Happy New Year! What will make you happy this year? Our guest today, Stephanie Harrison, author of New Happy, believes that it’s time to retire the old beliefs about happiness. If you’re moving on from full-time work, you’ll want to hear her research-based ideas to reimagine what happiness will be like in this new phase of life – and how to move on from the “old happy.”

In addition to her book, I highly recommend her newsletter, and join over 1 million people who also love her work.

Stephanie Harrison joins us from California.

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Bio

Stephanie Harrison is author of New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong and the creator of the New Happy philosophy and an expert in the science of well-being. Her company, The New Happy, teaches millions of people around the world how to be happier every day.

She has a Masters Degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was later an instructor. Previously, she was the head of Learning at Thrive Global, where she directed the development of science-backed programs for well-being that reaches millions of employees at Fortune 500 companies around the world.

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For More on Stephanie Harrison

Read New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong 

The New Happy website

Sign up for the free weekly Newsletter

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Mentioned in This Episode

How To Become A Wiser Person

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD

Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman

The Power of Fun – Catherine Price

The Good Life – Marc Schulz, PhD

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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Connect on LinkedIn

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Wise Quotes 

The New Happy vs. Old Happy

“I now define happiness in a very different way than I did when I was younger…It’s the state of being connected to yourself, others, and the world around you. That’s how I would describe the experience of it. And then I define the pathway to getting that as having these two pillars of being who you are and then using who you are to help other people. So that, which I just said, is the New Happy. And then Old Happy is what society teaches us about happiness – what we need to do and achieve and become in order to experience that state of well-being that we’re all looking for. And Old Happy tells us that if we want to be happy, we have these three core tasks that we have to accomplish. We have to perfect ourselves, essentially optimize ourselves in every possible way. We have to achieve certain societally approved goals, things that are venerated or celebrated in our society. And three, we have to do everything alone. We are separate from other people and we have to do these things without leaning on them, without asking for help, without being a part of a community.”

On Retirement & Identity 

“…if your identity is entirely centred upon your workplace role and your title, then of course it feels incredibly destabilizing if that’s taken away. It’s like you’re trying to live in a house with the foundation ripped out. It’s not going to work very well. And I think that there are different things that you can do depending on what stage you’re in, whether you’re approaching retirement or already in a state of retirement. But if you’re already retired and you’re experiencing that loss of identity, what I would tell you is that you have so many wonderful, amazing gifts that just need a new location to be used. They don’t have to be used in the same way that they were before. So if you were working at a job and you had this amazing career and you developed all of these skills and talents, then that gives you something to use. And those things are very much needed in the world, in our communities, in nonprofits, in our families and all of these different environments. And so what I would say to you is separate yourself from the job, identify the skills that you now possess through all of that work, and then think about where could I use these? Where could I be of service and use these to support other people? And that’s going to help you to rediscover who you are, but also to bring you that sense of meaning that often disappears with retirement.”

On Purpose

“I think purpose is inextricably tied to happiness. I’m not sure that there’s a real experience of happiness that’s divorced from purpose. I say that because scientists often break up happiness into these two different dimensions. There’s hedonic happiness, which is essentially pleasure, feeling good and then there’s eudaimonic happiness, which is what I’m talking about. And that’s essentially  living at your fullest capacity and cultivating yourself in a way that contributes also to the world around you. And if you’re doing that, then you’ve inevitably found some sort of purpose in your life. And I think that the purpose is what gives us a much more stable experience of happiness.  Your purpose is something where it drives you every single day. It provides you with meaningful feedback and the opportunity to grow, and the chance to see how your efforts matter and make a difference. We can find purpose in our jobs, of course, but there are so many other venues that it can be found in as well, whether that’s through sharing your knowledge and your wisdom with people who are younger than you, who desperately need it, who are looking for these answers and don’t know where to find it.”

Thinking of retiring? Start here with our Best Books on Retirement summaries.

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Before we move on to a new season of the podcast, let’s catch up on our best conversations with a question in mind:

Which one of these retirement lessons can I apply in 2025?

Click the links below for the full conversations:

How Not to Age – Dr. Michael Greger

The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace

The Balancing Act in Retirement – Stew Friedman

The Fourth Quarter – Allen Hunt

Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

Changing Lanes to Make a Difference – Jennifer Jacobs

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Other Best Of Episodes

Best of the Retirement Wisdom Podcast 2024 – Part 3

Best of 2023 – Part 3

The Very Best of 2022

The Best of 2021 – Retirement Wisdom

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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Connect on LinkedIn

Make 2025 your year!

Free 2-part Workshop to build 3 new habits

January 3 and 10th  – 12 Noon Eastern – 1 hour via Zoom

Sign Up here

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While we focus on the non-financial aspects of retirement here, your money clearly matters. With a new year around the corner we check back in with economist Larry Kotlikoff, author of Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money,Less Risk and a Better Life, for his views on what may lie ahead, common mistakes to avoid with Social Security, how you can Maximize (Your) Social Security, why Roth IRA conversions make sense for many people and his retirement planning software MaxiFi.

