360 Rejuvenate

Below is a paragraph from my book The R Word -Time to Retire Retirement.

“𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉. 𝑨𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 ‘𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.’ 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔; 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆?”

Our value to society is directly linked to what we give, not what we take or make, furthermore the greater the value of what we give is directly linked to our own sense of purpose and wellbeing. What’s not to like?

Check out our YouTube videos for more information here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Losing mental capacity is something feared by many, if not everyone. Exercise and diet are among things that can contribute to us retaining cognition as we age. This BBC article details how scientists believe we can change the age of our brains.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0www3qvx2zo

Check out our YouTube videos for more information here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Pre-retirement stress often centres around money worries, understandable perhaps, certainly in the past clients asked me on countless occasions if they could afford to retire.

Mostly I didn’t know the answer, how could I if I have no clue what sort of life someone wants to live in retirement? And there’s the rub.

Few people actually plan for retirement and then set about working out whether or not they can fund it or how to be able to, rather they save and invest, only choosing how to live once they’ve retired. This is absurd. We will soon be launching an online course that addresses this absurdity. If you’d like to learn more right now direct message me and I will get back to you.

You can also download our free webinar here: https://mike-middleton.mykajabi.com/offers/YheJn3xx

Arguably most people do not start saving for retirement early enough, those that did, even just a small amount to begin with, discover several decades later the magical impact of compounding.

Exercise is just the same starting out young and continuing and building upon it will help you reap rewards later in life. But what if you have not been exercising? Start now, get moving, as you begin to build strength ( be patient and don’t get injured) so you can put more into it. Like saving for retirement if you start late you will need to put more into the effort.

Check out our free videos for more information here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

How long can you balance on one leg? Try it and time yourself. Balance and leg strength are key ingredients to avoiding a fall.

People over the age of 75 especially can expect to seriously impact their life expectancy due to a fall, resulting for example in a hip fracture. According to an Age UK study from 2019 36% of older people are worried about falling.

The best way to reduce your risk in later life is to train now (its never too late to start), strength is built by compounding, to begin with you seem to be making little progress, but little by little things improve. The stronger you can get in your 50’s and 60’s the greater the impact on your wellbeing in your 70’s.

Check out our free videos for more information here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

A few years ago, I read a book with a wonderful name, The Road Less Stupid written by entrepreneur and business advisor Keith Cunningham.

Whilst a book cannot be summarised in few short words, it is fair to say the book raises the importance of the questions you ask yourself. “What don’t you know?”

Although written for people running a business the process of thinking and questioning are just as important for anyone considering their retirement plans. Before asking yourself what you don’t know, start by determining why you want to retire in the first place. Then consider what you will do next, is 20 or 30 years playing golf or lounging around really feasible?

Would you rather spend your middle and later years in good health or poor health? Having something to do increases your odds of remaining in good health, doing nothing ups the ante of poor health.

Check out our free videos for more information here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Blurred around the edges...

I first used the line “retirement is uninventing itself” with clients over 20 years ago. This was driven by what I could see going on and also because a concept that was over 100 years old was little use to us in the coming years.

Sometimes people would quietly laugh, others were affronted as I had challenged a long standing ambition or plan. My aim was not to criticise or put people off, but to nudge them out of thinking about their future the same way their parents had.
If retirement was outdated twenty odd years ago it is long past time it should be consigned to the waste bin. As the Canada Life survey I mentioned earlier this week highlights, 40% of retirees have some retirement regrets. Why?

Often the answer is that people come to realise there is much more to life than working down a list and travelling to nice spots. And perhaps a realisation that too much gin will surely lead to early death. Retirement or slowing your work life down is just another of life’s transitions.

The key to making the transition work is to decide that traditional retirement is not for you (it’s bad for your health). Don’t be steered by your pension scheme when they tell you that you are now eligible to draw benefits, remember these are just reminders to make a decision not an instruction.

Take time to think about what a new life could look like and then create a plan to live that life.

The think about your finances, please don’t do it the other way around.

Check out our website here: www.360rejuvenate.com

A recent study by Canada Life found that 40% of retirees have regrets. This came as no surprise, for every 50 year old I meet anxious to retire I can introduce a 70 year old who wished they hadn’t or at least not in the way that they did.

Ceasing full time work might well be appealing, financial independence is appealing. But having lots of money and nothing to do with all day to do it in is a recipe for disaster.

Taking time to consider, plan and construct the next phase of your life is essential. Learning the skills you need to keep reinventing is also essential as retirement is not a transaction, you will have to reinvent yourself, potentially multiple times.

If you want to find out how, check out our website: www.360rejuvenate.com

If your house is on fire, would you stand around looking for someone to blame or try to put it out and make sure everyone is safe?

D***y question of course, but everyday in life in business, all around us the first reaction of most is to look for someone to blame. Regardless of whether this concerns the running of your business or your life that likelihood is you will not successfully fix the problem if you first look for someone to blame.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

If you run a business the chances are you have a plan, as an entrepreneur you may have to rip the plan up from time to time and start again, but success rarely comes from not
planning, a fact you will be well aware of.

Life as a whole is much the same, so if you are considering an exit or retirement your best chance success in the long term outcome will be achieved by planning your future. Do this first and it is so much easier to plan your finances, do it the other way around (the most common approach) and you will run the risk of an outcome that is unsatisfactory.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

There are only two things that work in life, people or capital.

