Shane Flait asked:


alth and activity level passes through 3 phases during retirement. And that’ll alter our living options and expenses. By recognizing this, you can modify your living expenses now to suit your wishes and happiness. I’ll outline these phases and the actions you can take to optimize your lifestyle choices by minimizing your expenses.

The 3 phases of retirement are:

1) Healthy, Active and Independent Stage: Usually you begin your retirement in this phase. Your activity and lifestyle choice determines your expense level – and the associated income you need. Choosing a satisfying lifestyle with little expense may be best for you. This stage can last as long as your money and health hold out.

2) Minor Health Problems with Slowdown and Almost Independent Stage: You’re still living independently but running into minor health issues. Hopefully you’re doing what you want but are just slowing down. This stage may present the lowest expenses – i.e. the least demand for income. Hopefully, this is the last stage for many – no matter how long they live.

3) Infirmed and Dependent Stage: Eventually, the full effects of ‘old age’ will infirm many retirees. Three out of four1 future retirees will require long term care in their homes and nursing homes. Costs2 can be substantial – rising to as much as $80,000 per year for nursing home care in the U.S.

You can control the expenses of the first two stages by optimizing your lifestyle and activity choices. That way you’ll know what retirement income you really need. And that can be far less than you think for a lifestyle you choose.

Recognizing the inevitability of our health’s progression will get you to take the action now to choose a lifestyle you’ll like and can afford.

Group your expenses into 3 categories:

1. The Basics: Housing, transportation, and meals

2. Entertainment

3. Healthcare

Throughout your first two phases, The Basics stay roughly the same, while entertainment decreases with decreased health and activity levels. Healthcare expenses trend slowly up but can dominate expenses in phase 3 especially if you need to go into a nursing home.

You can modify the expense for your Basics and Entertainment by choosing a lifestyle that maximizes your enjoyment but minimizes expenses. If you maintain living as when working – same house and location – your expense may be roughly the same.

But if you’re willing to decide what’s really important to you – and stop paying for what isn’t – then you can drastically reduce your Basics and Entertainment in a variety of ways.

Examples include lowering your housing costs by buying down, taking on a renter; selling your car for a cheaper version; moving to a cheaper region of the country; or moving offshore for further reducing expenses. I offer ideas at my website.

Choose Your Lifestyle and Act On It:

Of course, you should lower your expenses but keep them compatible to the kind of lifestyle you’d find fulfilling. But you’ve got to think about what that is and act upon it. Perhaps follow your heart or dream. Happiness often accompanies a meaningful purpose to living.

Enjoyable and fulfilling examples may include living peaceably in a low income country, painting or writing as you always wanted to do, working as a volunteer or doing low paying charity work. Hopefully, such avocations will increase your zest for life – and maintain your health and activity phase longer. But it won’t happen unless you make it happen.

So don’t procrastinate and prepare yourself for action:

1) Decide what lifestyle will bring you fulfillment and joy in your ‘retirement’

2) Search out all the ways you can modify your expenses so your income can support your lifestyle of choice.

Reducing unnecessary expenses may free up future income to pay for assistance and healthcare costs you develop in phase 2. Living offshore in a low income country often presents very inexpensive hired help for you as you get older.

And what if you succumb to the dependency and afflictions of phase 3?

If you have about $1m or more, your investment earnings can cover your care so you can leave a legacy to your children. With less wealth, you could purchase long term care insurance to protect whatever wealth you do have from going all to your long term care costs.

If you’ve given your wealth away and are broke, Medicaid will pick up the tab. So you needn’t worry about money.

Above all, don’t live your life for phase 3 – live it for phase 1.

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Loren Elio asked:


For A Balanced Lifestyle

There is so much talk about goal setting, but what about “Lifestyle” setting? Most of us given a choice of money or happiness would choose happiness. Changing our daily routine, even if we are accomplished goal setters, can be challenging at any point in our lives. We all need and function better when we are relaxed and have a zest for life. Before we know it, we are setting goals for business, careers, money, new house, new car etc., and we have learned how to achieve these goals. But what about achieving true satisfaction of a Happy, Healthy Lifestyle for us?

