Are you feeling the push-pull tension between early retirement dreams and the reality of needing—or wanting—to keep working? Welcome to a brand-new way of thinking about your future. In this episode of Next Act Ninjas, host Rachael Van Pelt, PhD, dives deep into "lifestyle creation"—a transformative approach to retirement that blends work and leisure for long-term fulfillment and vitality.
Are you feeling the push-pull tension between early retirement dreams and the reality of needing—or wanting—to keep working? Welcome to a brand-new way of thinking about your future. In this episode of Next Act Ninjas, host Rachael Van Pelt, PhD, dives deep into "lifestyle creation"—a transformative approach to retirement that blends work and leisure for long-term fulfillment and vitality.
Discover why the old-school, all-or-nothing retirement model no longer works and how to build a flexible, purpose-driven lifestyle that evolves with you. From understanding the impact of AI on job security to the rise of the FIRE movement, we explore the current retirement landscape and challenge you to think differently.
Learn how to craft your personal retirement "bridge"—one that adapts, grows, and supports your health and wealth longevity. We’ll discuss the benefits of staying mentally, physically, and socially active, the power of passive income like real estate investing, and why mixing work with leisure can actually improve your quality of life.
Get inspired by actionable strategies for integrating meaningful work, financial security, and personal fulfillment into your everyday life. Whether you're considering part-time work, consulting, or building a side hustle, this episode will help you redefine retirement and design a vibrant Next Act.
Tune in to embrace a lifestyle that’s not just about extending your years, but enriching them. It's time to move beyond the traditional retirement mindset and start living your best, most dynamic life now. Don't miss this episode—your roadmap to a fulfilling and financially secure future awaits!
Ready to start crafting your ideal lifestyle? Let’s build your best Next Act together! Listen now, and don’t forget to subscribe and share with others planning their next chapter.
Chapters
00:00 Rethinking Retirement: The Lifestyle Creation Approach
04:17 Strategies for Embracing a Lifestyle Creation Approach to Retirement
08:20 Keep Iterating and Adapting to Create Your Ideal Lifestyle
09:49 The Lifestyle Approach to Retirement Extends Healthspan and Wealthspan
13:15 Experimentation and Building Your Ideal Lifestyle
Hey, hey, welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the number one podcast for mastering your health and wealth longevity. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt. Today, I'm going to talk about something that sits at the intersection of rethinking retirement and thinking about how to live well longer. We're going to call it lifestyle creation because I think we're living in strange times when it comes to retirement.
Many people haven't saved enough for retirement, so they just hope that they can keep working as long as possible. Others have saved a lot, but they choose to keep working, just to feel fulfilled. And then Congress wants to push us to work longer to ease strain on social security, and yet ageism in the workplace is forcing many older adults to retire long before they're ready. And then there's advances in AI, and that's going to displace many skilled jobs. While at the same time, there are a ton of people who are obsessed with the FIRE movement. If you're not familiar with that term, FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early.
In other words, we have an incredible push-pull tension when it comes to retirement. You might be feeling that tension and asking yourself, "Am I going to retire early? Will I retire late? Or will it be something in between? For that matter, will I even have the choice?" In fact, I'll bet some of you have already retired and are contemplating going back to work, either by choice or necessity, which is why I want to open up the conversation today about preparing for a more hybrid approach. I call this the lifestyle creation approach to retirement.
What if, instead of working your butt off for 30 to 40 years and then jumping off the retirement cliff, you built a bridge, a bridge where every step gets you closer to your ideal lifestyle. Even better, what if I told you this approach could improve your long-term quality of life? It's true. Forget old school, all-or-nothing retirement. We're talking about creating a dynamic, purpose-filled existence that takes into account your health, your personality type, your financial situation. By the end of this episode, I want you to be ready to create a lifestyle that's as unique and as vibrant as you are.
But what do I mean by lifestyle creation? Well, I mean that you're moving past this binary all-or-nothing idea of working versus not working, retired versus not retired. I want you to move past this idea of a "retirement age" altogether and focus more on how do I want to spend my days going forward? How will I keep contributing to society? How can I flourish?What will my income sources be? Think of this as holistically planning and designing your best Next Act. You'll start with the end in mind, but you're going to continue to tweak, refine, and adjust as you go.
