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Focusing on the long term can pay off for investors. Whether the goal is saving for a house, college, retirement or a legacy, making a long- range plan—and sticking to it—are important parts of an investment strategy.

You’ve probably been thinking about retirement for years – about the trips you’ll take, the family visits you’ll enjoy, the hobbies you’ll pursue, and the freedom to choose what you want to do with your free time. But a lot of retirees find that the excitement and anticipation of their “permanent vacation” wears off a few months after retirement, and they miss the sense of purpose they had with their job, interacting with their co-workers, and the sense of identity their job gave them. Instead of feeling relaxed and fulfilled, they feel isolated and bored. Fortunately, there’s a cure for that—if you’re willing to open up to new possibilities and test the waters of the options you have.

The pandemic sparked some interesting retirement trends. First there was an unexpected decline in the share of workers in the United States who were 55 and older, prompting a study called “The Great Retirement Boom” by economists with the Federal Reserve. By early 2022, the trend was reversing. “Unretirements” were on the rise, with an estimated 1.5 million retirees returning to work in the U.S. labor market by March 2022. A study of Labor Department data by Nick Bunker, an economist with Indeed, revealed that as of March 2022, 3.2% of workers who had retired a year earlier had gone back to work, becoming unretired.

If you’ve received a cup of coffee or a fast-food meal that was paid for by the driver ahead of you in a drive-through line, you know that random acts of kindness can make you smile and improve your day. 

What you may not know is that the person who paid for your smile also benefitted—perhaps even more than you did. Kindness—whether a random act or not—has been shown to: increase self-esteem, empathy, and compassion; improve moods and relationships; and decrease anxiety and stress, according to the Mayo Clinic.1 Kindness can also increase and improve your connections with others, which can boost your mood and reduce loneliness or feelings of isolation.

Dear Valued Investor,

HIGHER FOR LONGER