There Is No “Someday.” There is only today. Like the song goes, These Are the Good Old Days.
So why even bother to retire? After all, the more we work the more money we earn. The more we work, the more connected we are to our coworkers.
The idea of “retirement” is likely a modern phenomena. The life expectancy in the U.S. in 1900 was 47. Only 12% of males would make it to age 65. So historically, retirement was a rare thing.
Perhaps we can analogize retirement to the idea of sitting in one’s garden and enjoying the fig trees. Or the olive trees.
As it happens, fig trees grow fairly fast. A person who plants a fig tree can usually enjoy fruit from the tree in a few short years. I can attest to that because I have done it. We have fig trees that bear fruit that I myself planted. However, olive trees are notoriously slow. Depending on the type of olive, olive trees fruit after 7 to 80 years. Imagine needing to wait 80 years.
And so the famous quote: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” This quote has been ascribed to numerous people.
You and I don’t need to wait 80 years to reap the fruits of [most of] our actions. Like the other famous saying: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today.”
Investments we make today will pay off in the future if we have the courage to do two things today:
1. Invest
2. Don’t Give Up
The second point is as important as the first. Maybe we take our first investing steps, and then the stock market declines. Do we panic? Should we panic?
If we give in to panic, and sell, then we have locked in our losses. It happens, but it doesn’t have to. In all things, things fluctuate. No one can guarantee that things we get back to where they were, but on average they eventually stabilize. It may take a short time or a long time, but somewhere somehow things will change again.
We know that the opportunity for gain comes with risk. We cannot avoid it. So I accept the risk. The main point is to keep the goal in mind.
Why
Why am I mixing in talk of investing when discussing retirement? There are reasons…
First, investing now is a plan for future benefit. Life does not go into hibernation when we retire. Life continues, as does financial obligations, bills, taxes, and so on. It is better to prepare for retirement before retiring!
Second, just like planting seeds is required when growing trees and vegetables, investing is necessary if we are to reap rewards later.
Third, investing is an affirmation for your own future and the future of those close to you.
Whether I am working or retired, I need to focus on my what is good for me. If I expect to receive something positive now, I will have likely prepared for it some time in the past. If I expected to receive something positive in the future, I will need to prepare now.
Are you preparing? Are you prepared? Send a comment from here.
The illustration of Palumbus Migratorius (Passenger Pigeon) appeared in a selection of birds as featured in Volume 1 of “Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: particularly the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. Together with their descriptions in English and French. To which are added, observations on the air, soil, and waters: with remarks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots, &c.”, by Mark Catesby and George Edwards, published in 1754 by the The Royal Society (London). The volume is now at the Biodiversity Heritage Library of the Smithsonian Institution. Sadly, this bird is now extinct.
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