Investing in yourself has nothing to do with money — in fact, many of the best retirement investments don’t require any cash at all — but rather investments that allow you to make the most of your time, spend quality time with the people you care about, and focus on the things that make you happy.
Financial investments are important for retirement, but here are 10 more noteworthy retirement investments that don’t involve stocks, bonds, mutual funds, savings accounts or other financial products.
1. Invest in yourself: spend money to save time
Scientific research (and some common sense) tells us that time is a more important commodity than money. Money comes and goes, but time just passes. Time is fleeting, and we tend to feel the passage of time more than we feel the passage of money.
Ashley Whillans, a professor at Harvard Business School, Use money to buy time As a way to increase happiness and achieve greater life satisfaction.
For example, you could reluctantly spend a few hours a week mowing your own lawn and landscaping the area around your house, or you could pay a landscaper whose job it is to make the biggest impact as quickly as possible.
Buying time gives you more time in your day. You can use this time to catch up on the news, manage your small business, spend time with family and friends, or whatever you want to do. In other words, you can make the most of your time.
Buying time is one of the best investments you can make in retirement (or any time).
2. Invest in your friendships
Friendship with others is a huge component of happiness at any age. As living, organic creatures, we naturally crave human companionship. It’s been instilled in us for centuries. Isolation kills us. Friendship makes us stronger, healthier humans.
of Researcher William Chopic said: They found that “people who value friendships and family tend to report being happier, more satisfied, and healthier than those who don’t.” Chopnick’s study also found that as participants got older, friendships became more meaningful and influential in their lives.
Other studies have found that loneliness is as dangerous to your health as smoking and stress.
Your social connections are one of your most important retirement investments.
Friendships give us a reason to get up in the morning – to meet at the local coffee shop to talk, learn, and socialize – and they are a key component in making us well-rounded, productive people.
3. Spend time imagining the future
There is wisdom in living in the present, but there is also wisdom in looking ahead and making plans for what your life will be like in five, ten, or fifty years. Planning for the future gives you purpose and something to look forward to.
When we make plans, we focus on our strengths as individuals and think consciously about our hopes and dreams. Remember that your future self will one day be who you are now. Looking ahead helps you love who you want to be and starts small habits and activities you can do now to achieve your future goals.
Whether your goal is to cruise around the world, live in your beach dream home, or simply spend more time with your loved ones, it’s hard to know what to do today to get there without looking to the future.
Thinking about your future is one of the most beneficial retirement investments you can make.
Explore interesting ways to imagine your future.
4. Invest in setting and following priorities
Setting priorities helps reduce stress and ensures you get what you really want. Of course, you might approach life with the mindset that you want everything now. But that’s not a very realistic goal, especially in retirement, where you’re dealing with limited resources to last you the rest of your life.
Prioritizing helps us focus on the meaningful elements of our lives and makes us more efficient with the time we spend each day.
It’s especially important to think about how you want to spend your time. If your family is your number one priority, make sure your lifestyle reflects that. Do you live close to them? Do you keep in regular contact with them? Do you make time to spend with them?
Of course, in addition to prioritizing how you spend your time, you also need to prioritize how you spend your money — your finances. This might involve trade-offs. Maybe you save less now, save more, and retire earlier. Many consider downsizing their home to free up equity and spend more. Others focus on leaving an estate for loved ones.
What are your priorities? How can you shift your financial resources to better meet them? Try out different “what if” scenarios with NewRetirement Planner. This comprehensive financial planning tool gives you full control over your current and future financial situation.
5. Invest in your health
Staying healthy not only makes us look and feel better, it also helps prevent costly and painful diseases throughout our lives. Fitness and exercise habits keep us active and healthy.
in fact, Studies show that exercising can save you thousands of dollars a year.
We recommend moderate exercise for about 30 minutes five times a week. the study It suggests that more is better. HarvardThe study found that the biggest reduction in premature mortality was seen in people who did 150 to 300 minutes of vigorous physical activity, or 300 to 600 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, or a combination of the two.
To increase your productivity and energy (not to mention save money each year), think of regular exercise as an investment in yourself.
6. Invest in developing your retirement goals
Retirement won’t be much fun if you have no sense of purpose. Purpose gives you direction and gives you an incredible sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. Just like your daily schedule at work, purpose can help you achieve your life goals, keep you on track in a healthy, planned direction, and make your life happy and fulfilled.
Having a purpose can also prevent you from falling into the depression that afflicts so many people around the world. When you do fall into that state, refocusing on your purpose can help you recover, giving you new hope, strength, and a reason to thrive.
7. Spend time celebrating small victories
Setting goals and celebrating when those goals are achieved is a huge key to success.
But celebrating the small victories along the way is crucial to achieving your bigger goals. Teresa AmabileHe’s the director of research at Harvard Business School and has conducted studies showing that tracking small wins motivates you to keep going.
It may take weeks, months, or even years to achieve your big goals, but celebrating your daily accomplishments can give you the motivation — a little extra energy — to keep going toward your big dreams. Celebrations make us smile and, of course, give us a reason to dance and toast. They also help us build momentum and inner confidence along the way.
8. Value gratitude
Things don’t get any easier as we get older, which is why it’s even more important to look on the bright side of things, be grateful for what you have, and not focus on what you don’t have.
the study Writing down your gratitude has been shown to increase happiness: In one study, participants who wrote down what they were grateful for every day felt more optimistic and were more satisfied with life. They also exercised more and visited the doctor less often.
Dr. P. Murali DoraiswamiDr. John F. Kennedy, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center, says gratitude has a positive effect on many different mental and physical systems, including mood neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine), reproductive hormones (testosterone), social bonding hormones (oxytocin), cognition and pleasure-related neurotransmitters (dopamine), inflammation and the immune system (cytokines), stress hormones (cortisol), heart and brainwave rhythms, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.
Learn how to develop gratitude and invest in your retirement.
9. Finding meaning in life
Some call this religion. Others call it spirituality. Many psychologists call it meaning.
Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, said, “You can take everything away from a man, but one thing you cannot take away from him: the last of his freedoms: the ability to choose his own attitude in any given situation, to choose his own path.”
Psychologists say a key measure of happiness in older adults is how they feel about their lives. Are you satisfied with the life you’ve led? Do you find meaning in the choices you’ve made and continue to make?
10. Invest in creating and maintaining a retirement plan
Focusing on your future is important, and for those approaching or at retirement age, the best retirement investment is to create and maintain a detailed retirement plan.
Retirement planning is about more than just saving and investing. A good retirement plan takes into account many factors, including where you want to live, how much you want to spend, how you want to spend your time, taxes, insurance, and more.
Keep your plan up to date with NewRetirement Planner, the highest rated planner available online.
