November 2024

I’ve watched a number of documentaries about longevity and healthy living. I also read a lot of articles about this subject too. In part because I am curious about people who live long, healthy lives, but also because my husband, Roger, and I have a pact that mostly affects him about a healthy, long, life.

If you haven’t heard me share it before, Roger, is eleven years older than me. When we got married, we agreed that we would die together in a sort of “The Notebook” fashion, not some untimely car accident or something horrible, of course. With that, I also told Roger that I want to live until I am one hundred years old, so if you do the math, he’s got to stay active and healthy to keep up with that! All kidding aside (and I’m not really), we do really talk a lot about how to live our healthiest lives. We want to be the grandparents that can keep up with our grandkids not only now, but 20 years from now. We want to be the old people walking around that inspires younger people to stay fit and healthy because that is the kind of ‘older’ person they want to be. We know that we are born with some uncontrollable genes that can give us things like high blood pressure and dispositions to certain ailments and diseases, but we want to try to be the exception not the rule.

As we examine the factors that surrounds a healthy lifestyle, we have already incorporated regular exercise and healthy eating. In fact, we now eat a mostly plant-based diet. Did you know that expanding your mind and socialization are also a big part of longevity? In fact, so many studies show how important your social circle is, especially as you age. So, we try to think about our social circle and how to continue to not necessarily expand that but intertwine it with things we enjoy.

Our social circle begins with our family, of course. As much as they may not like it, they are stuck with us…and us with them. We have different things in common with different family members, but we get together and enjoy each other’s company on a regular basis. Outside of our family, our circle expands to a few particularly good friends and neighbors. Then of course, the friends we make at the gym or through different activities we enjoy doing, like book clubs, nature walks or volunteer activities. Sometimes it’s the re-connection of a former acquaintance that now becomes a new friend because the stage of life you are both in now fits for a compatible relationship.

People are living longer than they ever have before and longevity is an important part of your retirement planning. Not only do you want a long retirement, but you want to live well and enjoy your life. Living well means something different for everyone, which is why we ask you, what does your retirement look like to you? Raymond James has been a leader in Longevity planning. For years, they have partnered with the MIT Age-Lab, a department at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) that specializes in learning how people age. Raymond James has felt this aspect is so important that they created a Longevity Planning department several years ago. The focus of this department is to not only provide resources for Cliff, Mike, and I, as your advisors, to best help you, but also put together meaningful resources for you to explore longevity topic as well. Here is a pdf link of one that looks at many different aspects of longevity planning that I thought you would enjoy. Let me know what you found useful.