The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is Habits that lead to happiness in retirement. 

Yesterday, I introduced the 80+ year old Harvard Study that is the basis for this week’s theme. It’s a treasure trove of data on what it takes to live happily in your retirement years. The study is still ongoing, and it looks at individuals and their habits over a lifetime. 

Think of it like investing in a Happiness 401k. The sooner you can start investing in the good habits and avoiding the bad habits, the more you’ll reap the rewards of your investment in your retirement years. 

The first two important habits are don’t smoke & watch your drinking. The next 2 habits are also health related, and nothing earth-shattering that you haven’t already heard a thousand times before, but since it’s clear that it makes a huge difference in your health and happiness in retirement, let’s mention them again:

#1 - Maintain a healthy body weight. 

#2 - Prioritize movement in your life every day.

Today, over 40% of Americans are obese, which is defined as having a body mass index over 30. The problem got worse during the pandemic too, and obesity rates keep climbing. It’s such a problem that it’s even a contributing factor to low recruitment numbers for the US Military, as many would-be recruits don’t qualify due to their weight. 

The second recommendation of prioritizing movement is obviously related to maintaining a healthy body weight, but it’s slightly different in that exercise has all kinds of benefits psychological and stress-reducing, and happiness boosting benefits in addition to supporting a healthy weight. 

That’s it for today. Tomorrow and for the rest of the week, we’ll transition into some non-health predictors of happiness in retirement: emotional resilience, education, and relationships. 

Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance