.

AC: Oh my goodness, what a good trip that was, Joe. Patagonia? Ever heard of it?

JA: Don’t they have a clothing line?

AC: They do, as well. It’s a company as well as the region. Yvon Chouinard, CEO and founder Patagonia, he fell in love with that area and hence named his company after it, Patagonia. But Chile, in case you don’t know, it’s on the western side of South America, and it’s long and skinny, and from a latitude standpoint, I think it’s the longest country in the world – I believe. That’s what I was told anyway. Fact check, don’t quote me, the Chileans told me that. (laughs)

JA: It’s already out there. It’s already out there. (laughs)

AC: (laughs) It’s too late! I can’t pull it back. Anyway, so we were in about the middle of the state.

JA: Is it a state or a country?

AC: Country. Sorry. I’m already blowing it. (laughs) It was a country, wasn’t a state. Anyway, and that’s the northern edge of Patagonia. We went to primarily a town called Futaleufú. Which I love saying. It rolls off the tongue.

JA: He’s been back like 5 days and I’ve heard Futaleufú so many times.

AC: It turns out it’s one of the rafting capitals of the world, Joe. And the reason we went is Anne’s cousin has lived down there on and off for the last 20 years. He used to be a river rafter, and he actually went down to teach the rafting companies 20 years ago how to be safer, have rescue rafts and stuff, and kayaks.

JA: Interesting guy?

AC: Very interesting. Yeah. Very interesting guy. And now he goes down there about six months out of the year, his name is Siever. He builds furniture and cabinets, not unlike your dad.

JA: Yeah. (laughs) Those two and J.C.

AC: Yeah right. (laughs) So Siever, this guy is a bigger than life guy. He’s a throwback from the wild west days. I just love to sit next to him and listen to stories. He’s just story after story, and I got nothing. He’s done his whole story about this and that…

JA: And you can talk about spreadsheets and your financial summits?

AC: Yeah and I’m really excited because I balanced the set of books a couple of weeks ago. (laughs)

JA: “Wanna see my ledger?” (laughs)

AC: (laughs) Yeah. I got to try out my Spanish though.

JA: How’d that work out?

AC: Better than expected, but woefully inadequate. I thought I would be clever when we went to a coffee shop, they call it cafe. And I could say “quiero un cafe.” “I want a coffee.” But I was trying to be more sophisticated because I just learned how to say “I wish to order.” And I would order some eggs, so I go, “qui sierra pedir huevos.” I thought I said, “I wish to order eggs.” You know what he said? He goes, “just tell me what you want.” (laughs) Okay, eggs.

JA: Your cousin, what, there’s no electricity? He just reads books?

AC: Correct. He’s built his one-room cabin. So one room, Joe.

JA: So that’s where you all stayed? It was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? You guys all cuddled up together? (laughs)

AC: (laughs) Yeah, 9 of us.

JA: (laughs) It’s a big bed!

AC: (laughs) It’s gigantic, huge! It’s not that big of a room, but one quadrant is the bed. It’s like a double bed, or king size, I don’t know, whatever. And the other quadrant is a dining table. It’s kind of like you might find the campground, everything is kind of like a log cabin. One quadrant is the wood burning stove and the kitchen, and the other quadrant is a little sitting area with a dresser. No bathroom. But he’s now he’s built a bathroom. But you have to walk outside. And he’s got solar power to do hot water and to run the refrigerator, but he doesn’t have any plugs. So lights, sun goes down, candles go up. And I guess he just reads at night. He’s usually there alone. We had nine people, that was a lot.

JA: He probably freaked out.

AC: Including his wife. So his wife Laura lives in Boston, schoolteacher, so they only see each other about two or three months out of the year.

JA: So that is the key component of this. That’s what makes a marriage last. (laughs)

AC: Right! Time away. (laughs) It’s a really good tip for you, Mr. Anderson.

JA: Yeah, still out there. (laughs) Didn’t you read something that it’s not good to get married? What does later in life mean? I think I’m still young.

AC: Well yeah, I have this article, “why getting married later in life can be a big financial mistake.”

JA: Yeah like when you’re 70.

AC: Well, not necessarily.

JA: Does it give ages?

AC: (laughs) So I gotta say, the article sort of caught my attention, and it makes a lot of good points, but you can’t make a blanket statement like that, because a lot of folks would be better off, financially, getting married. Especially when maybe one spouse doesn’t have a lot of money and might be relying on the other spouse’s Social Security, or pension, or whatever the case may be. With two spouses together, they’re in the married brackets. It’s the same tax rates as single, but it takes longer to get up to those higher rates. So you might actually pay less tax. On the other hand, if both spouses are very successful, they push each other up into higher married brackets, and they might pay more tax. And that’s the so-called marriage penalty.

JA: Yeah, that’s why I’m still single, Al. Because my first date, I have requirements. Please bring your Social Security statement… (laughs)

AC: Spreadsheets. (laughs)

JA: So I know that when I claim the spousal benefit it’s going to be enough to satisfy my needs.

AC: Right. Well good. And how’s that working out for you? (laughs)

JA: It’s working out just fine. (laughs)

AC: You’re still single. (laughs) I think if you had a cabin in Chile six months out of the year.

JA: I think that’s the next step!

AC: You could find someone that could tolerate you for two or three months.

JA: See? Perfect.

AC: Because then your spouse would be really excited to see you.

JA: Yeah and I’ll come home early and there will be Steve in my bed. (laughs)

AC: (laughs) I don’t need to know those details. But anyway, so Chile, it’s it’s a developed country, but it’s not quite the same as the US. Like for example, to get to Futaleufú, the road is out because of a mudslide. And so to get there, you have to take a plane, and then a bus, and then a ferry, and then another bus. And then on the way back, same thing in reverse. We took the bus to the ferry, and we were the last ferry of the group at 9 to get across the lake. And by the time we got there, the last bus had left. And that was like a 10. The next bus isn’t until 5 in the afternoon.

JA: This is a vacation.

AC: Yeah vacation.

JA: It just sounds awful. (laughs) Is there a Ritz anywhere?

AC: But no because then all you have to do is flash some Chilean pesos, and we got a ride in a pickup truck.

JA: In the back? (laughs)

AC: Yeah I rode in the back with Siever with all the suitcases, and I got to hear more stories. Again, I had nothing. I’m not going to repeat the stories because some of those were some activities earlier in life that were pretty interesting, I’ll put it that way.

JA: You learned a couple of things.

AC: Oh, I learned I got nothing other than spreadsheets. But whatever, it was fun.

JA: But you want to bring that slow, relaxing lifestyle back to Southern California.

AC: I do, I’m going to try.

JA: But isn’t Southern California pretty much already there? Pretty chill?

AC: Not as laid back as the Chileans.

JA: Well yeah because they don’t have running water. (laughs)

AC (laughs) So Siever, he does have running water, but there’s no water line. He’s got a waterfall at his property, and he just puts a little hose in a little pool. Gravity. That’s how it works.

JA: Yeah. Well, God bless you, man. It’s good to have you back.

AC: It’s fun to be back. I mean I really enjoyed the scenery, I knew I would. Whitewater rafting is great, hiking was great, the family time was great. What I didn’t expect was kind of falling in love with the people and the community and the happiness. People were really happy down there.

JA: Yeah, see, you don’t need a lot of money to be happy. Full circle. This is a financial show, not a travel show. (laughs)

AC: We’re going to change our show to be about happiness, not money. Turns out money is not the answer. (laughs)

JA: No, this is gonna be the Big Al show. I’m outta here. (laughs)

Southern California, getting the tools and confidence you need to make informed decisions for a happy retirement requires more than just listening to Your Money, Your Wealth®. There are plenty of opportunities for you to learn from our team in person at our two-day retirement courses, or at our free monthly Lunch ’n’ Learn events. All of our classes are designed to give you the information you need to help you plan for the retirement you’ve always dreamed of, in spite of market volatility. For dates, times and locations for our Lunch n Learn events and retirement classes in San Diego, Orange County or Los Angeles, just visit The Learning Center at YourMoneyYourWealth.com or call (888) 994-6257. That’s (888) 994-6257.

11:24 – Jan Cullinane – The First 3 Secrets for a Happy, Successful Retirement

JA: Alan, it is that time of the show.

AC: It is, Joe. We have Jan Cullinane. She’s an award-winning and best-selling author, speaker, consultant, and retirement expert. She’s got books that include AARP’s The Single Woman’s Guide to Retirement, New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life, and Retire Happy. Jan, welcome to the show.

JC: Well thanks, I’m so happy to be here, Joe and Al.

JA: Hey Jan, I gotta ask you this though? You speak fluently backward?

JC: I tried out with David Letterman and Stupid Human Tricks, but did not make it on the show, but had a fun time doing it. So it’s just something I could do from the time I was a child. I thought I’d be able to parlay it into some kind of million dollar gig, but in the end, it’s just been a lot of fun.

JA: Can you say “welcome back to Your Money, Your Wealth”?

JC: So welcome would be emoclew, back is kcab, to, ot, your, ruoy, money, yenom, your, ruoy, wealth, htlaew. So I kind of do it phonetically, I’m doing it in the same order as the sentence, but then say each word backward.

AC: Wow. So you must be a genius?

JC: I can just visualize it. I can visualize the words floating in front of me. Most people say “you must be dyslexic.” That’s nice you said I was a genius. “Are you dyslexic?” “No I can just kind of visualize pretty well.”

JA: I can’t even read forward. (laughs)

AC: You can’t read forward, that’s why you have me do the intro. (laughs)

JA: See, Jan, she’s making us happy, Al.

AC: I know, well that’s what I want to learn. I want to learn how to be happy. So how do we be happy in retirement?

JA: Well you know I’d say from all the research I’ve done, talking to thousands of people, writing these books, I’m going to boil that down to like Seven Secrets that you need in order to have sort of a happy retirement. And I know your title of your show is Your Money, Your Wealth, but I’m going to tell you that only one has to do with money, in terms of happiness, but you probably kind of know that at some level. So if we’re going to talk about, I’m going to call them The Seven Secrets for a Successful Retirement, the first and probably the most important is having strong social support. That is something that we all need to have. Loneliness can be a big issue. You think about people, and I wrote a book about single women, and in 80 to 90% of cases, the woman is going to end up being responsible for all decisions, financial and otherwise. But women tend to be a little better with social support. Men need to probably work on that a little more. You can have your guy friends and your women friends maybe at work, but they have a little more difficulty after they retire or leave a primary career. So that’s a very important one. They found people live an average of seven years longer and happier if they have strong social support. So that’s a real big thing.

JA: I have a question for you on that because my mother is retired. My father passed now, 9 years ago. And so you have a certain set of social circles when you’re a couple but when you lose a spouse, to get out there is a challenge. And my mom struggles with that. What advice would you give someone in her situation, where she knows that when she’s around people, she’s really happy and she loves it , but just to get out of the house and meet strange people is somewhat challenging for some.

JC: It can be. And so really, the advice is, start enriching your circle of friends in all different areas prior to getting to that point. If you kind of have all your eggs in one basket, say with just couples, and you don’t have interests that are separate, say, a book club, say volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, say volunteering on boards at food banks where you’re going to meet other people, that that can continue on. That’s a very important facet, because in reality, you’re right, a lot of times with couples, and then one spouse passes away or there’s a divorce late in life, it can certainly upend the social kind of connections that have been formed over time. Another thing is sometimes people pick up and move. There are so many different kinds of housing now, like co-housing with shared decision making, or going into, say, a master-planned community, where there is a club component and lots of things to do what you can get very engaged in that. There’s a place called The Villages in Florida. And you wouldn’t believe their singles club, their booklets are about maybe 50 pages long of all the activities that they have. So it is something you’re smart to mention your mom because that is a very common scenario. But to look at all those things, especially with volunteering, taking classes, things where you could meet others that don’t necessarily depend upon the couple. But a lot of times, that social relationship will certainly change when one passes away. So you almost have to insure against it, by building up a bigger support group ahead of time.

