"In 2023, my dad called to tell me he'd dropped down to four days a week at work. He'd had a long career as an insurance underwriter, though it didn't define him. At one point, he even left the profession to become a plasterer for a decade to better balance out his schedule. Still, it served him well enough. "You really are getting old, then," I joked. Dad laughed - he was only in his 50s."
"Then on June 19, 2024, at the age of 56, Dad's oesophageal cancer snatched away his future, and any prospect of a retirement. I later realized our conversations during his illness were a textbook of the values by which he had lived his life. I'd heard him talk along similar lines in the past, but it wasn't until I was lucky enough to spend each day for two months with him as his peer that I was able to distill them into three lessons."
"Live as if you might never make it It may sound a morbid start, but I see this principle as both pragmatic and a call to action. I see it as pragmatic because, of course, it is true: You might very well not make it to your retirement. And thinking about death in this way can help you take important practical steps, like ensuring you have an updated will and, at the very least, start thinking about granting powers of attorney."
A man reduced his workweek to four days intending a gradual retirement but was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer a year later at 56. His health declined rapidly from triathlons and Ironman competitions to hospice care within eight weeks. Daily caregiving over two months revealed the values that guided his life and yielded three core lessons. The first lesson urges living as if retirement might never arrive, combining pragmatic preparations—updating wills and arranging powers of attorney—with an impetus to prioritize meaningful experiences and relationships now rather than deferring them. It emphasizes acting with urgency in both legal and emotional matters and enjoying everyday life.
Read at Business Insider
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