Chapter Two: A Lifetime Money Plan

Our friend Michael was in his 40s when he decided he really wanted to live a long, long time. So he seized on vitamins as the answer. He read the latest studies, haunted the health food stores, and pestered his doctor about whether he got enough zinc. He was on the subscription list for a half dozen magazines that always had alarming headlines, and he took nearly a dozen oddsmelling pills every day. Of course, he still ate junk food and smoked a pack a day; and his idea of exercise was to give his thumb a workout on the remote control. Michael had his first heart attack at 52, a bypass at 54, and by 56 he had to quit work entirely. Our Aunt Bee had a different approach to life. She just wanted to live well. Sometimes she remembered to take a multivitamin, and sometimes she didn’t. But she walked every single day. On sunny afternoons, in steady rains, in nasty sleet, the neighbors would catch sight of Aunt Bee out for her walk. She ate moderately, she took care of her teeth, and she laughed hard. And right up until she fell ill at the age of 99, she spent her days helping out her neighbors, knitting coverlets for her nieces and nephews, and making exotic jell-o salads for every church gathering. Taking care of your retirement plan isn’t much different from taking care of your health. Just as you can spend all your time worrying about vitamin pills, you can spend every weekend reading about Roth IRAs and changes in the tax code. And, if you make some clever decisions, it may help some. But Aunt Bee had the real wisdom: The best way to get ready for the future is take care of yourself, each and every day. The surest path to a long and prosperous retirement is to give yourself a secure financial life, day in and day out, starting right now.