A year ago, I had a patient come into my urgent care clinic. He was excited to tell me he was finally going to retire. For over 40 years he had run a successful business in our community.

He and his wife had looked forward to the day he could retire. They had been putting money away in their 401K and sticking to the plan their financial advisor had given them. Finally, it was time to sell the business and walk away into retirement bliss.

A few weeks ago, he was back in my clinic. This time he wasn’t the same man I had known over the last 20 years. He was asking for antidepressants, as they were the only thing he thought could help him. He’d lost his appetite, but somehow he’d managed to gain 20 pounds in one year.

His story is not unique. In fact, since I first became a doctor, I have met patients just like him numerous times. They all share the same problem: their life no longer has a purpose.

For the first few months after retirement, he did all the retirement things. He went golfing and fishing. He relaxed at the house. He and his wife started traveling, but after a bit of time, he realized he was just too tired to travel. It was much easier to stay home.

My guess is you know someone like this too. Why is this story so common?

The Magic
I think it's because we have been sold a bunch of crap. We have been convinced by a multi-billion dollar industry that our lives, our plans, and our finances should be focused on some magic day in the future when we’re going to retire.

The sell goes something like this. A guy with a suit and some fancy brochures sits down with you and your spouse to educate you on how to retire. Since you are still young, he’s going to help you plan your retirement now to ensure years of bliss later.

He asks you questions that you couldn't possibly know the answer to. Questions like:
1. What day would you like to retire?
2. How long do you think you will live after you retire?
3. What do you think your household expenses will be after you retire?
4. What would you like to predict inflation to be for the next 40 years?
5. What would you like to choose as your return on investment?

After you make up numbers, he plugs them into a magic calculator. Then, abra cadabra, he comes out with a miracle. Based on his formula, the date you picked, and the anticipated rate of inflation, you should be able to live financially secure until you die.

How many people do you know that this system worked for?

I personally know hundreds of people who have retired on a similar plan, and not one of them is financially secure. Yet we all keep planning for retirement day.

History
Retirement was first introduced in Germany in the 1880s when Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck had a problem. Marxists were threatening to take control of Europe. To help his countrymen resist, Bismarck announced he would pay a pension to any nonworking German over age 65.

Retirement came in very handy in the United States during the Industrial Revolution, where large numbers of aging factory workers were slowing down assembly lines, taking too many personal days and usurping the places of younger, more productive men with families to support. The Great Depression made the situation even worse.

By 1935, it became evident that the only way to get older people to stop working for pay was to pay them enough to stop working. A Californian, Francis Townsend, initiated a popular movement by proposing mandatory retirement at age 60. In exchange, the Government would pay pensions of up to $200 a month, an amount equivalent at the time to a full salary for a middle-income worker.

Horrified at the prospect of Townsend's radical generosity, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the Social Security Act of 1935, which made workers pay for their own old-age insurance.

Retirement Today
There are essentially two types of retirement plans, defined benefit and defined contribution. Defined benefit pays you the same amount of money year after year after you retire. Defined contribution has you put away a certain amount of money each year that you can take withdrawals from later in life.

Successful people, however, do not retire. In his book, The Richest Man in Town, Randal Jones interviewed 100 of the richest men in America, and without exception, none of them could imagine retiring.

In Die Broke, Stephen Pollan notes the average person should give up the idea of retirement. Despite all the wonderful formulas out there on how to do it, Pollan describes retirement as "a pyramid scheme of which you have no chance of winning".

Looking at the numbers, retirement has only worked for one generation in American history. I would argue it didn’t work for them either. They had five streams of income. The average retiree gets 42% of their income from government assistance, 20% from their pensions, 15% from current wages, and the rest from other sources. Take a hard look and ask yourself which of those you think will be around when you retire.

Start Thinking
After you stop reading I want you to do two things:
1. Do not get depressed.

2. Do not take my word for it.

Instead, go out and do the research for yourself. Then ask if there might be a better way for you to plan for your future. Take this as an opportunity to ask a better question. Ask yourself, “If I am never going to retire, what is my life going to look like?”

Remember, you and you alone are in charge of your life.

[Ed. Note: This is the first in a two-part series by Dr. Tim Reynolds on retirement. Please leave your comments about this article on his blog.]

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Tim Reynolds founded Living Every Minute in 2009 to allow him to share his passion for finding success in every minute with others. He dedicates countless hours each week to helping other people change their lives through mentoring, life building, giving inspirational talks and writing for his free weekly newsletter.

Life wasn't always the picture of perfection it is now for Dr. Tim. In fact, he was the first member of his family to graduate high school. He joined the military shortly after graduation, where he graduated from the Special Forces Q-course in July of 1982. He served as a Green Beret medic on an A-Team, as the Battalion medic and eventually as a Special Forces Battalion Surgeon for the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He served both enlisted and as an officer for 17 years.

After getting out of the military, Dr. Tim decided he wanted to go to college to be a doctor. His guidance counselor told him he was too old. He would be 32 before he finished his degree. He told her, "I'm going to be 32 either way." He went on to graduate college with honors.

It was his passion for helping people that inspired him to become a medical doctor, and in 1993 he graduated Summa Cum Laude with an MD degree from the University of Utah. He completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Texas A&M Scott and White in 1996 and is board certified in emergency medicine. He is the managing partner for HealthCARE Express, a group of urgent care clinics rapidly expanding across the United States.

Prior to starting HealthCARE Express in 2006, Dr. Tim held numerous positions across the medical field, including: medical director of the Wadley Regional Medical Center Emergency Department and level II trauma center; president of E-Med Services, LLP and of E-Med Billing Solutions, LLP; associate clinical professor for the Area Health Education Center at the University of Arkansas; and founding member of the Greater People’s Clinic of Texarkana Board of Directors.

In addition to his medical experience, Dr. Tim is also an entrepreneur and successful businessman. He is currently the chief executive officer of TL Reynolds Properties, LLP, a real estate investment company; and he is a managing partner of JJET Developments Ltd., a real estate development company.

Dr. Tim has served on numerous other committees and boards throughout both the medical and business communities and is published in various journals and publications. He is sought after as a presenter at many national conferences.

In his leisure time, Dr. Tim enjoys spending time on his Ranch in Atlanta, Texas, where he lives with his beautiful wife, Pam, and their five amazing children. He holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, is a SCUBA rescue diver, and a pilot. He also enjoys body building, golf, and hiking.

Dr. Tim is a world traveler, having visited over 40 countries on six of the seven continents. He is a firm believer in Living Every Minute of life and teaching others to do the same.

Learn more at www.LivingEveryMinute.com