My classmate in Malaysia has retired. He is fifty five (55) years old. My company doctor has finally decided to call it a day, and soon, he will be sailing in his boat, enjoying the sun rise and the sound of the sea. I know a friend who is golfing all over the world and goes to New Zealand to help out her relatives in business. She lives in Kuala Lumpur. I also know of many who are still enjoying work in their late fifties.
Is there such a term called "retirement"? It sounds so dated and so mechanical, that I decided to coin the term "refirement" to bring about a change in mental attitude. Our paradigm should be managed by ourselves, and not be influenced unduly by all the marketing messages out there, attempting to cause us more anxiety than there really is.
Let me start with some of these marketing messages. By the way, I define the term, "marketing" as making us buy something which we do not need, as well as making us feel a bit moronic because someone has it, and I don't. Marketing is about creating fear in us, that we might have miss something, and that we should have the product to assure us that we will be fine at a later date. Let me illustrate this definition:
Think of this wonderful and "must-have" watch that so and so has, and here is a picture of a famous star (in whose opinion, by the way?) wearing it. It can look attractive to you. The question is whether you need it, and you can live without it. Ninety nine dot nine percent of the time, you can junk that advertisement into the bin and you will not be one bit less happier than before you read it. The result of my decision is to stop subscribing to the daily newspaper. Now, I have more time to read what I want to read, such as the books that I have been putting off till now.
The famous 75% of your last earned income to enjoy your "retirement" is a much used number when it comes to retirement planning. You can go and attend any retirement seminar, and you will hear this famous phrase repeated in many different ways. I know that I will not have this amount, if I do not work in a full time job. I have talked to many people, and not one believes that they will have this amount. Does it mean that we must work till we pass on? This is rather distressing to me, if not to you. What then should be the right number?
A research done in 2002 in Singapore stated that for a couple who stays in their own home (no mortgage) will live comfortably with S$3,500 and adequately at S$2,200. Living comfortably means they can have a car and a few overseas holidays. Luxury living can be attained at S$6,000 per month. These numbers were validated with retirees, and they seem to work reasonably well.
Whatever the number might be to you, it is important that you be the master of your own expenses, and not be unduly influenced by the salesperson who is interested to sell you all sorts of insurance and investment plan. You should take charge of your own life, and hence your financial position to decide when you want to "refire" your life. To "refire" is to go and do what you have always wanted to do; most of the times, not for the money, but the passion to live your life to the fullest.
Perhaps you have always wanted to have that orchid garden of yours, with hybrids that you have created. How about that vacation to China, by following the Silk Route, where ancient merchants had done thousands of years before you? Did you say, you will write that book about corporate management? Or the volunteer work that you have put off for so long. This list goes on to "refire" the passion of living.
There is no "retirement". Just read that middle word, "tire" which seems to mean "tired". Why should one be "tired" of living? Isn't the word, "fire" up reads a lot better? It is truly about "firing up" all the cylinders of life and live it for others as well as yourself. Age is a just number for many who do not take charge of their own lives. The government hence tries to do them a favor by reminding them, and of course, the hidden agenda, is to tell them not to depend on it for hand-out.
For us, remind ourselves to "fire" up and never be "tired" out. There are many things waiting to be done. It is now! Refer to my previous writing on April 21, 2007, entitled, "I have no time to work!"
Is there such a term called "retirement"? It sounds so dated and so mechanical, that I decided to coin the term "refirement" to bring about a change in mental attitude. Our paradigm should be managed by ourselves, and not be influenced unduly by all the marketing messages out there, attempting to cause us more anxiety than there really is.
Let me start with some of these marketing messages. By the way, I define the term, "marketing" as making us buy something which we do not need, as well as making us feel a bit moronic because someone has it, and I don't. Marketing is about creating fear in us, that we might have miss something, and that we should have the product to assure us that we will be fine at a later date. Let me illustrate this definition:
Think of this wonderful and "must-have" watch that so and so has, and here is a picture of a famous star (in whose opinion, by the way?) wearing it. It can look attractive to you. The question is whether you need it, and you can live without it. Ninety nine dot nine percent of the time, you can junk that advertisement into the bin and you will not be one bit less happier than before you read it. The result of my decision is to stop subscribing to the daily newspaper. Now, I have more time to read what I want to read, such as the books that I have been putting off till now.
The famous 75% of your last earned income to enjoy your "retirement" is a much used number when it comes to retirement planning. You can go and attend any retirement seminar, and you will hear this famous phrase repeated in many different ways. I know that I will not have this amount, if I do not work in a full time job. I have talked to many people, and not one believes that they will have this amount. Does it mean that we must work till we pass on? This is rather distressing to me, if not to you. What then should be the right number?
A research done in 2002 in Singapore stated that for a couple who stays in their own home (no mortgage) will live comfortably with S$3,500 and adequately at S$2,200. Living comfortably means they can have a car and a few overseas holidays. Luxury living can be attained at S$6,000 per month. These numbers were validated with retirees, and they seem to work reasonably well.
Whatever the number might be to you, it is important that you be the master of your own expenses, and not be unduly influenced by the salesperson who is interested to sell you all sorts of insurance and investment plan. You should take charge of your own life, and hence your financial position to decide when you want to "refire" your life. To "refire" is to go and do what you have always wanted to do; most of the times, not for the money, but the passion to live your life to the fullest.
Perhaps you have always wanted to have that orchid garden of yours, with hybrids that you have created. How about that vacation to China, by following the Silk Route, where ancient merchants had done thousands of years before you? Did you say, you will write that book about corporate management? Or the volunteer work that you have put off for so long. This list goes on to "refire" the passion of living.
There is no "retirement". Just read that middle word, "tire" which seems to mean "tired". Why should one be "tired" of living? Isn't the word, "fire" up reads a lot better? It is truly about "firing up" all the cylinders of life and live it for others as well as yourself. Age is a just number for many who do not take charge of their own lives. The government hence tries to do them a favor by reminding them, and of course, the hidden agenda, is to tell them not to depend on it for hand-out.
For us, remind ourselves to "fire" up and never be "tired" out. There are many things waiting to be done. It is now! Refer to my previous writing on April 21, 2007, entitled, "I have no time to work!"
Comments