Larry Kotlikoff joins us from Rhode Island.

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Bio

Laurence J. Kotlikoff is a William Fairfield Warren Professor at Boston University, a Professor of Economics at Boston University, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, President of Economic Security Planning, Inc., a company specializing in financial planning software, a Research Associate of the Gaidar Institute, and a Research Fellow of the Goodman Institute. Kotlikoff is also a New York Times Best Selling author. The Economist Magazine ranked Kotlikoff one of the world’s 25 most influential economists.

Professor Kotlikoff received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1977. From 1977 through 1983, Kotlikoff served on the faculties of economics of the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University. In 1981-82 Professor Kotlikoff was a Senior Economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Professor Kotlikoff’s writings and research address personal finance, inequality, taxation, Social Security, climate change, investing, healthcare, deficits, and insurance.

Professor Kotlikoff is author or co-author of 20 books, hundreds of professional journal articles, and a multitude of op eds and blogs. His most recent books are Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money,Less Risk and a Better Life, You’re Hired, Get What’s Yours – the Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security (a NY Times Best Seller co-authored with Philip Moeller and Paul Solman), The Clash of Generations (co-authored with Scott Burns), The Economic Consequences of the Vickers Commission, Jimmy Stewart Is Dead, Spend ‘Til the End, (co-authored with Scott Burns), Generational Policy (MIT Press), The Healthcare Fix, and The Coming Generational Storm (co-authored with Scott Burns). Kotlikoff’s columns have appeared in The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Hill, The Financial Times, The Times of London, Forbes, CBNC, Bloomberg, PBS NewsHour, The Dallas News, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Seattle Times, Vox, Fortune, Seeking Alpha, Yahoo.com, VoxEU, Huffington Post, and other leading media.

Kotlikoff has served as a consultant to the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Harvard Institute for International Development, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Swedish Ministry of Finance, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Government of Russia, the Government of Ukraine, the Government of Bolivia, the Government of Bulgaria, the Treasury of New Zealand, the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Joint Committee on Taxation, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The American Council of Life Insurance, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, AT&T, AON Corp., and other major U.S. corporations. Kotlikoff has provided expert testimony on numerous occasions to committees of Congress including the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Budget Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Joint Economic Committee.  Kotlikoff’s company markets economics-based financial planning software, including maxifiplanner.com, maximizemysocialssecurity.com, and analyzemydivorcesettlement.com.

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For More on Laurence J. Kotlikoff

MaxiFi financial planning software

Maximize My Social Security,

Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money,Less Risk, and a Better Life

Website: Kotlikoff.net

Follow on Twitter @Kotlikoff

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Retirement Savings Time Bomb – Ed Slott

An Economist’s Take on Retirement Planning – Larry Kotlikoff

The Key Decisions for Retirement Success – Wade Pfau

_____________________________

About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Connect on LinkedIn

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Wise Quotes

On Social Security Mistakes

“Well, almost everybody’s taking Social Security as soon as they can, or as soon as soon as they retire. And so we’re talking about probably 90% of people taking it before 65 or at 65. And that’s for almost everybody way too early. So we have, and when we’re talking about the typical American household leaving $182,000 on the table by taking the wrong benefits at the wrong time. And so going too early, not knowing about all the benefits that they have available, not running optimization software. I have a software company that has a $49 tool, which is called Maximize My Social Security, which for 49 bucks, you can figure out what to do in terms of raising your lifetime benefits. And it can be, for some people, we’ve raised their benefits with our tool, just that alone by $600,000. If you talk about a high earning couple, both of whom want to take benefits, retire at 62 and take benefits at 62. Well, rather than 70, when their benefit would start 76% higher adjusted for inflation. This is like the dumbest thing in the world. If you’re cashflow constrained, you should borrow steal or beg from your brother to give you money to get by to let, and then pay them back when you get this much higher benefit because it’s fantastic return to patients. And a lot of people are doing this because they’re being focused. by the financial industry by Wall Street on life expectancy. Hey, your life expectancy is only this, you better take your money because if you don’t take it, you’re going to lose it. So if you don’t take your Social Security at 62 and you die at 63, where are you going to be? You’re going to be in heaven, right? And you’re not going to need any money. So the idea that you’re going to lose it, well, you’re not going to lose it, okay? What you’re really going to lose is the insurance protection. When you’re 98 and you’ve lived that long and you’ve had to pay for yourself that whole way, not having a 76% higher number every month coming in to your bank account. So Social Security is longevity insurance. And if social security, which is our largest insurance company in the world, would take off all these life expectancy calculators on its website and it’s like having a health. It’s like having a homeowners insurance company putting onto their website a calculator that says what your expected loss from a fire is. And they’ll show everybody that it’s not that big and not that many fires. So therefore don’t buy full coverage. Let your house burn down and because it’s not going to happen on that often. Yeah, but you only have one house, right? You only have one life. You’re not going to die on time. Nobody dies on time. You can’t count on dying on time. So you have and then you also have people with this psychology that if they think about living to 100, they’re going to die the next morning, if they’re going to jinx themselves. Well, OK, but they do think about their house burning down and they ensure against it, right? It doesn’t it doesn’t lead to their house burning down, but and that’s money well lost if your house doesn’t burn down, right having paid that premium.”