JA: Yeah I’m trying to get her on Bumble, but I don’t think that’s gonna work. (laughs)

JC: (laughs) Well tell her the picture’s the most important thing if you’re on those things looking for dates.

JA: I dunno if that was a good idea.

AC: I haven’t dated for 30 years.

JA: Al, you gotta get out there. (laughs)

AC: (laughs) I don’t need to. But I’m a guy with relationships with my wife. So I need to work on that.

JA: Yeah, you got to get out.

AC: I need to meet some more Chileans. Because those are my people. Okay, you had 7 things, what’s the second one?

JC: I do. The next one is have something to wake up for every day. A lot of us work. Think about all that work provides for us, besides the paycheck, it provides structure, maybe a feeling of contributing, maybe health insurance, which is also important. But in terms of the psychology of it, what do you have every day to get up for? Now some people say, just golf, I’m gonna golf every day, I’m going to play tennis every day, and that is enough. But for most people, it’s truly not enough, that you need to have something every day. So what is it going to be, is it going to be your grandchildren and the relationships with them? Is it going to be finding another job and working? Is it going to be volunteering? People often say the best thing about retirement is the freedom to choose what you’re going to do. And some people say the worst thing about retirement is having all that freedom. So what is your something to wake up for? And it can certainly be multifaceted. For some, it’s a combination of activities. It’s a combination added to volunteering, added to maybe working part-time in some other kind of a career. But what is it that gets you up out of bed in the morning.

JA: Yeah, when you take a look at the happiest people that we see in retirement, they’re more busy in retirement than they were when they were working because they’re so involved with so many different activities.

AC: Yeah, sometimes that gets to be overwhelming, but they are happier.

JC: And it’s very true, people will say, “I just don’t even know what happened to the day.” But yes, it just flew by. And they are, like you say, busier now than they ever have been, because there is that freedom to choose, and they’re able to do things perhaps that they’ve put on hold for a long time.

AC: So what else do we got?

JC: OK next one, I’d say, it’s a willingness to discuss and adapt. That you may say you’re part of a couple, and you’ve laid down different kinds of patterns that have worked for you for many, many years, who’s doing what. Who’s doing what the house, who’s doing what in terms of meals, in terms of shopping, and then it does turn out with retirement, if suddenly one spouse is retired and the other one is not, it can cause a big upheaval. In fact, the research shows the unhappiest people are men who have fully retired, but their spouse continues to work full time. And that kind of feeds also into this having strong social support. Sometimes they’re left without that. So this idea of willingness to discuss, this willingness to adapt to the new roles, to embrace it. People who don’t do that, and aren’t open to new things, often end up being unhappy, and they’re the ones that, “why did I ever leave my job?” Some people want to go back and get another job. That’s a fabulous thing to do. It may not be so easy. There certainly is age discrimination. But that idea of being flexible and embracing this new time of your life.

JA: I think communication is key too. I saw a study, they asked men, and they’re like “once you retire, what are the top couple things that you want to do differently?” And there was like, “I want to spend more time with my spouse.” That was the number one. And then they asked the wife when you retire, what’s the number one thing? Hanging out with the husband was nowhere near the top 10! (laughs)

JC: And you are absolutely right about that when they’ve asked people what do we want in retirement. Men do talk about romance, rekindling things with their spouses, or if they don’t have a spouse, or hopefully it is with their spouse, romance, activity, being more active, staying in shape, developing some new skills, travel. And women? They are looking more for things like becoming an entrepreneur, lifelong learning, volunteering, travel, relationships – which hopefully include the spouse, but you are absolutely right about that. And the contrary part of that is what they fear. And for men, it’s a lot of loss. They’re fearing say their status because they now no longer have a job. They’re fearing that loss of social support, a purpose. Men tend to report they fear boomerang kids coming back, and the loss of physical abilities. Whereas women, a lot of them, what their fears include are things like increased responsibility. Are they now responsible for somebody else? Money, of course, is one, health – a loss of health. Patterns being changed. So some of them overlap with the travel, with the relationships, but then there are some that are quite different. That’s a good observation you made. Yes.

