Ralph Warner, in his best-seller, ‘Get a Life: You Don’t Need a Million to Retire Well,’ urges people looking towards retirement to think about more than just financial matters. He interviewed dozens of contented retirees and was unable to find a major correlation between successful retirement and money. He discovered that successful retirees rate five factors as important to satisfaction in the retirement years: health; interests that help you engage with life; friends; family relationships; and finally, money.
His research illustrates again the truth of Jesus’ famous comment that our lives do not consist in the abundance of things we possess. The most important things are the values that shape us and the love that we take with us even when everything else has gone.