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.

Make the New Year Your Best Year

Free 2-part Workshop to build 3 new habits

January 3 and 10th  – 12 Noon Eastern – 1 hour via Zoom

Sign Up here

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As the year winds down, it’s time to reflect – and look ahead. Carol Orsborn, author of the new book Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life, explains why it’s a wise move to continue that practice  with weekly reflections to tune into the spiritual side of aging.

Carol Orsborn joins us from Tennessee.

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Bio

Dr. Carol Orsborn is the best-selling author of over 35 books including her forthcoming Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life. Her body of work includes The Making of an Old Soul: Aging as the Fulfillment of Life’s Promise.  Older, Wiser, Fiercer: The Wisdom Collection  and 2015 Gold Nautilus Book Award winner in the category of Consciously Aging: The Spirituality of Age: A Seeker’s Guide to Growing Older (with Robert L. Weber, Ph.D.) She has recently launched the Spiritual Aging Study and Support Group (SASS) at Spiritual Aging@ Substack.com.  She founded the Conscious Aging Book Club in conjunction with Parnassus Books and now housed at CarolOrsborn.com, and the Sage-ing Book Club run in conjunction with the leading organization in the field Sage-ing International

Carol is curator of Fierce with Age:  The Archives of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration, and Spirituality, housed at CarolOrsborn.com and a leading voice of the conscious aging and spirituality and aging movements.  For the past decade, she has also blogged about the Boomer Generation for Huffington Post, BeliefNet.com and PBS’s Next Avenue, among others.

Dr. Orsborn received her Masters of Theological Studies and Doctorate in History and Critical Theory of Religion from Vanderbilt University with post-graduate work in Spiritual Counseling at the New Seminary in Manhattan. She is an internationally-recognized thought leader on the fulfillment of the human potential through all life stages.

For the past forty years, Dr. Orsborn has been a leading voice of her generation, appearing on Oprah, NBC Nightly News and on The Today Show among many others. Her blogs have appeared regularly in Huffington Post, Beliefnet, NPR’s Next Avenue and McKnights, among others.  She has been  a frequent speaker at conferences and events such as the American Society of Aging, Sage-ing International Conference, Boomerstock, the Positive Aging Conference, Omega Institute and the American Academy of Religion.

Dr. Orsborn established her reputation as a generational expert as co-founder of the first global initiative by a top ten PR company dedicated to helping brands such as Ford, AARP, Prudential and Humana communicate with Boomers. She has brought her talks and retreats on resilience, spirituality and aging to such venues as Omega Institute, American Society of Aging, Positive Aging Conference, Vanderbilt University Hospital and many other aging, healthcare, spiritual and religious groups.

Dr. Orsborn received her Doctorate in History and Critical Theory of Religion from Vanderbilt University, specializing in adult development and ritual studies, including intergenerational values formation and transmission. She has served on the faculties of Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Georgetown Universities.  Dr. Orsborn lives in Nashville, Tennessee and Toronto, Canada.

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For More on Carol Orsborn

Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life

Website

Substack

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Vintage Years – Dr. Francine Toder

Slow Living – Stephanie O’Dea

From Role to Soul – Connie Zweig

Getting Good at Getting Older – Rabbi Laura Geller

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Thinking of retiring? Start here with our Best Books on Retirement summaries

_______________________

About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Connect on LinkedIn

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Wise Quotes

On Purpose

“…my doctorate is in History and Critical Theory of Religion. And I looked at the phenomenon of meaning and religion and spirituality through every academic lens that there is – sociological, anthropological, philosophical. And when I came to the end of all of the scientific explanations, there was something that I think William James called something more. What is the something more? There’s always something more that you can’t explain. And that is the world of spirit. Some people are more comfortable with the word spirit than spirituality. But I think we all know what it means to, to have your spirit intact, to feel like there’s something more, and that you’re here for a purpose…And if you’re aging, my favorite theory that I practice is that aging is not just a problem to be solved. Aging itself is a spiritual experience. So where is that something more?”

On Unretiring

“But why I ended up unretiring three times now is because after a long period of time of having freedom, having quality relationships with my friends, going slower, sitting by the river, reading the classics, whatever it is I wanted to do, I would hear a voice in my mind that I recognize as being called. And I was called to write three books. And so I came out of retirement for each of the three books. And I’m really proud of these three books, but the most recent time was the current book, Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life.”