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23:15 – Jan Cullinane – The Final 4 Secrets for a Happy, Successful Retirement

AC: You’re listening to Your Money, Your Wealth, we’re talking to Jan Cullinane. So I got an idea from what you told me. So when Joe and I retire from this radio show, which maybe, I don’t know, maybe tomorrow, or maybe a few years (laughs) I got it, Joe. You and I, we’ll set up a little fake studio, and we’ll pretend like we’re doing a radio show, because my wife, and your whoever you’re with, don’t want to be with us. We’re gonna hang out.

JA: Jan, Alan has lost his mind since he’s been back from vacation. (laughs)

AC: I have a whole new perspective on life now. (laughs)

JA: He needs some help. He needs some couch time with Dr. Finkelstein. (laughs)

AC Any other any other tips for being happy?

JC: Yeah other ones, having a healthy body and mind are certainly very important. So prior to retirement, that’s something to start working on now. Of course, it not only saves you money if you’re healthy and your mind is good, but those extra bonus years, maybe 30 or more years living in retirement will be much more beneficial if you’ve got that healthy body and mind. So that’s that’s a big one, obviously, that we need to have, that’s one of the big secrets of having a successful retirement. Next one is to have a vision of your future self. This is really kind of fun research they’ve done. Picture Whistler’s Mother. Ok? Picture that painting, and then picture some kind of sexy looking movie star at about the same age, 65 or so. Whistler’s Mother was about 65. Well, it turns out that most of us think of ourselves as more attractive than people that we compare ourselves to, that we look younger than people the same age as we do. And in a way, that’s a very healthy thing. We want to have a good concept of our future self. And think of your future self in terms of saving money, putting money away for retirement is being able, instead of a punishment now that you’re going to have to scrimp and save for retirement, as the ability, when you have the time, to be able to do all these things that you want. So having a good concept of your future self, being healthy, being active, having a lot of friends is a good thing, rather than getting old is really a bummer, and I don’t want to do that. And having that attitude, so that that’s another one.

JA: You know it’s funny. There was I forget what brokerage house did this, but they took a picture of their clients, let’s say they’re in their 50s or 60s, and they showed what they would look like in their 80s. And those individuals saved like so much more money for their overall future than people that didn’t go through that exercise, because they saw this older person. Maybe they made them look really old, and not fit and good looking. (laughs)

AC: They weren’t above average. (laughs)

JA: They were not above average. So they saw themselves not looking above average. So they saved more money because they were like, “I don’t want to be that person! I gotta get botox!”

JC: And it is so true. Yes, that’s a great point, they have that aging software, you can upload a picture of yourself and it will age you. And it just makes it more real, because I think most of us are kind of like Peter Pan, we’re never going to grow up. It’s not going to happen to us. And then you’re hit with that reality of just what you’re saying, with that age progression software, and you see what you’re going to look like, and it does just like you said, it stimulates people to save more, whether because they want to save up money for plastic surgery, because I want to look like that picture they’re seeing on the computer, or for whatever reason.

Almost the end – the other two, this is the one about money, is having a solid financial plan. And I think it’s important to realize, we’re not going to be Bill Gates, or we’re not going to be Oprah, but can we kind of be up there with our peer group, and that really is sort of the key thing of having a solid financial plan. You being a CPA and Certified Financial Planner is a huge benefit knowing that, and being able to go to somebody that you trust to help you on your journey of doing that, and that is, of course, very important. But like I say, it’s really just one of these number of things that you need to be happy, but not that I’m denigrating it, it’s a very important one, of having a strong financial plan. And my last one I’d say is sort of this idea of having insights from others, like what have other people experienced and having that knowledge. Like we were talking about, what is it men say that they want, or what they fear. What are some of the surprises people have had in retirement so that you can learn more. Some said, I as I had mentioned before, time can be the best thing, this time freedom. Some can say it’s the worst thing. Some of the surprises have been activity level. Others have gone, like I became an avid tennis player later in life. And so my activity level was higher than when I am just talking or writing the books. Or I also used to teach anatomy and physiology at a college. So my activity is actually higher. Some of the surprises where the plans are derailed, for example, an unexpected illness or whatever. Drinking and eating, those have been some surprises for people, because being retired can be very, very social, and you might find that hey, you’re drinking and eating more than you ever thought. Too much togetherness, you probably heard that, that can be a surprise as well. So that is another thing to have a look at, when you are thinking about, what are these kind of secrets for a successful retirement. What have others found are good bad or indifferent about it?

