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“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Amelia Earhart
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” -Emelia Earhart
Another year has come and gone! It’s January, and January usually entails formulating New Year’s resolutions. My past success in creating and maintaining New Year’s resolutions has been uneven, at best! It’s not that I don’t have the best of intentions because my intentions each year are to follow my New Year’s resolutions throughout the year.
Amelia Earhart would say that I am not lacking intention, just tenacity!
So, this year instead of making New Year’s resolutions that I most likely won’t keep, I will focus on ENOUGH and the intersection of enough and HAPPINESS in my life.
Throughout my blogs and podcasts I’ve reiterated that having ENOUGH is the doorway to happiness. Every day establishes different circumstances and a new life. A common saying states: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” This statement implies that ENOUGH and HAPPINESS are not static and need review. What one considered ENOUGH several years ago may not fit the present lifestyle or circumstances.
It’s been a few years since I have revisited and critically evaluated what I believe to be ENOUGH, so I will spend the time normally allotted to formulating (and then not following) New Year’s resolutions to evaluating what I currently believe is Enough.
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Is This Going to be a Major Life Overhaul?
The answer differs with each individual, but my short answer is NO!
My wife and I are very happy with our current circumstances. Last year I published several blogs and podcasts describing our decision to move into a larger and more “Rightsized“ home. The decision to move into our bigger home was not based on dissatisfaction or unhappiness with our smaller patio home. I stated that moving into our larger home was an attempt to optimize our lives. I also did blogs and podcasts about work, purpose, and finances after leaving full-time work for 10 years.
Instead of evaluating New Year’s resolutions, let’s spend that time evaluating all three legs of ENOUGH’S Three-Legged and Stool.
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Enough of Work
Quitting work is a very hard and emotional decision for many people.
For some people, work is a conduit to funnel money into Retirement accounts and a path to the next phase of life. When the time comes to retire, these people have no problem quitting and moving on to the next life phase.
For most people, this decision is much harder. Many people find joy and purpose through their work and want to continue working as long as possible.
What have I decided about having worked enough? In 2024, I did a blog and podcast entitled: A DECADE BEYOND THE CUBICLE: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE POST FULL-TIME WORK. In this blog and podcast, I spoke about my work experience in the 10 years since I quit working full-time. The blog explained how I incorporated a gradual glide path towards Retirement where I worked less each year. I continue to work in one dental practice and will probably work 5 to 7 weeks in 2025. How do I feel about work? I still find joy in working in the dental environment and still enjoy treating patients. But, over the last 10 years, my perception of Dentistry has changed. I don’t need to maintain extensive knowledge of dental specialties, technology, or materials. Since I limit my treatment and provide simple restorative treatment and emergency Dental Care, I no longer need a deep and total understanding of comprehensive restorative and rehabilitative dental protocols. I still enjoy reading and studying about the latest advances in Dentistry but need only a basic understanding instead of total and comprehensive knowledge. Making the change from rehabilitative Dentistry to simple restorative and emergency treatment has given me more free time to enjoy other things. As a contract dental provider, I have no administrative duties, no office overhead, and no staff or staffing issues. Doing contract Dentistry part-time also allows me to set my work schedule while providing additional modest income. As the time spent caring for patients has diminished, my income has declined proportionately. Additional income for the past 10 years has been beneficial but has become less of a factor as my work income has declined.
Many people are not able to work in Retirement for a host of different reasons. I continue to work in my field of expertise. I still enjoy my current mode of dental practice and will continue practicing Dentistry on a limited basis as long as it provides joy and fulfillment.
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Enough Money
This segment of the three-legged stool has been the easiest to manage. When I decided to continue working part-time I had already reached financial independence.
I didn’t initially realize how my part-time income would maintain and enhance my Retirement portfolio. The additional income from my part-time practice of Dentistry supplemented and supported the income generated by my Retirement funds.
When I decided to quit working full-time, one of the first things I did was to “turn off” the automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains in my after-tax brokerage accounts. Since dividends and capital gains were taxed regardless of whether they were reinvested or deposited into a cash sweep account, I decided to deposit these funds and incorporate them into my annual spending budget. My income from part-time work supplemented this income and reduced the financial strain on Retirement funds by providing an additional income stream.
Strong and positive market returns over the last 10 years have allowed my investment portfolio to continue to grow, and at the 10-year mark, my portfolio is larger than at the time of my retirement from full-time work.
In my podcast titled: “NEW YEAR-2025” I described the process I follow at the beginning of each year to determine my current net worth and how it can be compared to previous years. This exercise will take time to prepare initially, but once the basic information is collected, updating this information annually or periodically takes only a few minutes. I strongly recommend maintaining and updating a net worth statement periodically or, at the very minimum, annually.
The combination of strong stock market returns, income from part-time work, money saved by living in a downsized home for 10 years, and the initiation of Social Security benefits two years ago created a higher portfolio value than 10 years ago. This net worth position includes no decline in spending, as our spending has paralleled our spending when I was practicing full-time. This spending is the result of increases in travel and donations. We have also increased our annual giving to our three adult children.
We will see a decline in our portfolio value next year as we surrender the CDs used to finance our larger home and pay the accrued interest charges on these CDs to satisfy the loan requirements. Even with this large unanticipated expense and extraordinary spending above our basic needs, the positive factors outlined above have increased our net worth.
This one-time spending event for our larger house has been factored into our total budget for this year and should not adversely affect our normal anticipated spending. Having a plan of record and flexibility allows for the payment of unanticipated expenses without totally disrupting other annual spending.
