The concept of retirement first began with the industrial revolution, when retirement was the stage in life after working years in which we prepared for death. As grim as it sounds, that was the reality most people who were lucky enough to reach retirement could expect.
With massive advancements in technology and medicine, people are now living longer and more vibrant lives in their later years. It is not uncommon to find elderly people in their late 80’s and 90’s still working part-time jobs, engaging in all types of physical activities and even travelling the world.
The old days of working our behinds off from age 20 to age 65 and enjoying a few years of retirement is a thing of the past. It’s simply unreasonable to expect the majority of workers today will be ready for full-stop retirement by age 65.
Consumers are getting concerned that they are not saving enough for the inevitable longer retirement years. As humans are living longer lives, those post-working years are going to be more expensive to finance.
Enter the Victory Lap Retirement: Work While You Play, Play While You Work, The Joy of Financial Independence…at Any Age. The book, co-authored by 30-year financial industry veteran Mike Drak and high-profile financial independence expert Jon Chevreau, turns the concept of traditional retirement on its head.
Don’t go quitting your day job just yet, though. A fundamental prerequisite to Victory Lap Retirement is first achieving Findependence. Being free from the shackles of a corporate job is completely contingent on being fully financially independent, otherwise your ideal Victory Lap Retirement will most likely never be realised. Most people will need new sources of income after leaving a full-time career, and not be carrying a large debt load, if they plan to live out their Victory Lap Retirement on their own terms.
A victory lap is known as a slow and celebratory lap taken by an athlete after winning a race or sporting event. The concept of Victory Lap Retirement is based on that principle. Victory Lap Retirement begins after one has reached their Financial Independence Day. Financial Independence, or Findependence, coined by co-author Jon Chevreau, is the moment at which a worker reached full financial independence with multiple sources of income and is free of debts.
After crossing the Findependence line, the idea of only engaging in leisurely activities such as sitting on a beach in the Caribbean or playing golf at an expensive country club is becoming less and less the desired path for many people.
Instead elderly people are more active and health conscious than ever, resulting in longer life expectancy and costlier post working-years. Victory Lap Retirement is the concept of continually working past the traditional retirement age, but working on things you want to do rather than forcefully.
Typically, Victory Lap Retirement means leaving corporate employment to enter this new stage in life. The basis is to blend work and play to live out the most fulfilling last years and decades possible.
The media and large financial intermediaries work very hard in their marketing practices to promote the concept of full-stop retirement, however it would be very costly for retirees to maintain the lavish activities depicted in these advertising campaigns. The fact remains, more and more workers are forced to work past the traditional retirement age of 65, just to survive and thrive, let alone staying at expensive resorts or joining prestigious golf clubs.
The book describes strategies that can be implemented to design the best Victory Lap Retirement catered to each individual, as we all have our own concepts of how to spend our final years. The book also explains how to achieve Findependence so that those goals can be made a reality.
The first step is proper planning, to sit down and list out what Victory Lap Retirement looks like for you. If you decide to continue working, what are you trying to gain out of it other than just money?
The concept of Victory Lap Retirement is not just for baby boomers to consider either, it’s for their millennial children as well. Young people are not buying into the full-stop retirement concepts being pitched by major financial institutions and they are looking for more practical alternatives. This solution provides much more flexibility and freedom over the stringent confines of a corporate grind. With Victory Lap Retirement, you decide what to do with your day, as opposed to being forced to work because you need to, you do it because you love to.
A key factor in being able to enter the Victory Lap Retirement stage in life is maintaining good mental and physical health, embracing a positive outlook and making sure your financial plan is in line with these goals.
The transition between working years and retirement is getting a lot fuzzier, and for better or for worse we as workers and consumers need to be prepared. This book provides actionable tips to make that transition pleasant and fulfilling, by setting realistic goals and a plan to achieve them.
Pick up your copy from the Victory Lap Retirement website or Amazon.ca.
To your successful Findependence Day and Victory Lap Retirement!
