Stop saying "retirement." It's making you miserable.
The word is doing all the work — and none of it is helping you. A case for burning the term and building something better.
The word "retirement" started as a factory-era compromise. You worked for 45 years, then you sat down. Simple. Cruel.
We kept the word. We didn't keep the deal. The average 60-year-old today has three more decades of clarity, energy, and opinion. And we're still using a word that means "withdraw from active life."
Call it your Second Act. Call it your Next Move. Call it whatever you want. Just stop calling it retirement — because your brain, whether you like it or not, is listening.
The data on this is embarrassing. People who describe their post-work life with active language — "starting," "building," "learning" — report significantly higher life satisfaction than people who use passive words. It's not magic. It's that your language sets your calendar. Your calendar sets your life.
So here's the assignment. Pick a new word this week. Write it on a Post-it. Put it on your bathroom mirror. And every time someone at a dinner party asks what you're doing now that you're "retired," correct them. Politely. Firmly. Every time.
Because your Second Act isn't a departure. It's an entrance.
Share a line
Pass this one along
Pick a line, save the card, and send it to whoever needs to read it.
Your next step
Questions about your own retirement?
Talk it through with a licensed advisor on our team. Ask your questions, get straight answers, and leave with a clear place to start. No cost, no obligation, nothing sold on the call.
Run your own numbers
The Let’s Start tool
Prefer to try it yourself first? It’s a calculator that sets a retirement income target and shows how much savings could support it.
Open the Let’s Start →Advisory and insurance services are provided by licensed professionals; availability varies by state.
The Conversation
No comments yet. Tell us where we got it right — or where we're dead wrong.
Comments are for members — it keeps the spam out and the conversation honest.
Create a free account