By looking forward to the future (could be day, month, year or longer) with joy and anticipation, it actually fuels our body with energy. This same feeling comes with dreaming. It’s fun to dream and think of how much happiness it would bring us if our dreams were accomplished. So let’s bring these types of happy emotions to reality. The sense of empowerment when you take charge of a situation in your business life can also be attained when you take control of the Lifestyle you truly wish to live.

When you decide to take charge of the balance between your business life and your leisure life, the feeling of being in control gives you clarity and a sense of purpose. This balance is influencing your psychological, spiritual and physical health creating another form of longevity. Take more time for yourself; go for walk with your children or loved ones, sit by the water or on a bench in the park, lie on lounge chair or sofa and read a good book or just take some periodic quite time to reflect on the balance in your life. Tap into the energies of your dreams that give you pleasure.

When you choose to take charge of your course to a Happy, Healthy Lifestyle it is important to find the things meaningful that assure equal balance in your life. Take a week or month to write down on a piece of paper, divided in half with “Best” and “Worst” on the top and at the end of every day write under these headings the points that best describes the moments in your day. Notice recurring positive moments at the end of this exercise. It will be a treasure map to what you really like to do i.e. a new idea to create your ideal business or career, a more successful way to improve your finances, an emotionally easier way to achieve balance in your life etc.

This exercise of emotional inventory will show you were to direct your positive energy and eliminate the negative energy. You now can stop and relax with a focus you know that will lead you to a Happy, Healthy Well-Balanced Lifestyle!

If you are looking for an Easy to Read Information Packed ebook to Gain A Healthy Well-Balanced Lifestyle , go to www.wellbalancedlifestyle.com



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Kevin Riley asked:

Does your business bring you happiness? Is your business built around your lifestyle? Or is your life forced to conform to your business?

Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck gained some fame for putting forward the “radical” idea that a country’s success should not be measured in terms of its GNP. Instead, he suggested measuring the success of a nation by its GNH—its Gross National Happiness. He pointed out that if the people are not leading happy, fulfilling lives, it doesn’t matter how healthy a country’s economy is.

This same notion can easily be applied to your business. If it’s not making you happy, it may be time to re-assess the reasons you went into business in the first place.

= Why Did You Start Your Business? =

Did you start your own business for money or freedom? Did you want to be in full control of your time and your life? What are your priorities?

Maybe you wanted to get away from the rat race of the corporate world. Maybe you pictured yourself free from five days a week in a cramped cubicle, pictured yourself spending more time with your family. You saw yourself choosing your own hours and having time to enjoy your hobbies, travel, sports.

Running a business can either give you that freedom or it can rob you of it. It all depends on how you build your business in the first place. If you set some rules from the beginning, define what you want to do, then build your business around your lifestyle, you will reap a high level of GBH—Gross Business Happiness.

= How To Get Happiness From Your Business =

First, decide what you want in your life. Picture your ideal lifestyle. Do you want to spend long vacations in other lands? Do you want to work evenings and have your days free for golf? Do you want to stay at your ski chalet for a month every Spring? Write down exactly what your business will allow you to do … what kind of lifestyle it will let you lead.

Next, write down what you will or will not do in your business. Do you like meeting customers? Or would you rather keep them on the other side of a computer screen? Do you want to go on business trips? Or are you a happy homebody? Do you want to sell physical products? Or do you want to sell downloadable information products or software … and avoid the hassles of inventory?

Using a list of rules for your business will also ensure that your business is successful. When your goals for your business reflect the priorities in your life, it is much easier to be disciplined and follow your business plan.

= When Your Business Fits Your Lifestyle It Will Flourish =

Because your business activities allow for your lifestyle, there is less temptation to sidetrack you from the jobs you need to accomplish. You’ll find it much easier to stick to your goals. Since your business doesn’t intrude on your life, your life doesn’t interfere with your business.

Spend some time building your business around your lifestyle. Build it around your needs and wants, and your business will bring you not only money … but also happiness.

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