JA: Jan, this was awesome. Where can people get more information about the stuff that you doing?

JC: Well I do a lot of talks, but generally they’re for companies and for their own employees or whatever, but my books on Amazon, or wherever books are sold. And I also write articles for a magazine called the Ideal Living. Just kinda out there and different areas, but it’s all fun and all good.

JA: Do you have a website?

JC: I do. It is just my name. So it’s just JanCullinane.com.

JA: JanCullinane.com. Jan this was awesome. Thank you so much. I know you’re busy, and I think you’ve changed Bi Al’s life.

AC: I’m just all abuzz. I wrote down The Seven Secrets. If you ever come up with a couple more, I’m all ears.

JA: Can you say, what – she’s got to say something backward on the out, doesn’t she, Al?

JC: I could say thank you, which would be knaht uoy. knaht uoy yrev hcum rof gnivah em no ruoy wohs. That was, “thank you very much for having me on your show.” ti saw a tol fo nuf. It was a lot of fun. (laughs) I know, it sounds like gobbledygook, doesn’t it.

JA: (laughs) It is so cool.

AC: That’s about as much understanding when I was in Chile, trying to speak Spanish!

JA: David Letterman, we have a rockstar right here. Thank you again Jan, we got to take a short break. We’ll be back in just a second. The show is called Your Money, Your Wealth.

Visit YourMoneyYourWealth.com to catch up on our recent discussions of a smartphone app that can help you pay off debt, how to avoid hitting your “GMO point” – that’s when you want to scream GET ME OUT!” in the face of market volatility and learn how to retire well before 50. If you’ve missed a minute, you’ve missed a lot. In the coming weeks, we’ll talk to a broke millennial who got her financial life together, we’ll learn about the student loan debt movement, Joe and Big Al will showcase their encyclopedic knowledge of taxes, investing, and retirement. Subscribe to the podcast at YourMoneyYourWealth.com and new episodes will download right to your device for you to listen to whenever YOU want. If you don’t have time to listen, transcripts are available for nearly every podcast, so check it all out at YourMoneyYourWealth.com!

32:06 – Bored After Retiring Early. What To Do?

JA: Wrapping things up, got any few last words of wisdom?

AC: Well I guess to sort of go along with our theme, I read this thing, this is New York Times, 55-year-old male wrote in. He sold his business, very profitable, financially pretty well set. “But while the idea of early retirement was always appealing, I’m finding that I’m bored out of my mind. I miss activity, the satisfaction that came from building and running a company.” And so he’s asking for help. We kind of talked about that. When you’re retiring, particularly if you’re retiring early, and at age 55, me being age 60, I’m here to tell you, you still have a lot of energy. And so you’d need to have a plan, and you need to have a plan getting up in the morning.

JA: We’ve had a lot of individuals on the show that are in the FIRE network. Financial independence / retire early. So they want to retire at 40.

AC: Right. And that’s why I want to bring this up, because that’s that’s great, saving 70-80% of your income, to be able to retire 40. But I guess my point of bringing this up right now is, make sure you have a plan on how to fill your days after that.

JA: Right, because if you’re unhappy now, and you think, “hey, once I retire that’s going to make me happy.” I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s going to happen. You might have money in the bank, but you’ll be still unhappy. There are other things that you have to look at. Al and I have many, many clients that have millions of millions of dollars, that are absolutely miserable. And then we have other clients that have a few bucks, and they’re the happiest people that you’ll ever meet your life. Because I think that went to Chile.

