After my last blog post, I started thinking about those later stages of life - the ones we often brush aside, but that might actually turn out to be the best years yet.

And my mind kept coming back to retirement. It’s crazy how much it’s changed, right? Once upon a time, it was basically seen as life’s slow fade-out… but now? It could actually be the start of a whole new, exciting chapter. Maybe even the best act yet.

Pause for a second. When you hear the word retirement, what comes to mind?

For a lot of people, it’s that old-school image of stepping back, winding down… almost like waiting for the credits to roll. But if you really think about it, that idea is way out of date.

It makes sense, though, when you look at where the concept came from. Back in the 1880s, Otto von Bismarck introduced what we think of as the first modern pension system in Germany. The official retirement age? 70.

And get this: life expectancy back then was around 45 - mostly because so many children didn’t survive childhood. But even if you made it to adulthood, hitting 70 was still pretty rare.

So retirement wasn’t this long, leisurely chapter. For most people, it was more like a short final act - if they even got there at all.

Fast-forward to now: many of us can expect to live 20, 30, even 40 years after we stop working - not just existing, but often thriving in pretty good health. That’s not an epilogue. That’s an entire third act.

And if you think about it, in every great story, the third act is where it all comes together. It’s where the character grows into who they’re really meant to be. Retirement can be like that, too - if we let it.

For a lot of people, making this shift can feel surprisingly hard. There’s often this initial sense of losing part of who you are. You’ve spent so many years being that person - the teacher, the doctor, the business owner. It becomes second nature.

And when you step away from that role, it can leave you asking yourself: Who am I now?

And that can feel scary. But here’s the good part: it isn’t really a crisis - it’s an invitation. A chance to get creative. It’s your opportunity to reinvent yourself, to shape what this next chapter looks like, to decide how you want your days to feel, and to ask yourself what actually lights you up.

What did you once love doing but put aside while you built your career? What have you always been curious about but never had the time to explore? Retirement isn’t about losing your identity - it’s about discovering even more of who you could become.

Retirement isn’t just an endless weekend drifting by. It’s about giving your days some structure - enough to feel grounded, but not so much that life feels rigid. It’s about discovering a purpose that makes you look forward to each morning, and surrounding yourself with people who bring light to your life. In the end, retirement becomes an unfolding story you get to write yourself - one that can be as joyful, meaningful, and surprising as you choose to make it.

And isn’t that what real financial planning should be about? Not just asking, “Do I have enough saved?” but, “What do I actually want my Third Act to be about?”

Because in the best stories, it’s often the third act where everything comes alive.

And this next chapter? It could be your most vibrant, most meaningful, and most rewarding yet. And it’s yours to create. 🩷