But just like an artist that's creating a masterpiece, the first brush stroke isn't the final product, is it? You're going to layer colors, you're going to experiment with texture, you're going to step back often and look at how it's coming together. It's this adaptive iterative approach. Rather than simply picking an age or a year to stop working and hoping everything works out, you're going to iterate. You're going to keep morphing and changing over time.
Why is this important? Because science shows us that staying engaged, mentally, physically, socially, that's the key to healthy aging. Going from 100% work to 0% overnight, that's going to leave a void that's not just emotional but physical. Your brain and your body, it thrives on activity. So why wouldn't you give them what they need and have a bit of fun in the process?
Now the first step to designing your ideal lifestyle is acknowledging that the journey isn't a one size fits all approach, is it? The world is changing rapidly and even our personalities and our passions are going to change over time. Instead of resisting these changes, we're going to lean into them. We're going to identify how they can work for us, not against us.
I think most of us will agree that one of the biggest challenges in lifestyle design is finding financial security while still feeling engaged and fulfilled, right? That's why we have to break the habit of thinking all-or-nothing. I'm working my butt off now so I don't have to work later. That's the "yo-yo dieter's" mentality of I'll work hard, I'll cut carbs, I'll cut calories, for a few months. I'll lose X-amount of weight and then I'll be done.
But it doesn't really work that way. If you want to stay healthy for life, you're better off creating lifestyle habits that you'll happily do for decades, not just months. You're never really "done", are you? It's not about fasting versus feasting. It's something in between. It's something that's sustainable.
We have to learn how to do that with our work and our leisure. What lifestyle could you sustain for decades? Can you find the right blend of work and leisure that supports your finances and feels fulfilling?
Obviously the right blend is going to depend on your personality and situation. If you already do what you love, then that might look simply like cutting back hours, going part time. Fortunately, the rise of remote and flexible work arrangements is helping many people rethink this, rethink traditional employment. Part time work, contract work, remote roles, all of that offers us the ability to keep working on our own terms. Now, if that's not an option for you and you have lots of experience, maybe you're going to turn that expertise into a small business or maybe consulting or coaching business. These are all great ways to stay involved while you still bring in some income. If you prefer a more hands-off approach passive revenue sources, things like real estate investing, dividend stocks, royalties from intellectual property, all those things can provide financial stability with a lot less daily effort.
This is actually what most people in the FIRE movement do. They aren't technically "retired" in the traditional sense of the word. They simply left their corporate 9-to-5 and found other ways of generating income, things that they found more fulfilling. For example, if you dig into their stories, many people in the FIRE movement are living off cashflow from real estate portfolios.
Is that totally passive income? Of course not. We all know that managing real estate can take a bit of work. Same is true for side hustles and consulting gigs. So does it qualify as retirement? I think it depends on how you look at the work, doesn't it? If it doesn't feel like work to you, then perhaps it qualifies as retirement, an encore career, if you will. You know, I love coaching people to better healthspan and helping them build wealthspan via real estate, it doesn't feel like work to me, at least not in the same way as a corporate or academic job would.
So work is in the eye of the beholder. That's why I think it's important to know your personality type. What would you be willing to do for the next couple of decades, whether you got paid or not? What will be your reason to get out of bed every morning? Feeling energized and excited for your day.
Keeping in mind this is an iterative process. It's not stagnant. You are going to keep refining and perhaps even pivoting from time to time. Doesn't matter how well you plan, life is unpredictable. That's why it's crucial for you to build a lifestyle that allows for some flexibility. Take time every year too to reassess. Are you happy with how you're spending your days? Is your financial situation secure? Is your health where you want it to be? Having a safety net, both financial and emotional, is going to allow you to pivot whenever you need to. Be willing to reinvent yourself multiple times. The reality is that what excites you today may not be what excites you in five years, and that's okay. A lifestyle creation approach is about staying open to new possibilities and adjusting as needed.