On Solitude and Freedom

“I was alone, but I wasn’t lonely. And what I was was practicing solitude, a contemplative lifestyle. And what we are in society is uneducated about the things that are unpopular or not talked about much in society, how they can be held differently. And there’s vast literature out there about the joys of solitude and the benefits of it. And some for short term and some as a lifestyle. And what we have to do is stop judging ourselves and judging others. And I go to Ram Dass who taught me, there is no right or wrong way to age. There’s only your way. So if I am finally giving myself permission to spend long periods of time alone, you know, not trying to be popular, not going to every party, and not worrying about fear of missing out. What a blessing to me. That’s freedom.”

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Make the New Year Your Best Year

Free 2-part Workshop to build 3 new habits

January 3 and 10th  – 12 Noon Eastern – 1 hour via Zoom

Sign Up here 

_______________________

It’s a great time of year to slow down. But what about next year? Is it time for slow living?

Stephanie O’Dea, author of Slow Living: Cultivating a Life of Purpose in a Hustle-Driven World, shares her personal experiences with slowing down, the benefits of living a different lifestyle and how to get started.

Stephanie O’Dea joins us from California.

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Bio

Stephanie O’Dea is a New York Times best selling author, host of the Slow Living Podcast, and a mom of three. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks about all things Slow Living.

In 2008, Stephanie made a New Year’s resolution to use her crockpot slow cooker every day for a year and write about it online. This simple idea resulted in 10 books, a spot on the New York Times best-sellers list, and a job that she loves — and one she can do at home, in her pajamas. Stephanie has appeared on Good Morning America, The Rachael Ray Show, featured in Real Simple Magazine, Woman’s World, and Oprah.com.

She is a contributing editor to Simply Gluten Free Magazine and is featured in the infomercial for the Ninja Cooking System. For a more comprehensive press listing, please visit her online home at stephanieodea.com.

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For More on Stephanie O’Dea

Slow Living: Cultivating a Life of Purpose in a Hustle-Driven World

Website

Podcast

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Podcast Conversations You May Like

Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta

The Power of Saying No – Vanessa Patrick, PhD

We’re All Ageing. Are You Up for a Bolder Approach? – Carl Honoré

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Wise Quotes

On Habits

“And so if you have a long list of New Year’s resolutions or things that you want to change about yourself or habits you want to start or habits you want to stop, that’s okay. If for some reason, you have ‘fallen off the wagon’ on March 1st, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means that you’ve taken a little bit of a pause. And so I’m a huge fan of like 30 day challenges and things like that. But what I joke with my coaching clients is who cares if it took you 45 days to meet a 30 day goal in the great big, huge scheme of things and the trajectory of your life, it’s just a teeny, tiny blip. So I don’t want people to think that they’ve failed when they’ve really just stumbled in real life. There’s there’s ups and downs and all arounds and we’ve got hurricanes and natural disasters and the roof blows off and and and that’s real life.”

On Creating Your Mood

“…Mindset + Action + Consistency = Success. So when you’re in a good mood, that’s mindset, For me, I like… journaling, yoga, going on long walks, spending time in nature. That’s how I get myself in a good mood. And it is different for everybody. Although I will say that if you’re getting yourself in a good mood by a vice that might not be healthy for you in the long term, pay attention to that. Find your good mood in healthy ways. And then ask yourself these open-ended questions. And the answers that come back are the action steps to take. And then consistency is doing the things you told yourself you would do on a consistent basis. And it also means that sometimes you might not want to do those things, but you sort of convince yourself to do them anyways. Real life. Lots of variables that you can’t control. So humans like to feel as if they can control things. So in order to get that sort of feeling of control, many times the first step is s to sort of declutter things that aren’t working for you. And it could be physical items in your home if they’re creating kind of this brain noise every time you look at your desk, it makes you feel stressed out. Okay, that’s something to pay attention to. It could be too many obligations on your calendar. And that means that for a while you need to declutter and start saying no to things just so you have a little bit more space in your day-to-day. It could also be particular people and relationships that you need to declutter. And maybe not forever, but maybe you hit the pause button and no one needs to know either. And then later, when you start to feel calmer and more, quote unquote, in control, you can begin to add things back into your life.”

On Redefining Success

“It’s a great question because I think sometimes markers are of success. People are looking for external validation. And so, if you’re a doctor or a lawyer or something like that, you’ve quote unquote made it in life. and you’re successful. I would ask for you and your listeners to write out what their version of success looks like. For some people that’s living in a high-rise in Manhattan. For some it’s living on a farm with some sheep and goats and walking the property every morning and feeling the dew on their boots. The accolades have to come from within. I would like for you to climb into bed each night feeling content and feeling at peace and knowing I did my best. Maybe there’s no one to see it but if there’s food in the fridge and happy kids and happy relationship and I can crawl around on the floor with my grandchildren great that’s success.  You may never be internet famous. You may never have a Tesla. And that’s OK. You get to decide what success looks like for you.”