By work, I mean producing income. Assuming you are producing your income currently be assured one of three things is going to happen to you;

📍Either you won't want to work anymore
📍Can't work anymore
📍No one will employ you

Only one of these can be targeted by you. Decide when you want to be able to switch from working for income to relying on capital to produce it. What does life look like then, what do you want to do with your time? Work out how much this will cost and then how much you need to be able to fund it. Thereafter plan for the risk you will not get a choice in the matter and make sure to have capital paid in that event.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

What is life Planning?

Planning for life before your finances is the best way to describe life planning.
Financial advisors and financial planners often only talk to their clients at a very surface level about goals and objectives.

Life planning is much more about having people really reflect on who they are, what they want, when they might want it and what makes them tick. Done well this should be
provocative. Provoking thought and taking time to get to the answers is the key.

You can only properly plan your finances, if you really understand what the long term objectives are for your money.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Last week I joined a group of men for breakfast, it was the first such event in my local
community, most of the attendees were well beyond retirement age. As I have found all too common over the last 25 years and more is that many people who have been retired for a few years wonder why they did it.

Trying to get people to consider not retiring is a seriously hard sell and truth be told most people I have said this to who are between the ages of 30-50 think it is a crazy idea. Until they don’t.

Whether just a few short months or maybe a few years post-retirement significant numbers of people find themselves wondering what life is all about, they feel like something is missing. Usually that is meaning and purpose. Traditional retirement planning focuses exclusively on funding. This is a huge mistake. Plan first for meaning and purpose, determine the life you want to lead, do this and planning your finances becomes much easier, maybe even a doddle.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

What is your “enough”?

I wrote about “your enough” in the book The R Word time to retire retirement based on a concept I had used with clients for decades. It is the third of what I call the Three Fundamentals and is a process of working through the level of future wealth you will need to live the life you desire.

The key is to know how you want to live in the future, not how your financial adviser, bank or wealth manager thinks you should (or the press) all of whom are very good at setting your goals based on their expectations.

If you would like to know how to work this out for yourself pop us an email to [email protected] and we will send an electronic version of the book.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Start with you..

When anyone thinks about financial planning the first thought is almost always money.

If you decide to focus first on money, the odds are you go down a rabbit hole, or several, driven by financial regulators, tax needs and then to investment solutions. These maybe necessary, much like energy is a requirement for a vehicle, without it you won’t get anywhere. But plan this way and you will inevitably arrive at a future date needing to decide on the life you can lead with the money you now have. This is madness.

Always start with yourself, who are you, where are you, what sort of future do you want? And then ask yourself Why?

Do this and not only will you give yourself a far greater chance of living a fulfilled and purposeful life, but you will also find it much easier to create the finances to fit what you want rather than the reverse.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Looking forward to retirement? Not sure whether to retire or not? Maybe you can’t decide how long to work for, or whether to slow down and work part time.

These are questions many people ask themselves.

We will soon be announcing a new series of virtual courses to help you find the answers and make decisions about your future, you can find out more on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Get a grip!

Scientists have shown in various studies that grip strength is a key indicator of how well we are ageing and longevity in retirement. One problem with modern life is we don’t carry stuff anymore, or at least not as much as we once did. Convenience has a price. Carrying your shopping, walking up stairs carrying things instead of taking the life (within reason of course..!) are all good thing you can add to your day without having to cram something else into an already busy schedule.

Visit our YouTube here for more series of videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

Are you killing yourself?

Our lifestyles can have a terrible impact on retirement, poor lifestyles can have take a while to show themselves, the body is really good at hiding disease.

Most people know that exercise, sensible diet and good sleep are essential ingredients to staying healthy. The problem is not a lack of knowledge, rather the discipline to change out habits.

If you are struggling to do what’s needed for yourself to think about others, do you want to become a burden on your partner or spouse? If not, what will you do about it?

Visit our YouTube here for more series of videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqAcuZteq82r5nf_6pG87JA

I’ve been hearing from professionals like you, standing on the brink of retirement, filled with questions and uncertainties about what lies ahead.

It’s clear to me that retirement planning goes beyond just financial security.

It’s about crafting a future rich with personal fulfillment, growth, and the joy of living life on your terms.

That’s why I’m extending a special invitation to you for an exclusive, invite-only training: The Step-by-Step Roadmap to Designing a Successful Retirement: 3 Simple Strategies to Achieve Financial Freedom in Retirement.

Set a Reminder: May 16th at 2:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM London, UK time.

It’s for individuals who aspire not just to retire comfortably, but to thrive.

Availability is limited to ensure a personalized experience for every participant.

Click Here To Secure Your Seat Today.

Don’t miss this opportunity to join us and start shaping the retirement you truly deserve.

I’ve been hearing from professionals like you, standing on the brink of retirement, filled with questions and uncertainties about what lies ahead.

It’s clear to me that retirement planning goes beyond just financial security.

It’s about crafting a future rich with personal fulfillment, growth, and the joy of living life on your terms.

That’s why I’m extending a special invitation to you for an exclusive, invite-only training: The Step-by-Step Roadmap to Designing a Successful Retirement: 3 Simple Strategies to Achieve Financial Freedom in Retirement.

Set a Reminder: May 16th at 2:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM London, UK time.

It’s for individuals who aspire not just to retire comfortably, but to thrive.

Availability is limited to ensure a personalized experience for every participant.

Click here to secure your seat today: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtc-6trTMvEtB8oYmfCXA102cufXL6k8Bh #/registration

Don’t miss this opportunity to join us and start shaping the retirement you truly deserve.