I read a lot of personal finance books. I also read a lot of niche books on retirement planning. And I’ve gotta say, most of them are so dry it takes me months to finish them. Not Victory Lap Retirement by Mike Drak though. I was given this book (the 1st edition) by Mike’s co-author Jonathan Chevreau at the Canadian Personal Finance Conference a few years ago, and even though it took me until last winter to finally read it…I loved it! I’d say the only other book that I whipped through in record time was Andrew Hallam’s Millionaire Teacher. So, once I finished reading it, on top of telling everyone I know to read it, I made a plan to get Mike on the show. And here is that episode!
Mike Drak is a 38-year veteran of the financial services industry, so when he started his victory lap in 2014, he felt compelled to write a book about what he knew on the subject. That and he found that all the retirement books out there only talked about saving up enough for retirement, not what life in retirement actually meant. Something to get excited about too, his second book titled Retirement – Heaven or Hell? is coming out in 2020.
Now, what I love most about Mike’s concept of victory lap retirement is that it’s a way to stop thinking of retirement as an end to something. I honestly dread the idea of retirement. It means you’re done with your career and are basically in the last phase of your life. I know many people think of retirement as one big vacation and what’s not to love about that, but for me it always fills me with dread and panic. I don’t want to just hang out with nothing to do and just watch the clock tick. I love working! I love having a purpose! I don’t want to retire!
Mike agrees. We need to stop this idea of full-stop retirement and think of “retirement” as point in your life in which you’ve reached financial independence (you have enough money or assets to live on without working again) so you can do whatever you want with very little risk taken. It’s when you can start a second career, or just devote your time how you want, not how you have to because you need to earn money.
For me, the concept of victory lap retirement fills me with hope, not dread. So if you ever feel a bit panicked when you start thinking about retirement, read this book (and obviously listen to this episode!).
Visit jessicamoorhouse.com/contests to enter to win a copy of her book!
For full episode show notes visit https://jessicamoorhouse.com/208