On Starting Now

“I know since you talk about the idea of retiring into something instead of leaving, it’s not this like clear, thick, dark line, like this was Former Me and this is Future Me. I would want you to start to envelop your new habits now while you’re still working. So, if you think, Oh, when I retire, I’m going to start doing yoga every single day, okay, great, but you can also start doing yoga now and see if you’re even interested in it. 10 minutes and 20 minutes completely counts when you’re trying on a new habit or hobby for size.”

_______________________

Thinking of retiring? Start here with our Best Books on Retirement summaries

_______________________

About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Connect on LinkedIn

 

 

 

 

It’s time to catch up on any of our best podcast conversations you may have missed this fall.

Listen to any of the full podcast conversations below:

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

The Good Life – Marc Schulz

The Art of the Interesting – Lorraine Besser, PhD

Passion and Purpose – Jim Ansara

How to Retire – Christine Benz

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Other Best Of Episodes:

Best of 2024 – Part Two

Best of 2024 – Part One

Best of 2023 – Part Three

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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

 

 

 

 

Retiring? Don’t drift into the lazy river. Design Your New (active and interesting) Life. Learn More

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In days gone by, people used to think they were done – and headed off to retirement. Not any more. Now, the questions to ask yourself  are what’s my potential for the likely decades that lie ahead? And how can I live well – and wisely? Ben Lytle, former CEO of Anthem, and author of The Potentialist: The Pursuit of Wisdom, believes that wisdom and potential are our ideal adaptive responses for the interesting times we’re living in today. He also believes that wisdom and untapped potential reside in everyone, waiting to be released.

Ben Lytle joins us from Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Bio

Ben Lytle is a self-made serial entrepreneur and CEO known for being ahead of the curve. He is the author of “The Potentialist: Your Future in the New Reality of the Next Thirty Years,” a guidebook for success during the fast-changing, turbulent, and opportunity-rich times ahead. His new book in the series is The Potentialist: The Pursuit of Wisdom.

Ben is best known as the founding CEO of Anthem, Inc. (NYSE), one of the leading US health plans with a market capitalization placing it in the top tier of the Fortune 500; and Acordia, Inc. (NYSE), which became the world’s sixth-largest insurance broker. He cofounded three companies with his entrepreneurial son, Hugh, and invests in technologies that address New Reality challenges, such as increasing productivity to offset declining populations, caring for the elderly, and preserving human legacies.

Ben has extensive public policy experience at the state and federal levels and has held board leadership roles in a wide range of industries. His contributions have been recognized by numerous awards and in books and periodicals. He has been a speaker and university guest lecturer on health, healthcare policy, entrepreneurship, and human potential throughout his career.

Beyond his career, Ben’s passions include his family of three adult children and eight adult grandchildren, along with lifelong avocations for physical fitness, travel, reading, human potential, the future, and education.

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For More on Ben Lytle

The Potentialist: The Pursuit of Wisdom

Website – potentialistfuture.com

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Mentioned in This Podcast Episode

The Many Ways WSJ Readers Use AI in Their Everyday Lives

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

The Art of the Interesting – Lorraine Besser, PhD

Turning the Page in Retirement – Stephen Riggio

Your Next Act – Robert B. Tucker

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Wise Quotes

On Refining, Not Retiring

“…this started about 20 years ago. I had recently stepped down. I’ve never really retired. I have refined and I’ll explain that. But I had stepped down from Anthem and I was asked to write an article about what it was like to be running this gigantic enterprise and then suddenly go be doing startups and all other kinds of things, wilderness hiking and all kinds of things. And I wrote the title of the article, and ended up being in search of a phase name because I felt that at that time I didn’t have the word yet. But I said, you know, I don’t see anybody retired in the industrial age concept. The concept was you work, you retire and then you die about three or four years later, but you have a few years there. Well, it’s not that way anymore. First of all, we live a lot longer. And so we’re essentially increasingly changing careers or changing our direction in life in in midlife, almost midlife or at the two-thirds point. You’re not down within the 10 yard line. And so it’s really changed. And so it does need a new definition. And so it hit me a few years ago about when I was writing the first book, the word refinement and to me, Joe, refinement means this is the age of discovery.”

On Experimenting

“Earlier in life we expect we can just do it because we want to do it. Find out what lights you up. Find that creative core. And then you have to be patient when you have to experiment. I experimented with a whole bunch of things before I found what I was going to do in this next part of my life. And it’s okay, but I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that. You know what? Okay, I like this. Take risks. One of the most beautiful things about this stage in life is I hope all your listeners hear, I know I am, I don’t care what anybody thinks.”

