Are You Leading the Good Life?
June 9th, 2009 by Margolis
A recent study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute finds that purpose, rather than money, is the key to living the “good life.”
The study asked 1000 individuals between ages 45 and 75 whether they felt happy about their lives, what was important to them, and their hopes for the future. It found that money is important, but that it only goes so far. As long as the individual has enough money to be comfortable and is not preoccupied by the need to make ends meet, the key determinant in being happy is having meaning and purpose in life. This was expecially true among the older respondents, who were less concerned about earning a living and saving enough for retirement.
This study, titled “Discovering What Matters: Balancing Money, Medicine and Meaning,” is relevant both to individuals and to their advisors in helping them make choices that can lead to the “good life” for them. Financial and estate planning are important, but primarily to the extent that they can provide a means to allowing the individual to pursue meaning and purpose in his or her life.
To assist individuals in planning to achieve their own optimal balance, the MetLife Mature Market Institute provides a workbook that can be downloaded by clicking here.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am
What do you do when the nonprofit corporation holds on to your retirement after you work for years? Oh, they give you what’s called a supplementary retirement account, which according to their own documents is a ONLY for recordkeeping , but once you cash it, you are not entitled to the rest of your earned retirement. That is in the small print of the booklet that you have to ASK for, and according to the research that I’ve done, they are giving me my own life insurance policy, not a “supplementary retirement”. I’m old and I’ve been through the court system, where the judge ruled on a summary judgment that WAS NOT TRUE. It seems that there is no help for me, not even from the Cancer Society which I am a member of because I have had breast cancer twice. I think when you’re old and have had cancer, even though you are a good worker, you become a liability. This nonprofit’s literature speaks distinctly about health isurance in terms of “older people and younger people” and “health and not so healthy” That sounds like discriminations to me.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Great, informative post. Your blog is excellent overall as well. Keep up the great work–will be looking forward to it!