Today I was reading an article about a young couple in the
"Millionaires in the Making" series on CNNMoney and something struck a chord with me. The husband in the article said he and his wife work at trying to "strike the delicate balance between saving for the future and living in the present" and that it is not an easy task. What a wise 27 year old! This young couple has saved some serious money, but they also understand the importance of enjoying the present.This comment prompted me to reflect on my own experience and ponder the question of balance. All my life I've worked hard to save and prepare for my retirement and so now, here I am... retired. The future that was always the carrot that kept me focused is here. It is now. No more saving for retirement for me. I'm here.
In the last 15+ years since my daughters went off to college, I've probably been a workaholic, at least some of the time. My focus was on my job, working long hours, saving for retirement, working even longer hours, saving more... As I reflect about it, in some ways, before retiring, I had lost the balance in my life. And it wasn't because working longer hours resulted in more pay... I was salaried so it did not matter.
So here I am, happy to be retired and retired, trying to be happy. And while it's good to have the security of a pension and money in the bank - more than I will probably need in my lifetime - what was the trade off? I know I should have taken more time "to smell the roses," figuratively speaking.
Now that I'm retired, one of the things I've had to work on is learning to live in the present, to savor each and every day and revel in the simple pleasures that we can overlook when we make work an unbalanced priority in our lives. I have had to learn to get better at having fun and spending the money to do so without feeling guilty. It should not be this hard.
Balance is so important... and while I'm still working on finding my groove in retirement, I hope all the young people out there in the early stages of planning and preparing for the future do not forget to enjoy the present. Work to maintain that delicate balance because you cannot go back and "re-do" your life.
December 5th, 2008 at 09:52 pm 1228513955
December 6th, 2008 at 01:13 am 1228526012
December 11th, 2008 at 03:24 pm 1229009084
December 11th, 2008 at 05:58 pm 1229018300
Conversely, I know people my age who saved prodigiously for the future, foregoing vacations or entertainment, and lived almost miserly lives only to die before they could retire. Their lives were out of balance in the other extreme.
The key is balance. Save for tomorrow but don't forget to live your life today as well.