On Wisdom

“Wisdom to me is a very clear process. First of all, you can just clear off the table what it is not. It is not age. We speak of people wise beyond their years. We say out of the mouths of babes. So even children can express wisdom and that’s science. It’s also not knowledge. Like age, knowledge helps because you do get some barnacles just by living. You learn a little bit. That doesn’t make you wise. And we all know some older people who are definitely not wise. But it’s not knowledge directly either. Some people who are very simple people have a way of seeing life as it really is and living life as it really is. And they may be very uneducated, but they’re wise. And I know some of them very well. And they’re actually fascinating people. It’s not IQ. It’s not traditional measures of success, money, fame, power, social status. We can find fools in all of those. But what it is, it is what I love. The classical definition for wisdom is so beautiful. It’s poetic. It’s the art of living well. Is that fabulous? It’s the art of living well.”

On Living Well and Wisely

“Well, then that begs the question, how do you live well? You make wise decisions throughout your life, wiser than most other people, wiser than you would have ever made had you not pursued being wise. Okay, that’s good. Well, then how do you make wise decisions? It’s got two parts to it. One, if you develop the capacity for wisdom, that’s the preparation for wisdom. That’s where you can actually learn this stuff. So you develop this capacity for wisdom your entire life and you get wiser and wiser as you’re accumulating. And that’s where knowledge can play a part. But then in the moment of decision, you have to be free of those things that will cause you to act unwisely. And that formula right there is what causes even wise people like Gandhi to have made bad decisions at times, unwise decisions – not bad, unwise. Because our church here, they were incredibly wise people, but in the moment of decision, something got them and they got or distracted them and they didn’t act wisely. So what is the capacity for wisdom then that we’re developing? That’s perspective, learning to get above the day to day, the bird’s eye view, see the forest instead of the trees, look back in time to how I got here, look at today clearly, see reality clearly, and look forward. That’s perspective. That’s really important. I would say that’s the biggest missing element in most people when they act unwisely. The second is seeing reality. You think, Wow, I see reality. What are you talking about? Well, hang on a minute. Our good old ego, our not so good old ego, the negative part of the ego has around 20 plus distortions that it gives us to look at life through. So see the lens you’re looking at. Address those, either by your experiences or somebody helping you, or you can actually go out and read about them.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

It’s Thanksgiving here in the US. And there’s always a lot we can be grateful for – if we’re paying attention. This Best Of episode spins through a few of our guests who shared their experiences, insights and wisdom about gratitude. Often they found gratitude to be extremely valuable in times of adversity in their lives. I think they just might inspire you to keep gratitude going long after your tryptophan-induced nap on Thursday.

If any of the clips on gratitude intrigue you, click on the links below to listen to the full conversations.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Mentioned in This Episode

Get ready for that relative coming to your Thanksgiving table who sees the negative in everything:

Whatever It Is I’m Against It

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Links to the Full Conversations

Kristi Nelson – Wake Up Grateful

Brad Aronson – Changing the World One Small Act at a Time

Steven Petrow – The Joy You Make

Michael O’Brien – My Last Bad Day

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retirementwisdom.com

Check out our recommended Best Books on Retirement

Is 2025 your year?

Join our Design Your New Life in Retirement Program – two new groups start in January.

Early registration discount ends November 30th | Only a few spots left.

Learn more

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When you’re retiring, you think of what you’re leaving. Your work. Your paycheck. Your office. Your colleagues. But what’s next? There are many benefits to taking on something new. Something that’s challenging, and maybe even out of the box. Stephen Riggio shares his experience.

Stephen Riggio joins us from New York.

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Bio

Stephen Riggio is a visionary leader and former CEO of Barnes & Noble, where he played a crucial role in its transformation into the largest bookselling chain in the United States. His extensive career in the book industry, spanning over four decades, includes pioneering work in e-commerce and publishing. Beyond corporate endeavors, Riggio is deeply engaged in philanthropy, working with organizations like the National Book Foundation and the National Down Syndrome Society. In recent years, Riggio has turned his focus to translating and promoting classic Sicilian literature, especially the “Sicilian Avengers” series.

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For More on Stephen Riggio

Sicilian Avengers: Book One

Sicilian Avengers: Book Two

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

Passion and Purpose – Jim Ansara

The Art of the Interesting – Lorraine Besser, PhD

Unretired – Mark S. Walton

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Wise Quotes

On Turning the Page and Taking On Something New

“I think what you can let go of is, fortunately, you let go of the stress. And you get all of the adrenaline of something that is new. When I refer to stress, I don’t mean the type of stress that is debilitating. People would often ask me when I was in business, it’s an age-old question, Steve, what keeps you up at night? And I would say a good book because business was an all consuming thing, but there’s a point where you do have to let it go to take care of your personal life and your family, your wife and kids. But I think it is true that once you do turn that page, you can let go of that stress. And it’s a type of freedom that is very uplifting. And then if you happen to be fortunate enough to find something that you can latch onto and dig into, then that adrenaline is something that is different than you experienced in work.”