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Enough to Do in Retirement
I would proffer that what you’ll spend your time doing in Retirement and how you’ll contribute are probably some of the hardest things to discern when retiring. These decisions are also some of the most important Retirement decisions you will make because a significant portion of your retirement time will involve these activities.
I was prepared financially for retirement but had not formulated a comprehensive plan for my purpose in retirement.
I’ve been fortunate that my part-time employment over the last ten years has allowed the gradual formation of my retirement Purpose.
An obvious contribution is my ability to continue to help other dental practices through part-time work.
I have made a conscientious effort to reconnect with old acquaintances and reestablish friendships.
I have always enjoyed hunting and fishing and have been able to increase my participation in these activities.
I was able to read more and read twenty-five books last year alone.
One of my biggest purpose projects was the formation of the Retiring With Enough website, Blog, and Podcast (See: CREATING A BLOG AND PODCAST: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE.) This undertaking required I develop the Retiring With Enough website, and that I gain the necessary skills to create, edit, record, and publish both blogs and podcasts. Now that these initial projects are more than two years in the past, I am happy that I successfully navigated both projects. Since I no longer practice full-time, the blog and podcast have become the major focus of my desire to continue to help others. Instead of focusing on physical health, my focus is now on financial health. I am happy to report that the blog and podcast have been a resounding success, with listeners in 59 countries. This has occurred without the benefit of marketing or promotion. My feeling is that listeners enjoy the shorter and more informative format, and appreciate that there are no advertising, marketing, or sales pitches on the blog or podcast.
My wife and I love to dance and have become members of an active local Dance community. Due to knee and foot surgeries, and the necessary recovery period, my wife and I have not been actively dancing in the last year. We hope to begin actively dancing again shortly.
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Final Thoughts
So, there! For once I’ve completed my New Year’s resolution.
The formulation of this blog has allowed me to reassess my current concept of ENOUGH, and how it relates to my current state of mind.
Continuing to work has allowed me to remain active and relevant in my chosen occupation. It also allows me to engage in intermittent projects like my current contract helping a female practitioner on maternity leave. This local Dentist is in the early stages of her practice, and closing her dental practice for 2 to 4 months would severely impact the viability of her practice. Running her dental practice for the next four months will allow the practice to survive her maternity leave and continue to prosper.
My other dental office contract allows the provider to continue missionary trips outside the United States.
Having the ability to set my work schedule without the burden of managing a dental practice has given me the freedom to continue practicing in a way that brings me joy while helping patients and other dental practitioners.
In an earlier podcast, I spoke about the 10/90 rule. Before retirement, 90% of a person‘s time involves formulating and implementing a financial retirement plan, and only 10% of pre-retiree’s time considers purpose in retirement. Once these plans are implemented, the focus shifts towards contribution and purpose during retirement. Whereas 90% of pre-retirement time was spent involved with finances, now only about 10% of a retiree’s time is spent evaluating finances, and 90% of a retiree’s time is involved with purpose.
It’s been over 10 years since my financial plan was implemented, and the last 10 years have proven that it has been successful and is working properly.
Even with higher-than-normal spending over the last 10 years, my net worth has increased. My wife and I have been aided by strong market returns. We have also lowered living expenses by downsizing our home for the last ten years. We have recently upsized our home in a bid to optimize our lifestyle. We’ll evaluate the costs associated with our larger home and make any necessary financial changes as time progresses.
The combination of my part-time work income, investment income, and the initiation of social security benefits two years ago has allowed my financial position to remain sound.
My wife and I continue to stay active in retirement. We now have four grandchildren, with a fifth grandchild scheduled to be born. Grandchildren are, and will continue to be, an integral part of our purpose in retirement.
We hope to continue to travel and make memories through shared trips with our family.
I continue to hunt and fish as regularly as possible. In addition to satisfying a lifelong passion of mine, hunting and fishing provide the opportunity to spend time outdoors with lifelong friends.
My part-time practice of Dentistry, along with the blog and podcast, consume a large part of my free time. This is perfectly fine, as both of these activities are passion projects that I still enjoy, and both continue to bring me happiness.
My wife and I hope to resume our leisure activity of social dancing. In the past, this has provided a social outlet, physical activity, and a shared activity that my wife and I can enjoy together.
I continue to work out regularly and engage in regular physical activity. Staying physically fit has been a lifetime goal of mine. Barring any limitations, I hope to continue my physical activities and workouts.
Although I continue to work, I feel that I am working ENOUGH. My finances are stable and I feel that I have ENOUGH money. I have several passion projects and many other hobbies that provide ENOUGH purpose in retirement.
The result of my introspective journey is that I am successfully fulfilling the requirements of having enough in all three areas of the Retiring With Enough three-legged stool.
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Has my Concept of Enough Changed Over the Last 10 Years?
My concept of enough has changed over the last 10 years. I tend to dwell less on the financial side of retirement and instead choose to spend my time creating memories with family, building new friendships, and strengthening old friendships.
I am even more aware of how important health becomes as a person ages and the importance of remaining physically fit.
I spend less time on unproductive activities and focus more on activities that bring me joy through helping others. My focus on Dentistry has begun to diminish as I have clarified my focus on financial education.
I try to spend every day wisely!
I continue to work to overcome the resistance to spending money saved over a lifetime. The recent purchase of a more expensive house needing major renovations has helped me to realize that money is a tool. In the case of our larger home, money is the tool we use to help optimize our lives.
And more than anything else, I have become more focused on the realization that “things” ultimately don’t bring true happiness. True happiness is a result of the realization of having “ENOUGH.”
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