Retirement: The #1 Lesson I Learned From My Father's Painful Retirement...

It's no secret that I find the psychology of retirement more interesting than the financial aspects. It's not that the financial part isn't important, but I think it gets you to a goal line. Then what? So I thought this video was interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGRUE-Ed_E

For all the information that's available, I think we frequently use our parent's model for many of our life choices. My parents and my wife's parents were very different. My parents were mostly stay-at-home people with a very small social circle. My wife's parents sold their home when they retired, got an apartment, and started traveling and spending time with their much larger social circle. If I look at how my grandparents lived, I see that my parents modeled them.

Today, I'm very happy to be home, usually with the TV off, doing something, or working on something. When my wife is home, the TV is on, the phone is ringing - things are different. My wife usually drives me to get out of the house.

I guess my point with this note is to remind you to think about what your retirement life is going to be like. It's not just a financial number.