On Taking On Something New Together

“A tragic event was the cause of me learning and getting back into the language. All happy families who are alike, all grieving families, breathe in their own way. What I was looking for was a way for my wife, Laura and I to move forward. It was a year or two after that that I came up with the idea of both of us studying the Italian language together. It would be something to do together, to jump into, and we did it.”

On Opening New Doors

“It does open up a new door to your life. In some respects, when you have a career, you’re pointing in a direction. Usually people like to climb the career ladder. They want more responsibility and greater financial rewards. In this particular case, it was a door that I opened that I didn’t know where it would lead. So with the idea of something that is a little bit uncertain and unexpected there’s a serendipitous aspect of it that I think is very appealing. When I started taking lessons with my wife, we did it together, we didn’t know that we would discover my ancestry going back 400 years, that we would meet distant relatives, they’d become very close to us that I would discover things about my family I never knew, and then that I would translate a book. So it’s a door that was open and I don’t know where it would lead.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

 

Your retirement? You could wing it, but that’s not you.

Design Your Future.  Join our Design Your New Life in Retirement Program – two new groups start in January.

Learn more

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To retire or to work longer? There’s another option that may be just right for you – semi-retirement. We catch up with Liz Weston, who retired from NerdWallet earlier this year on how its working for her – and what you can learn from her experience.

Liz Weston joins us from California.

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Bio

Liz Weston is an award-winning personal finance columnist, speaker, commentator and author of several books about money. She earned the Certified Financial Planner® designation in 2016. Her question-and-answer column “Money Talk” appears in newspapers throughout the country, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Palm Beach Post and the  Oregonian.

Liz Weston’s  book “Your Credit Score” is a national best-seller now in its fifth edition. The New York Times called one of her other books, “The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy,” a “wonderful basic personal finance book…supportive of people struggling to understand these topics and trying to make ends meet.”

You may have heard Liz Weston on public radio as she’s contributed to American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money,” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and “All Things Considered.” She’s appeared on “Dr. Phil,” “Today Show” and NBC Nightly News, and was for several years a weekly commentator on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”

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For More on Liz Weston

Ask Liz Weston

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You – Teresa Amabile

The Balancing Act in Retirement – Stew Friedman

The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace

The Joy You Make – Steven Petrow

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On Deciding to Retire…and Joy

“I think what surprised me the most is how fun this is. That was what I was really worried about – what would retirement be like? So many people are rushing towards it, and they don’t really think about what life will be like afterwards. And I was thinking a lot about how I would spend my time, what I would do, what the challenges might be, and what’s caught me by surprise is just this feeling of joy. I feel like a kid on the first day of summer vacation, and I know this won’t last. Everything changes. This is kind of the honeymoon period, but yeah, it’s really fun.Well, I’m incredibly blessed and lucky that the financial stuff was in place. It was taken care of, and it allowed me to retire a little bit earlier than the norm. But again, the other thing that surprised me was how hard that decision was to make, because I really loved what I did…And then a friend and former colleague of mine died in a car accident. And he was only 61 and we’d spent a lot of time talking about what we were going to do in retirement. And it brought home the fact that we don’t have infinite time.”

On Semi-Retirement – and Off-Ramps

“I think it’s the best option, especially, if you like what you do, and you have skills that can continue on in retirement where you don’t need to work full-time. I had really wanted an off-ramp from my job at NerdWallet, and they didn’t support working part-time. So that was kind of a difficult thing to wrap my head around and realize, okay, I don’t have this option, so this was the next best. A lot of companies, though, do have some kind of off-ramp, and I think it helps people a lot because you keep your foot in the workplace, you can have continuing, you know, because social interaction is so important, you can have that part of your identity still remain intact so you have that sense of purpose. You’re making some money, which for a lot of people is really important to make their money last, but you’re starting the process of exiting. And just as a rant on the side, if somebody listening to this is part of a company and has decision-making power, please think about it. This because you’ve got a lot of talent sitting there that’s on its way out the door that might have a lot of institutional knowledge. You might be able to squeeze a few more years out of them if you give them that option where they can just slowly ratchet down their work commitment. If you can offer benefits even better that’s another big stumbling block for those who are looking at early retirement. But you know there’s a lot of us out there with a lot to give and we’d like to stay on a little bit longer. If you offer that option I think they will really take advantage of it. I think a lot of companies would find that out if they experimented with this option.”

On Purpose & Community

“And there was also a learning curve or training period that had to be gone through. So taking a look at that thinking about the options before you retire is really important – thinking about your sense of purpose, how you’ll get that. But you don’t develop relationships overnight. So it’s important if you don’t have a lot of friends or all your friends will still be working to start building those opportunities to meet more people, and it doesn’t have to be these, you know, incredibly intense friendships that you develop all over the place. So just you know doing things that you enjoy that other people enjoy can be a way to have those little interactions throughout the day that can make you feel more attuned and more connected to your community.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

Take Charge of Your Future. Imagine Possibilities with Design Thinking – and Test Them.

