We are all familiar with ROI (Return on Investment) but not with ROL (Return on Life). Money is only part of the peace and happiness in life. Many people are so occupied with the career trap that they seem to care little about what happens when they leave their jobs. They have planned little about other aspects of their lives; they seem to feel retirement will take care of itself. But this is not true.  

Money has no value in itself. Money is useful only in terms of what you can do with it. Money is a terrible master but a good slave. Taking time out to reconnect with our passions, enjoy new experiences or spend time with family and friends is very important. Balance in work & play, balance in family & personal time, balance in running about & sitting still; once this is achieved life becomes quite exciting.

One of my clients once observed that he does not want to die rich but wants to live rich. He believes in building wealth toward living rich as opposed to simply getting rich. We live in a world that is obsessed with increasing ROI (Return on Investment,) when we should be more concerned with achieving ROL (Return on life)

Your Attitude towards your age is the most important factor influencing your longevity. You are only as old as you feel. Some feel they have lost touch with friends and family. Some have forgotten how to play; some feel they have lost balance in living & relaxation. Some are feeling a dearth of time to attend to their own old interest & inclinations. The major driver of this period of living well is ageing well. It is a secret that living a successful life is shifting from simply ageing to successful ageing.

Five Vitamin Cs of Successful Aging

C1 Connectivity

Stay connected to the people you love, people you enjoy and people who appreciate you and see value in your presence. Longevity does not favour the Lone Ranger. Both long life and happiness are tied to the quality of your connections.

C2 Challenge

A cyclical relationship exists between body, mind and spirit. Challenging the mind helps the body and challenging the body helps the mind.

C3 Curiosity

Age is an uphill road. Curiosity is the foundation of youth. Learning and tasks that demand mental alertness keep us in gear. The important thing is to have curiosity and grow. Rigorous mental function helps to facilitate productivity in later years and strengthen our need and desire to be active.

C4 Creativity

Creativity requires a discipline of observation. Warren Buffet is still active. You do not have to be renowned to be creative.

C5 Charity

Giving to others, volunteering, and being part of meaningful, significant activities seem to help promote healthier attitudes, which in turn improve one’s health and contentment in life.

Seven Meaningful Intangible Goals in Life

1) Happiness is wanting what you already have.

We envy our neighbours’ homes and possessions and wish to have them. We think it will make us happy. Once we have them, we desire something more. Things and possessions will not make us happy. Happiness is easy, don’t complicate it. The proverb says” If you buy things, you do not need, soon you have to sell things you need” – Warren Buffet.

2) Fulfilment is optimising your abilities.

Fulfilment is doing the things you love to do. You should enjoy the work you do. The work you do should be a creative challenge.

3) Balance is walking the tightrope between too much & not enough.

Work, family and leisure – when they are in balance we enjoy life. There is a fine balance to be achieved in attending to the physical, emotional, social and spiritual sides of our being.

4) Satisfaction is improving the quality of your efforts & relationships.

It is important to look for opportunities to satisfy your inner need for satisfaction. Satisfaction revolves around the quality of our efforts and our relationships.

5) Security is possessing the freedom to pursue your goals.

Possessing adequate finance can provide a degree of security and material guarantee which will help us to do what we want to do with our lives. But security is affected by the health of our body and close relationships.

“The only two things that can make us truly happy in this world are people that love you & being healthy and money can’t buy you either both those”- Warren Buffet

6) Significance is making the best use of your time.

Many people erroneously believe that a sense of significance will be satisfied by the acquisition of power and control over others. But the reality is; that people are motivated by a need to make a difference in other’s lives and feel they are making a significant contribution. This inward sense of significance is satisfied by the best possible use of our most valuable resource; Time. Charity & volunteerism can be crucial to the sense of significance in our lives.

7) Success is the satisfaction of reaching your goals.

Truly successful individuals have goals involving who they are (Character), what they do (Career), and what they possess (Material). Financial success could be defined as having enough to meet your own needs and the needs of those you choose to help. Having a clearly defined goal to feel successful holds as true in your career and character as in your finances.

The seven intangibles cannot be satisfied by a certain amount of material possessions. Happiness, Fulfilment, Balance, Satisfaction, Security, Significance and Success should be goals in life.

  Re-defining Maslow’s Needs

Source of the article: “The Retire Mentality: Planning Your Life and living your dreams at any Age You Want” by Mitch Anthony