Your future self isn’t 20 years away — they’re built by the choices you make this week. In this episode, Dr. Rachael Van Pelt breaks down the 4-part Longevity Audit — Body, Brain, Bank, and Base — to help you align your health, wealth, and environment for the decades ahead. Learn how strength, neuroplasticity, financial flexibility, and home design all combine to shape your Next Act.
Your future self isn’t 20 years away — they’re built by the choices you make this week. In this episode, Dr. Rachael Van Pelt breaks down the 4-part Longevity Audit — Body, Brain, Bank, and Base — to help you align your health, wealth, and environment for the decades ahead. Learn how strength, neuroplasticity, financial flexibility, and home design all combine to shape your Next Act.
Discover how small proactive moves today can radically change your future independence, purpose, and freedom.
💡 Register for the free workshop “Rightsize Retirement Without Regret” at https://www.rightsizeretirement.com and download your Rethinking Retirement guide.
Chapters
00:00 Meet Your Future Self: The Hidden Key to Longevity
01:13 The Longevity Audit: A Mirror, Not a Test
03:06 Step One: Body Audit — Strength Is the True Fountain of Youth
05:06 Step Two: Brain Audit — Keep Challenging Your Mind to Stay Young
07:16 Step Three: Bank Audit — Is Your Home Funding or Draining Your Freedom?
08:47 Step Four: Base Audit — Does Your Environment Support Vitality?
10:30 Case Studies: How a Simple Audit Transformed Lives
12:42 Your Future Self Is Already Here: The Compassion Challenge
13:48 Vision-Casting Your Next Act: How to Live Stronger, Not Smaller
Welcome back, Ninjas. Today I want to talk about someone you care about and who matters a lot to your healthspan. But maybe you haven't thought about this person in a while. That someone is your future self. But future you is not 20 years away. They're already here in the choices you make this week, in the habits you keep or you let slip, and in the environment that either supports or erodes your energy. If that sounds a little abstract, don't worry, by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what I mean. I'm going to show you how to connect with future you by running a simple but powerful Longevity Audit on your life. We're going to check in on whether your health, wealth, and environment are aligned with the life you want to live in the next 10, 20, even 30 years.
And yes, this simple exercise ties directly to my upcoming workshop, Rightsize Without Regret, that's happening later this month. It's where I'll take this Longevity Audit framework and help you turn it into a personalized strategy. So make sure you register for that workshop at rightsizeretirement.com. And in the meantime, let's get in touch with your future self.
I'm sure you've had that feeling when you've looked at an old photo of yourself where you thought something like, "Wow, when that picture was taken, little did I know what was coming". Maybe it was a picture from your wedding, a graduation, or of you holding your first baby. There was a sense of innocence, a version of you who didn't yet know how much he or she would grow, struggle, or adapt. That same feeling applies in reverse though, doesn't it? 20 years from now, your future self will look back at this moment, the one you're living right now, and think, "I wish he or she knew just how much power they had to shape what was coming". That's the paradox of longevity. We all want more years, but we rarely think about who those years belong to. We don't consider what kind of body, brain, or environment those years will actually inhabit.
And that's why the Longevity Audit matters. It's not a test, it's a mirror. It's a reality check wrapped in compassion. It helps you see with clarity, not judgment, where your current trajectory is headed and whether it's leading you towards more vitality or drift. Drift is what happens when we keep saying "later". I'll get back to strength training later. I'll sort through the house later. I'll think about moving later. But "later" is how people wake up one day and realize they're living a life that's too small, a home that's too big, energy that's waning.
So I'm going to quickly guide you through a simplified version of my Longevity Audit right now. There are four steps to this audit. Four Bs, body, brain, bank, and Base. Grab a pen and a notepad if you can, or you can just reflect as we go through these four steps.
The first step is the Body Audit. This step is where we assess your physical foundation. We now know from decades of research that between the ages of 50 and 70, the biggest predictor of long-term independence isn't your body weight, cholesterol, or even blood pressure. It's strength. In longitudinal studies, grip strength and leg power are better predictors of future mortality, better than any lab test. Strength also predicts your fall risk, recovery time from illness or injury, and even cognitive resilience.
