{"id":1039,"date":"2026-01-21T14:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faysfitness.com\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:04:22","slug":"money-muscle-for-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faysfitness.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/money-muscle-for-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Money & Muscle for Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Retirement can be scary, particularly if you haven’t planned for it financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the last of us Boomers approach retirement age, our focus has shifted from raising a family to ensuring we have enough nuts put away to last us for the winter of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those that aren’t prepared have to work longer hoping their health will allow it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For them, it’s not about money. It’s about staying capable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The less money you have, the longer you need to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s ironic that many people wait for retirement to get serious about their health. The logic is that they’ll have more time to focus on eating right and exercising. The irony is in that eating right and exercise will make it so you can work longer. It will make it so you can be useful into old age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know What’s Scarier Than Not Having Enough Money?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Losing muscle and capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Confidence in Ability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I helped a friend with a home project a few months back. He’s an older guy in his 70’s – about a decade older than me. He had bought all the materials he needed and had a good idea what he wanted done. I showed up essentially to help with final assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurred to me that he could have done the whole project by himself, but he lacked the confidence to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend golfs a lot and has toothpicks for arms. He clearly hasn’t touched a weight in decades. With this project, there was some lifting involved and I am certain his wife encouraged him to hire some help rather than try it himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is what happens as we age. We start to lose confidence in our abilities. As such, we do less. As we do less, we lose more confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s the fear of falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Couple years back I attempted to jump off the tailgate of my truck – backwards – as I was pulling something large out of the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My feet caught on the tailgate and I fell flat on my back off of my lifted truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouch. But I was OK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, I was better than OK. I was thrilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falling can be devastating. Fortunately it wasn’t. But my jumping off the back of the pick-up days is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we do less and less, eventually, the main concern becomes just staying upright. Falls are devastating, particularly if we can’t get up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-Livity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

(Grandpa George coined that term back when I was a teenager in the 70’s.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My grandparents worked hard all their lives at a mill so they could have a comfortable retirement in Florida. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In it’s in our culture to focus on both living a long life<\/strong> and being financially set in retirement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our real focus should not just to live a long life in retirement, but rather a long, useful life.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think Healthspan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1987, Gerontologists John Rowe and Robert Kahn coined the term “healthspan”, defining it as “the period of life where individuals maintain full function, aiming for healthy years rather than just more years of life.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, we should be focusing on the quality of life in later years vs. just extending the quantity of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, society has it backwards as far as its priorities. Being healthy and fit is the ultimate protection during our retirement years. Staying capable means you have the ability to work longer to make a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in Luxury<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Retirement is a hoax we have been sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one should live a life of doing nothing. According to the data, having purpose and meaningful work is important to happiness. Just because you can do nothing doesn’t mean you should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A much better designed retirement is one where you spend it doing more of what you love than what you have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know several Contractors who have worked until they were crippled. Bad health habits combined with repetitive motion activities forced a sedentary retirement. A much better plan would have been to take care of themselves and hire younger people to do the heavy lifting. Do more thinking than lifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Prepare for Your Retirement Years<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a book on it. It’s called Young, Longer<\/strong><\/em>. (You can get a free pdf from my Google Drive here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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The short version to what retirees need to do is laid out in the first Chapter, but here is an even shorter version:<\/p>\n\n\n\n