I read a very interesting article the other day at MSNBC.com. The article is subtitled “But studies show that people actually get happier as they get older.” Here is the link to the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13347198/

The article indicates that people expect to be unhappy as they grow older, yet most are actually happier in the latter part of life. I am not entirely inclined to agree with one of the conclusions offered, that “people may focus less on achievement and more on personal relationships and enjoying life.” While this may be true in some, even many, cases, I don’t think it is universal by any means. I think many of us do what we feel we must do to fulfill our responsibilities and obligations in the first (or second) phase of our lives. Along the way, we put our dreams aside. Retirement frees us from many obligations, to be sure. The opportunity to follow our dreams and do the things that are most important to us, however, are what happiness is made of at the end of the day. Without careful planning, I would not be able to live my own dreams. My own experience, as well as that of thousands of other retires, demonstrates the importance of planning for retirement beyond financial security.

This entry was created on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 5:24 pm.
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