Why Your Endless Summer Retirement Dream Is A Fantasy

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Ah, summer vacation - that blissful stretch of freedom we all crave. But what if that vacation never ended? Many people imagine that retirement might be their endless vacation.

Picture this: You're lounging on a beach, sipping a piña colada, thinking, "This must be what retirement feels like." Hold that thought because we're about to dive into why retirement planning, as it is often portrayed, needs a serious rethink.

The Phineas And Ferb Paradox

Remember the animated musical comedy Phineas and Ferb ? If you don't, you're missing out. Two young brothers set out to make the best summer experience ever imagined. The show’s theme song says it all.

"There's 104 days of summer vacation

And school comes along just to end it

So the annual problem for our generation

Is finding a good way to spend it"

Now, replace "summer vacation" with "retirement," and you will see both the opportunity and the challenge. Retirement, however, isn't just a few months of fun. As I have written in previous articles, it's a wealth of time — for many people it is potentially 8,000 days of, well, what exactly?

Retirement Is Not Just Planning A Long Vacation

My colleagues at the MIT AgeLab and I have been exploring how people envision their future retirement for more than two decades. When people are asked to describe their future retirement, the words and imagery are positive, ambiguous, and seemingly torn from the pages of vacation brochures or from countless investment planning websites. Here are some of the top responses from people who were asked about what they will be doing in life after work.

1. Travel the world

2. Quality time with family

3. Lots to do (like fix that leaky faucet)

4. Dust off old hobbies

5. Save the world (or at least volunteer)

But here's the kicker: These activities might cover the first, let’s say, 1,750 days of what is likely to be 8,000 days in retirement. Or, put another way, they cover nearly the first five years into retirement. What about the other 6,250 days? Suddenly, feelings of "I'm bored" take on a whole new meaning that even those creative kids, Phineas and Ferb, might not be able to hack their way out of.

Longevity Planning Is More Than Money And Bucket Lists

Traditional retirement planning focuses on finances and bucket list items. Certainly not incorrect, just incomplete. Instead, longevity planning is about preparing for what, how, where, and with whom to live in older age. We're talking about crafting a plan to produce your best possible life in older age, not just planning and financing a really long summer vacation.

So, what's your plan for day 1,751 of retirement?

No, seriously. What will you be doing on any random Tuesday five or more years into retirement? Unlike Phineas and Ferb's summer, there's no "back-to-school" ritual and reset button in retirement. Not to mention, there are no fun, “15 or more years of retirement” sales or clothes to buy.

From Excitement To What’s Next?

Without proper planning, retirement can follow a predictable cycle:

1. Woohoo! Freedom! This is often called the honeymoon period.

2. Settling into a routine and asking yourself, now that I fixed the faucet, how many times can I paint the spare bedroom?

3. Is this it? What’s next?

The key is breaking this cycle before it starts.

Living Well In Older Age Is About The Small Stuff

It's time to up your retirement planning game. Don't just plan for the highlights you are hoping for. Plan for the everyday occurrences because a life well-lived isn't just about the mountaintop moments on a cruise, celebrating a grandchild’s birth, or endless beach walks. It's about finding joy in little things that make you smile every day, from enjoying a simple ice cream cone on a hot summer night to learning something new just because you can. Living longer and better is about the journey, not planning only for punctuated moments depicted on travel magazine covers and retirement websites. And yes, if you insist, throw in a few round-robin games of pickleball.

So, are you ready to trade in that vacation mindset for a true longevity planning strategy? Your future self (on day 1,751 and beyond) will thank you.

By Joseph Coughlin, Senior Contributor