The house is quiet. The treat you bought yourself is still in the fridge. You and your spouse have a dinner date in the middle of the week.
Your cell phone is no longer a constant reminder of the triple life you lead: companion, professional, and parent. You’re a tad stiff in the morning, but nothing that a few asanas and a hot cup of coffee won’t cure. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with a little stiffness after the decades you’ve spent working out, right? Right.
Your mind continually and comfortably drifts off to favorite travel destinations or that mid-week date during meetings you must attend in order to be a “sober second” when asked; and you’re getting asked less and less, thank goodness.
Life is . . . pretty good.
So, while you have some time on your hands, allow me to provide you with 4 points to ponder related to that pretty good life.
- Your children are out of the house for good, leading their own lives with their own families. Does this mean you have grandchildren to enjoy and then return to the fray? If so, have you thought about providing or helping to provide for their education?
- Your career has moved right along or your wok has become more and more tolerable. You’ve gone this far, so you’re in it for the long haul. Have you thought about what to do if, working near the end of the long haul, you are injured for a substantial length of time? Can you afford it? Do you have long term disability insurance or a strategy viable to ensure that you’ll still be able to assist with educating the little brutes or brutesses once they’re about to enter high school or university?
- The end of the long haul is clearly in sight. Accordingly, the previous point bears revisiting. Also, do you have a strategy for making it through the “Golden Years” comfortably? Do you know how you’re going to draw down your retirement funds so to maximize your money and minimize your taxes? People are living longer now so our resources must keep up. Will you be able to just sit on that old porch swing and smile?
- Family isn’t charity; it isn’t a cause. Family is a wonderful responsibility and gift shared amongst its members. However, as those responsibilities, even to ourselves, wane and are fulfilled, how have we shown responsibility toward our community? Is there an organization, a group, a center whose work you admire and would like to try to help ensure the work and programming will continue?
You see, estate planning isn’t just about planning for death. These 4 points to ponder prove it. How are you going to (1) help family, (2) help yourself heal peacefully, (3) protecting your porch swing, and (4) helping your community?
