Carpe Diem

The Latin phrase Carpe Diem (which is
literally “seize the day” - meaning go for
it, or take a leap of faith, or make the most of
each moment) takes on fresh meaning with
the release of some new statistics.
According to a recent Environics poll the
following results were what people planned
to do in their retirement. Two groups were
examined. The first group was still working
and was age 40 or older. The second group
was already retired and was generally age 55
or older.
The 40+ workers planned to travel in
retirement. 48% of them said travel was a
major focus for retirement. However when
the retirees were interviewed (those who
actually were retired), only 24% of them were
interested in travel.
The primary concern of the retirees was health.
In fact they were almost twice as concerned
about health (26% vs. 14%) than the younger
working bunch.
Interestingly the retirees were not very
concerned about money. Only 4% of them
were concerned about having enough money
compared to 13% of the working group.
The retirees were also not very interested in
rest, relaxation and leading a quiet life. Only
5% of them saw this as a priority while twice as
many in the working group thought it would be
a priority in retirement.
The working group also looked forward to
sports and physical activity in retirement, but
the retirees were only half as interested in this.

The younger group wanted to live somewhere
nice, warm and peaceful when they retired but
the people who were actually retired didn’t hold
this as a priority at all.
So what can we gather from all this? Perhaps
if you are young and healthy you should do
your traveling now. Be wise with your money
but don’t get all bent out of shape over it – if
you are wise with it when you are young, you’ll
have enough when you are old. If you are
over-worked and stressed when you are young
then take some time off and go to that warm
peaceful place to rest and relax, because you
probably won’t want to when you are old and in
poorer health.
Seize the day, and enjoy each day to the
fullest! Live your dreams now. Each stage of
life has it’s own dreams and desires and twenty
years from now you may not have the same
wants and needs as you do today. Carpe Diem
quam minimum credula postero (seize the day,
never trust the next).

Scrooge