The Harvard Happiness study is important to people that stop working, retire, or slow down, precisely because it connects a dot that many people don’t contemplate before they stop working.
How am I going to recreate the social connections that I ‘ve been enjoying for 40 years?
Who will I go to lunch with? Who will I say hi to every morning at the water cooler and talk to about the world series game last night? Who will I share my personal history with each day or week?
You might be saying I have a lot of friends and I will stay connected to them. I will keep in touch.
I am not so sure. Statistics don’t bear this out in terms of relationships and studies that have been done. Our circle of friends gets smaller and smaller.
Retirement communities and age 55+ communities are popping up everywhere. It creates a community of people that are the same age.
100 years ago, people didn’t move far from home. Now, families are spread out all over. So, it makes sense that mom and dad, or grandma and grandpa want to live in a place that looks like them.
Because making new friends is hard. Introducing yourself to someone and asking them if they want to have coffee is hard. Its new. Its awkward. They might say no.
But these planned communities for retirees make making friends easy. There are activities and agendas each day. Just sign up and you are in and a part of the group. No asking needed. It’s all done for you.
This is why the Harvard Happiness Study is so important. It points out that relationships are the most important thing.
Make sure you are getting everything in retirement that you were getting from work, i.e., income, benefits, relationships, to-do list, and satisfaction.
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Alex Bishop, CRPC®, MS, is a Private Wealth Advisor and Franchise Owner with Bishop Financial Partners, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 22 years. To contact him, www.ameripriseadvisors.com/alex.h.bishop, 704.896.9985.
The views expressed here reflect the views of Alex Bishop as of March 7, 2023.These views may change as market or other conditions change. Actual investments or investment decisions made by Ameriprise Financial and its affiliates, whether for its own account or on behalf of clients, will not necessarily reflect the views expressed. This information is not intended to provide investment advice and does not account for individual investor circumstances.
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