Your 12 Good Years
This is an excerpt from Humans vs Retirement, a Substack by Dan Haylett, a retirement coach and financial planner. You can read the full version on his site here.
Here’s a number that should change how you think about retirement: 12.
Not 30. Not 25. Not even 20.
12.
That’s how long the average healthy 60-year-old has before their mobility, energy and independence start to significantly decline. Not before they die… before life gets noticeably harder.
You might live to 90. You might even make it to 100. But the version of you that can hike the Inca Trail, chase grandchildren around a park, travel independently or even just get through a full day without fatigue? That version has a shelf life.
And it’s shorter than you think.
I want you to be clear about what I’m talking about here. This isn’t about morbidity or scaring you into action. This is about healthy life expectancy, the years you have before chronic illness, disability or physical limitation becomes a daily reality. …
For someone who is 60 today, you’re looking at roughly 12-15 more years before health limitations start to intrude in meaningful ways.
That doesn’t mean you drop dead at 75. It means that by your early to mid-70s, things start to shift. Energy declines. Recovery from illness takes longer. Long-haul flights become less appealing. All-day adventures turn into half-day outings. The body you’ve been living in for six decades starts sending you clearer signals about what it will and won’t tolerate.
Research on retirement spending patterns backs this up. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that retirees’ spending on travel and leisure increases through their 60s, peaks around age 75, and then declines, not because people run out of money, but because they run out of the physical capacity to do the things that money would buy.
You have more time than you have energy. More years than you have vitality. And if you don’t understand that distinction, you’ll waste the good years preparing for the declining one. …
In your 60s and early 70s, if you’re reasonably healthy, you’re still you. You can travel. You can be spontaneous. You can handle long days. You can manage your own life without help. You have the energy to start new projects, learn new skills, and take on challenges.
You’re not invincible (you’re not 30), but you’re still fundamentally capable.
By your mid 70s and into your 80s, things shift. Not dramatically. Not all at once. But gradually, consistently, undeniably.
You might still travel, but not as far or as often. You might still be active, but you need more recovery time. You might still be independent, but you start needing help with things that used to be trivial, like changing a lightbulb, carrying heavy shopping, and navigating airports. …
The cruel irony is that most people spend the first decade of retirement living as they did in the last decade of work—carefully. You saved for 40 years. You delayed gratification. You were prudent, responsible, cautious. And that got you here. It built the nest egg. It secured your future.
But if you keep living that way, you’ll waste the very years you saved for. …
Your 60s are not a rehearsal for your 80s. They’re the main event. And if you don’t spend (not recklessly, but intentionally) during the years when you can still fully enjoy it, you’ll reach 78 with a big bank balance and a long list of regrets. …