Going back to that dieting analogy, you don't have to eat the same thing and do the exact same exercise day-in-day-out for decades to stay healthy. That'd be boring. And it wouldn't be ideal for your body anyway. Your body craves variety. Likewise, the work and leisure you do isn't going to stay exactly the same. It's only the lifestyle balance that fits you best that you're after. That means you have to stay focused on your long game, stay flexible.
And don't forget this lifestyle creation approach can actually help you live well longer. Why? Because it extends your health and wealth longevity.
First, there's your brain. Your brain loves novelty. When you learn something new or you tackle a challenge, your neurons light up like fireworks. Trying out a new hobby, mentoring someone, even starting a side hustle, it's not just fulfilling, it keeps your brain young. You can think of it like a mental gym membership.
And then there's your body. Staying active isn't just about hitting the gym every day. It could be walking to your part-time job or gardening or volunteering. One study in 2022 found that people who eased into retirement rather than stopping cold turkey, they had better heart health, lower stress levels. So you can think of this hybrid approach to retirement as a prescription for your long-term vitality.
And let's not forget the emotional side. Purpose is powerful. When you have something to look forward to, whether it's meeting a client, mentoring a young professional, digging into a hobby, you are tapping into all kinds of happiness. It's not just about feeling good either. It's about staying connected. Loneliness can be as harmful as sedentary lifestyle. So staying engaged is critical for your physical, not just your mental, health.
Staying active and engaged is also important to your identity. It's so easy to get lost when we let go of our work identity. At least that's how it was for me. When I retired from academia, I faced a real identity crisis. Who was I if not a scientist? But through trial and error, trying new roles, exploring my passions, I rediscovered my own purpose. And I have to tell you, that feeling reignited my creativity. And it's worth every uncomfortable moment of transition.
And I don't want you to forget about the impact on wealthspan. Traditional retirement often comes with a big risk. You stop earning right at the exact time when other expenses like healthcare begin to climb. But when you take this iterative approach, when you are in this lifestyle creation mindset, instead of draining your savings immediately, you're still generating income. You're experimenting with your Next Act. You're easing into it, aren't you? Maybe you're consulting part-time, teaching online, doing real estate investments. It doesn't matter. The point is those continued income streams provide a financial cushion for you. They give you peace of mind, they extend your wealthspan, they extend the life of your nest egg.
Now speaking of experimentation, I want you to keep looking for ways to test the waters before you dive in head first. For example, if you're thinking about becoming a sunbird and you're wanting to split your time between two locations, maybe you rent out a place that you'd like to buy for a couple of months. Take an extended vacation or a mini-sabbatical just so you can experience that place. Build that ideal lifestyle incrementally and strategically, one experiment at a time. That's going to help extend your healthspan and extend your wealthspan.
So how do you do this? How do you design that ideal lifestyle, that lifestyle masterpiece, if you will. I want you to start simply by daydreaming a bit. Close your eyes, imagine your ideal day or your ideal week. Maybe you're hiking in the mornings, teaching a class in the afternoons, spending your evening painting or playing an instrument. Then envision your ideal month or year. Are you staying put or are you splitting your time between multiple locations? Are you doing the same thing year in, year out? Are there seasonal variations? Maybe you're skiing in the winter and golfing in the summer.
What visions light you up? What do you think is going to keep you engaged for decades to come? You don't need to get it all right on the first try. It's about exploring and discovering what feels right for you. And don't just explore in your head. I want you to get out there and start implementing your dream. A lifestyle creation approach isn't about perfection. It's about designing a healthy, fulfilling, and financially-secure life that allows you to pivot as your circumstances change.
So here's your challenge. Take one tangible step today. Maybe it's researching a side business idea or enrolling in an online course or even hopping on a call with me to talk through the vision for your Next Act. Whatever the case may be, I want you to remember that this isn't a "retirement plan", it's your "long game".
You don't need to wait until some arbitrary retirement age to start crafting your ideal lifestyle. Just get started. A great place to start is scheduling a call with me. You're going to find the link to my calendar in the show notes. In the meantime, live well, love more, age less, my friends.