So here are the questions I want you to ask yourself. Can you rise quickly from a chair without using your hands to push up? Can you carry multiple bags of groceries in from the car and up or down a flight of stairs? Do you still sprint across a parking lot when it's raining, or do you have to walk carefully just in case? Those seemingly very simple activities of daily living can tell you far more about how fast you're aging than your birthday ever will.
And I don't want you to forget about your spouse either if you're married. How are they doing with regards to these simple metrics? Are they still strong and fit or do you anticipate they're going to have difficulty taking care of the home or the yard in the not so distant future?
Now, if thinking about these things makes you worry, please don't. The human body is incredibly adaptable. Even in our 60s and 70s, just three months of consistent strength training can add years of mobility back to your life. I've helped hundreds of study volunteers and coaching clients over the past 30 years recover strength and mobility. But it only works when you make the decision before you have to. You have to be proactive. That's why today's theme is caring for future you. You have a window of opportunity to get out ahead of those age-related declines. If you miss that window, future you is going to suffer needlessly.
Now step two is the Brain Audit. That's where we assess your cognitive health and emotional resilience. Most people think of brain aging as inevitable, but it's not inevitable, it's modifiable. In reality, only a tiny fraction of decline is hardwired. The rest is behavioral. Neuroscientists like to say "use it or lose it", or "use it and renew it". The brain thrives on novelty, challenge, and social complexity, but it atrophies with isolation and predictability.
So my question for you for this part of the audit is, when was the last time you felt a little out of your depth, in a good way? When did you last learn something completely new or maybe engage in some real debate with someone, talk to someone who thinks differently than you. Have you really challenged your thinking lately? If not, if your daily life feels repetitive or your social circle has shrunk to a handful of comfortable faces, then your brain is probably stagnating. And stagnation accelerates aging just as surely as muscle loss does.
But here's the encouraging part. Environment is medicine. Simply changing your setting, whether it be a new neighborhood, new routine, new social pattern, that can reignite neuroplasticity. That's a big reason why people who move to a more walkable, socially active community, they tend to report sharper memory and more mood improvement within just a few months of moving.
So if you've been resisting change because it feels "hard", I want you to remember that "hard" is exactly what keeps your brain young. Doing the hard thing now is a gift to your future self. That's one of the more exciting parts of my job as a Realtor, seeing how well environmental design protects cognition. The home you choose, the layout, the neighborhood, they're all a part of your brain health. Which means that rightsizing isn't just a real estate decision, it's a neurological one.
Now step three is the Bank Audit. And I don't mean just looking at your retirement savings account balance. I mean assessing your financial situation holistically. Financial health after 55 isn't so much about accumulation anymore. It's more about allocation and drawdown strategy. It's knowing whether your assets, including your home equity, are positioned to give you flexibility or whether they're locked up and inaccessible.
So ask yourself, does your home still serve your life or are you serving your home? Are your monthly expenses, maintenance tasks, or property taxes, are they dictating what you can and can't do with your time? If so, you're not really free, are you? You're employed by your house.
Rightsizing flips that equation. You're converting fixed, illiquid assets into living capital that can fuel your healthspan and purpose. But that's where people, I think, feel the most resistance. Because money and emotion, they're inseparable, aren't they? A home rarely just feels like an investment. More often, it feels like it's part of our identity, our history, maybe security. But as a coach and Realtor, can tell you, people who take a clear-eyed look at this and ask, "How do I want to use my equity while I'm still healthy enough to enjoy it?" they're the ones who are thriving in their Next Act.
And finally, step four is the Base audit. And by Base, I mean, take a look at your environment. This is where the other three pillars converge. Your home, it either amplifies your vitality or it drains it. It either supports your body, your brain, and bank, or it doesn't.
