ashokbhatia

How do you prepare yourself for your sunset years? Here are six things you can do to enjoy this special phase of your life to the hilt.

1.   Learn to Respect your Body

Your genes may be weak but getting into healthier habits earlier in life helps. Moderate food, regular exercise and prompt check-ups help in the long run.

For mature persons, yoga is a good route to consider – it offers a ‘slow and steady’ solution, as opposed to a ‘fast and furious’ one. It is not the ferocity of exercise which is important; rather, it is the regularity with which you do it which is more important. The time to start forming this habit is now.

2.   Build a Financial Nest Egg

60 is the new 40, so you could easily continue working much after conventional wisdom tells you to hang your boots. When you do so, it may no longer be possible to maintain the same lifestyle you were enjoying when you were working.

You can start saving early. Build a nest egg which has at least 70% by way of fixed assets. An extra property which can be sold off on a rainy day can be a part of this corpus. Another 20% could be in liquid forms, which could be withdrawn at a short notice. If you are yet to overcome your allure of precious metals, let 10% be channelized into the same.

3. Create an Alternate Identity

You have always enjoyed a professional peg on which you could hang your persona and put it on display for the society. You have been a doctor, an engineer, a manager, an architect or whatever.

Once you hang your boots, this peg of identity would no longer be available to you. You need to start building an alternate identity for yourself earlier in life.

Even while you are professionally active, start networking with people who share a similar passion – be it photography, wildlife, music, movies, literature, painting or adventure. Start working on a hobby which is close to your heart. Market yourself in this domain as well. Gradually, build an identity for yourself in this realm. It would keep you gainfully engaged in your second or third innings in life.

4.   4.   Count on Mental Agility

Develop an interest in an activity which would keep your grey cells in the active mode. Find ways to remain connected with younger and fresher minds. One way to do so would be to start sharing your experience, wisdom and skills with the younger lot. This way, you would also have the satisfaction of giving back to society a part of what you have gained from it.

Pandit Birju Maharaj, all of 70 years, says that “The rest of the world may love me as a Guru, but in my own eyes, I have always been a good student (of dance) for over 70 years now.”

Continue to have a childlike curiosity in life!

5.   5.   Cultivate Enduring Relationships

While you are professionally active, you have an eco-system of administrative support. Personal visits to your bank, your pharmacist or your garage are possibly unheard of. Secretarial support is taken for granted. In your second innings, such luxuries may no longer be possible.

Be prepared to become a one-man army, prepared to handle domestic chores you abhor now.  

Cultivating a well-knit circle of well-wishers and friends would help. You shall then have the comfort of sharing your problems, thoughts, joys and sorrows with them.  

The sheer joy of seeing your children and grandchildren grow would ensure a level of happiness which is beyond words. To be able to support them in whatever way you can would surely help. Passing on your wisdom, learning and values to your progeny would be quite satisfying. This process can start much earlier in life.  

 6. Plan to Depart Systematically

Eventually, ensure that those left behind face the least possible difficulty in acquiring things when you decide to kick the bucket. Build a clear list of assets and liabilities. Your family card, your bank accounts, your investments, insurance policies, registrations with various utilities, passwords of your debit/credit cards are all details which can be left behind in a secure manner. Wherever possible, nominate your inheritors.

Between the body and the mind, age is merely a number. By preparing for an advanced age upfront, you will be better equipped to relish this exciting phase of your life.

(Related post: https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/when-age-is-only-a-number)

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