Join our Design Your New Life in Retirement Program – two new groups start in January.

Learn more

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Getting older brings questions. Debra Whitman, PhD, the Chief Public Policy Officer for AARP, had questions, too. Her research led her to write the new book “The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond.” You’ll benefit from her insights from interviews with experts and takeaways from cutting-edge research across a range of topics including brain health, an older workforce, caregiving and retirement.

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Bio

Debra Whitman is the author of The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond. She is an economist and expert on aging issues with an extensive background in policymaking and research. As EVP and Chief Public Policy Officer for AARP, Debra leads a team of 150 experts in all aspects of policy development, analysis, research, and global thought leadership to produce policy and research insights and solutions that help communities, lawmakers, and the private sector improve our lives as we age.

Debra serves as an AARP spokesperson on a diverse set of issues including long-term care and caregiving, financial security, health and longevity, and engaging a multi-generational workforce. She connects with a range of stakeholders such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Forbes and the Aspen Institute. Previously, as staff director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, Debra worked across the aisle to increase retirement security, lower health care costs, protect vulnerable seniors, make the pharmaceutical industry more transparent, and improve our long-term care system. Before that, she worked for the Congressional Research Service as a specialist in the economics of aging and  served as a Brookings LEGIS Fellow to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Debra is a public speaker, mom, and an advocate for those whose voices need to be heard.

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For More on Debra Whitman

The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond

LinkedIn

@policydeb on X

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Measure of Our Age – MT Connolly

Breaking the Age Code – Dr. Becca Levy

Ageism Unmasked – Dr. Tracey Gendron

Lifestyle and Financial Decisions As We Age – Marjorie Fox, JD, CFP®

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Wise Quotes

On the Big Questions of Midlife & Beyond

“So I’ve been working on aging for the last 25 years at the Social Security Administration, running the Senate Aging Committee and then here at AARP, but I realized when I was about to turn 50, I didn’t have the information I wanted at my fingertips. I had books like What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Social Security for Dummies and lots of other great resources, but nothing that just comprehensively looked at all of the things that I was curious about. And so I wrote down a list of questions, everything from the most basic: How long will I live? Will I be healthy to more practical things like How long will I work or Will I have enough money? And then some tough questions like Will I lose my memory? and How will I die? And so those became the chapters of the book, but one of the things that happened as I was starting to put this together was my husband had a major heart attack at 48. And I’ll get a little bit emotional talking about it, but he was hiking by himself and had what they call the Widow Maker, which, being his wife, is not a great term when I heard it. And luckily Boulder Mountain Rescue raced up the mountain and carried him down before his heart stopped. And that experience, Joe, just helped me to think that even though I spent all my career planning for aging and a long life, we really don’t know how long we’re going to live. And so it also makes me really appreciate every day that I have – and I certainly appreciate him a lot more.”

On Zip Codes & Genetic Codes

“And so women, we live in the United States six years longer than men. I spent a month trying to figure out why. I know that people with a college degree live seven years longer in the United States and related to a college degree, people with the highest 1% of wealth, men live 15 years longer, and women live 10 years longer. That’s decades of extra time. And if we look across the country, we also have huge disparity. So your zip code is more important than your genetic code in how long you’re going to live. And so not where Boulder is, but Summit County, Colorado, where Breckenridge is, is the longest lived county in America. And people there live about 20 years longer than people in Ogallala, Lakota County in South Dakota. And so when you see these huge differences in how long people live, it’s not because we as humans are different, it’s because of the physical exposures we have, the access to good healthcare, the ability to take care of ourselves, all of these things play out. And it’s, to me, kind of not fair that everybody in America can’t hope for a good and long life.”

On Habits and Attitude

“So, the research shows, and that’s probably not surprising to you and your listeners, there’s five healthy habits that we can do that can give us as much as a decade more of health. The five healthy habits are eating a good diet, exercising, not smoking, not drinking, and then maintaining your weight. And even if you do one of those, you can live an additional two years. But I think what I was surprised about was how your mindsets and your behaviors also really impact how you how long you live and how healthy you are. So I know you had a Marc Schulz on recently talking about The Good Life, and their research has really shown how having really strong relationships matter in order to have better health later. And we know social isolation is is about the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It’s toxic. So having good relationships is really important, important. Having a sense of purpose and purpose can come from our work from caring for others from volunteering. It could be coming from your pets, but having some reason that helps you see value in your life. And then the last one, and this is Dr. Becca Levy’s research from Yale, is your mindset about aging. So if you have a positive view on what your future is going to be like, and I know you try and cultivate that through this podcast, you live seven and a half years longer. Your risk of heart attacks go down. Even your risk of dementia and cognitive decline go down. And so, to me, these lessons are I need to exercise but even more important maybe have a meal with friends. And even more important, I’ve always had a positive view on aging, but how do I really enhance that and have a sense of purpose? So those are those are the things I really took from the book.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.

Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host 

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.5 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.