Whenever we discuss preparing for retirement, we are usually talking about people’s money. Making sure assets are paid off, having enough funds in super – these are the kinds of ‘nuts and bolts’ aspects we tend to think about.
But money is not the only thing to consider when it comes to your retirement. Things like fulfilment, helping others, receiving help from others, and becoming a valued member of society also count, too.
Dallas has a good family friend called Harry. Harry loves his job and working with people – he is a very helpful member of society and is one of those genuine, highly capable humans who loves helping everyone around him. In return, there are probably thousands of Queensland homes he could live in for the rest of his life if he wanted to. He is so well liked and highly regarded that he probably wouldn’t need any money, either!
In the past, that’s how people prepared for retirement, too. They built up a stockpile of ways to be helpful to those around them, to be a part of society – and then trusted in the universe that people would take care of them.
Now, in western culture at least, we tend to only think about money equity when it comes to our retirement. In some other places around the world, there’s a lot more relationship equity rather than money equity.
Life also needs to feel meaningful – and building relationship equity is always going to be positive. It makes sense to build a store of goodwill and be someone people want to help out, regardless of how much money you have.
Recently, Michael watched a documentary about a tiny, secluded village in Italy that was more or less cut off from the world. The point of the documentary was to show the positive health and wellbeing of the people living there. They were active, they had great diets, and the people never really stopped working – not just because the village had limited resources and skilled workers, but also because the people genuinely liked helping each other and being an integral part of their small society.
By thinking about how you can be a contributing member of society and how you can make people around you happy, you might just stumble across the secret of a really successful and meaningful retirement, and get back more than just cash. We hope so, anyway!