From Invincible to Vincible

Many young people feel they are invincible.  Why not?  They have their youth, health and future potential.  I was no different.  In high school, I bounced back from a ruptured appendix and returned to a normal senior year, including playing on all my previous sports teams.  Although I graduated during the 1980 recession, I didn't worry about getting a job, and ended up with 5 offers.   When I was 33, I decided to run a marathon, trained for 4 months, and ran my first ( and only marathon) in a little over 4 hours.

However, since entering my fifties, I've started to feel much more vincible.   Before retiring, I worked on but never worried about the sustainability of retirement savings.   After retiring at 49, I became much more aware of the possibility of our retirement savings running out during our lifetimes.  The Great Recession of 08-09 was the event that made me realize that we were only one or two catastrophic events away from having a failed retirement.  Thus, I needed to be more vigilant in managing our retirement saving.

My recent diagnosis of my health condition has added to my feelings of vincibility.   In my younger days, I only saw my doctor for injuries, which were the result of my sports activities.  Now that I'm older, I need to pay more attention to my health, by monitoring it regularly and taking necessary actions.  The change in my health situation has made me more aware of my mortality, and contributed to eliminating the feelings of invincibility.

Acknowledging that I'm vincible has been positive. It has enabled me to take appropriate actions to strengthen our retirement finances and improve my health, which I probably wouldn't have done if I still felt invincible.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial, health or saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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