The retirement freedom zone
As we go through our lives we can often be restricted by a certain lack of resources. We can think about this in terms of 3 main resources and how much of each of these that we have as we age, TIME, WEALTH and HEALTH.
🚫 No WEALTH Zone
When we're younger (<25), we tend to have lots of time and energy but we aren't yet fully into career mode and earning good money, so we maybe don't have the money to do all the things that we have the time and energy to do.
🚫 No TIME Zone
Between the ages of around 25 and 55, most people get busy building their careers, buying and maintaining a house, getting married and raising a family. It's a busy time for sure, so although we may be starting to build our wealth and still have good health, we are often time poor.
🚫 No HEALTH Zone
If we are fortunate enough to make it to 75, then we will hopefully have enough money to enjoy life and have plenty of time to do what we want, but maybe our health is starting to impact what we can and can't do.
🎯 The FREEDOM Zone
Between the ages of 55 to 75 is the sweet spot, when most people will have the opportunity to embrace and take full advantage of an amazing period of their lives. I appreciate that this isn't the case for all but many will have built enough wealth to have financial freedom, which in turn frees up a lot of time if work and family commitments have reduced, and they still have good health and energy to do the things that they've been dreaming about.
The average retirement age for both men and women in the UK is currently 64 years old. This is nicely in the middle of the Freedom Zone but with some good planning and some intentionality, a number of people could gain another 5 to 10 years to thrive during this unique time of life.
I help mid-lifers, who are maybe 10-15 years from the Freedom Zone, to start to think and plan for making the most of this period of life and to challenge the pre-conceived notions that we may be holding onto from past generations.
It's your life, you can choose what it looks like.
