Seize the Day
When people are asked to predict what their lives will be like in the future, their imagined outcomes are usually colored by psychological biases. One of them is the belief that they will be a substantially different person, free of the bad habits and tendencies they struggle with today.
Another misconception is the belief that they will have unlimited free time. This latter prediction is called the future time slack bias.1 It's the belief that at some future date you will have all the uninterrupted time you need to engage in the meaningful activities you keep putting off.
Working people experience this bias as they think about everything they're going to accomplish on the weekend, only to end up spending their free time scrolling social media.
But retirees are prone to it as well. Even though they have more unstructured time than ever, they find it quickly fills with mundane, habitual activities. One of the biggest is TV viewing. On average, retirees spend more than four hours a day with this time-filling activity.
The truth is that those uncluttered, future days we imagine will never arrive by default. Whatever we hope to do—like learning new skills, volunteering our time, or traveling some place new—we need to take action today. "Carpe diem," the Roman poet advised. "Seize the day."2
Life is full of responsibilities and retirement is no exception. According to the American Time Use Survey, after you account for the time necessary to take care of day-to-day responsibilities, the average retiree has about 1,000 hours per year to spend on meaningful activities. This is roughly equivalent to the hours you'd spend working part-time at a job.
Financial writer Jacob Schroeder argues that because of its limited nature, this free time is more precious than money. And just like spending money without a budget, spending time with no schedule makes it easy to waste. In fact, psychologists have found that having too much unstructured free time can actually lower well-being.
You're more likely to take your dream trip if you purposely have the money set aside for it in advance. Not being able to afford it is no longer a good excuse for putting it off. The whole point of saving for a fully funded retirement is that it will enable you to do the meaningful things you've always wanted to do. Your money is simply a tool to enable you to accomplish those things within the precious time you're given.
What’s your dream trip? What would you like to set aside for a rainy day? Call our Retirement Concierges to discuss your option. Articulate your biggest dreams out loud, and we can give you expert guidance on making those dreams a reality.
1. http://go.pardot.com/e/91522/e-of-1-000-hours-in-retirement/96pc49/2811538853/h/EAjD7jnoJbTdhtEt7GLQxvO02KWFOXVOGOkpubN_9RM
2. http://go.pardot.com/e/91522/wiki-Carpe-diem/96pc4d/2811538853/h/EAjD7jnoJbTdhtEt7GLQxvO02KWFOXVOGOkpubN_9RM
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