AC: They went to Chile and they changed their lifestyle like I’m going to do.

JA: So what did this guy do? So he’s 55, saved some money, sold a business, and then he retired, and then now what is he, 56 and he’s saying this sucks?

AC: He’s saying, “I don’t feel I can talk to my friends about this as they’re hard at work. They can’t really identify with my boredom. I feel I’m too old to go back to the workforce, which seems so focused on millennials.”

JA: 55?!

AC: That’s what he said. “Moreover I have enjoyed 25 plus years calling my own shots, so I wonder about reporting to somebody else. Is this just something I need to get over and enjoy the fruits of my labor?”

JA: Yes.

AC: “Or should I try to re-enter the workforce in some limited capacity?”

JA: I would say just start another business of some sort.

AC: I would too. At the very least you could be an executive consultant to companies, and at least have a part-time gig, to sort of re-engage yourself. Start to think about, what was the reason you wanted to retire 55, and let’s go back to that thinking. What were you wanting to do? Were you wanting to travel more, volunteer more? You know, start building your life around that.

JA: Well because he probably hated his job.

AC: Well he didn’t hate his job, it was his own company.

JA: I’ve known people that own companies that hate their job! (laughs)

AC: (laughs) I suppose. But anyway, We’re not psychologists, we talk about money, so we have no idea what to tell you, other than that the most successful people that we have seen in retirement, it’s not just money, it’s about purpose and activity and fulfillment and social time. And all of these things that we have talked about before.

JA: Well that’s it for us today. Hopefully, you enjoyed the show. If you like the podcast or if you like the radio show or whatever you’re listening to, then you can subscribe to our podcast, if you like. You can just get that on iTunes or any other podcast place. Stitcher, and iCloud. I don’t know.

AC: iCloud? Are we on iCloud? (laughs)

JA: (laughs) Apple Pay or something.

AC: (laughs) Well it’s free though. iTunes.

JA: Apple Play? You know the drill.

AC: Wherever podcasts are available. You can actually type in Your Money, Your Wealth and go to our website and podcasts are right there.

JA: All right there.

AC: Yeah that’s one easy way to do it.

JA: But then I don’t think they count as a download. And then that hurts that numbers.

AC: We want the ratings?

JA: I don’t know. I’m just saying. I’m not an expert at this. I just talk. I get a big e-mail with like 7,000 articles that I’m supposed to print out and read in ten minutes before I come on.

AC: So we forget to talk about current events.

JA: Well we are out of time. We can get that next week. You want to talk about the tariffs and the market going to hell?

AC: No not particularly.

JA: Me neither. We can talk about that next week. (laughs) All right. That’s it. We’ll see you. Have a wonderful weekend everyone, the show is called Your Money, Your Wealth. For Big Al Clopine, I’m Joe Anderson. We’ll be back again next week.

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Actually, if you listen to the podcast at YourMoneyYourWealth.com it DOES count as a download and the term Joe was looking for is Apple Podcasts – what it comes down to is, however you choose to listen, we’re happy that you listen. And that brings us full circle on this happiness episode of Your Money Your Wealth! Special thanks to our guest, Jan Cullinane, learn more secrets to retirement happiness at JanCullinane.com

Subscribe to the podcast at YourMoneyYourWealth.com, through your favorite podcatcher or on iTunes Apple Podcasts, where you can also check out our ratings and reviews – and hey, thanks to the folks who have left them. And remember, if you’ve got a money question for Joe and Big Al to answer on Your Money, Your Wealth, send it to info@purefinancial.com, or call 888-994-6257! Stay tuned for more Your Money, Your Wealth, presented by Pure Financial Advisors. For your free financial assessment, visit PureFinancial.com

Pure Financial Advisors is a registered investment advisor. This show does not intend to provide personalized investment advice through this broadcast and does not represent that the securities or services discussed are suitable for any investor. Investors are advised not to rely on any information contained in the broadcast in the process of making a full and informed investment decision.