Which is why I want you to ask yourself as you go through life this week, how does it feel to manage your property? From the daily room-to-room and floor-to-floor upkeep through to seasonal yard work and general maintenance. What about light? Are you getting enough natural sunlight in the morning? Does your space feel bright and energizing or dim? Is your neighborhood walkable or is it isolating? How easy do you find it to connect with neighbors? What about driving to the store or doctor's office?
But then I want you to imagine future 75 year old you as he or she goes through that same day-to-day. Does future you feel confident and safe or more overwhelmed and isolated? I think that visualization alone can change people's plans dramatically because we realize we're not just living in our house, are we? We're locking in our future. The truth is your future self isn't a complete stranger, just waiting in some far-off horizon, are they? They're right here, being built by the choices you're making this year, today, how much you exercise, what you tolerate, who you connect with, and where you live.
Now, the purpose of this audit is not to evoke fear, but compassion, compassion for the future you who is relying on today's you to think ahead. I had this client named Laura who was at 68 years old thinking that she was going to age-in-place indefinitely. But when we walked through her Longevity Audit together, she realized that she was already avoiding half of her home. She was starting to neglect housework due to its size and some achy knees. She also realized that she could really use some of the money she had tied up in her home to support a few big trips that she wanted to make before her knees gave out and before mobility was gone. So within six months, she sold her home. She bought a sunny, perfectly-sized ranch home near one of her kids. And then she turned around and used some of that freed-up home equity to book a couple of trips to celebrate her 70th. She did a hiking excursion to Machu Picchu and has a vineyard tour in Tuscany planned. Now today, Laura just keeps raving about having her "mojo" back. She's so glad that "Past Laura" didn't stay put. She even told me recently that "Future Laura" has already booked her 75th birthday celebration trip to the Bahamas.
But that was her path. Another couple I worked with. after doing the Longevity Audit, they went a completely different direction. They decided that they did in fact want to stay right where they were because the house still fit their future selves. Instead, they committed to improving their strength and fitness so they could make aging-in-place a reality. They also unlocked a huge chunk of the equity that they had in their home so that they could increase their monthly cash flow and reduce financial stress. Those two moves made a huge difference to their overall lifestyle and peace of mind.
I love that. A simple audit and a few strategic moves can completely change the trajectory of lives. That's why I like to say your future self is already here. They just need you to make space for him or her, not out of fear of aging, but rather out of eagerness to embrace life to the full.
So I encourage you to take the time to look at those four simple areas. Your body, is it getting stronger or weaker? Your brain, is it being challenged or getting too comfortable? Your bank, are finances creating freedom or fear? And your Base, is environment supporting or sabotaging your vitality? If you can audit those four areas honestly and without judgment, you already have a wonderful starting point for creating your best Next Act.
And then you can go deeper and draft your roadmap in our upcoming online workshop. As one of my VIP listeners, when you save your seat at rightsizeretirement.com, I do send you a free downloadable guide called "Rethinking Retirement". That guide is a great way to get your vision-casting ideas flowing. And look, even if you don't think you need to move, this future self thought experiment and workshop is for you. It's going to help you get crystal clear about where you are today and what you anticipate you'll want in the near future.
I've been doing this a long time, and one thing I know for sure, we struggle with vision-casting and connecting to our future self. And we especially avoid it if we only see a life that is shrinking and an us that is older. And yet, that is exactly why our life shrinks and we age prematurely. We don't cast a vision for ourselves or create the lifestyle that has us thriving.
So I want to leave you with the challenge to start creating that vision. Imagine waking up five years from now and realizing you are living in a body that feels capable, in a home that feels easy, in a community that energizes you, and with a schedule that reflects what matters most to you. That didn't happen by luck. It happened because you were willing to look ahead honestly, make adjustments early, and design your life around healthspan and wealthspan.
Look, if you take only one thing from today's episode, let it be this. Your future self is not a stranger. They're you with more clarity, strength, and freedom. But future you is counting on today's you to get her there. That's why I hope to see you at the "Rightsize Without Regret" workshop. Let's make sure your lifestyle is built for longevity, not decline.
Thank you for joining me today, Ninjas. Until next time, live well, love more, age less.