People Who Die with 90% of Their Retirement Savings Still Intact — The Cruel Misalignment Between “The Period When the Body Can Move” and “The Period When There Is Money”
【Genre】Society
日本語(original) | English version | 繁體中文（台灣）版 | Tiếng Việt
Hello everyone. This is Akira.
According to data from the Cabinet Office, for many people, assets peak at age 65.
Although withdrawals begin gradually after that, it is said that not a small number of people pass away with nearly 90% of their assets still remaining even after turning 80.
They end up leaving most of the retirement savings they worked so hard to accumulate unused.
Facing this fact, what do we feel?
The Decline in “Activity Capacity” That Begins at Age 45
To think more deeply about this issue, we need to look at another set of data.
Human “activity capacity” — health, interest, creativity — begins to decline gradually after peaking around age 45.
The frontal lobe starts to shrink around age 45, and the very “interest” in things we once wanted to do quietly fades away.
In other words, we need to accumulate experiences especially during “the period when the body can still move,” yet the time when we have financial leeway comes after our activity capacity has already begun to decline.
The misalignment between “the period when the body can move” and “the period when there is enough money” may be one of the fundamental reasons why many people pass away without using most of their retirement savings.
The Concept of “Memory Dividends”
A useful idea here is the concept of “memory dividends” proposed in the book Die with Zero.
The memory of traveling abroad at age 25 and the memory of doing the same trip at age 70 result in vastly different lengths of time during which you can continue to feel happiness afterward.
Experiences gained when young are recalled many times throughout the long remaining life and continue to bring happiness.
On the other hand, experiences gained at age 70 have a shorter remaining lifespan, so the period during which you can receive “memory dividends” is also shorter.
In other words, the choice of “when to use money and time” is not merely a matter of consumption, but a matter of time allocation that determines the overall happiness of one’s life.
When Will You Use Your Money and Time?
While noting that “it is realistically difficult to use up all your money,” Yoritomo Taiki points out the regret of passing away without using it.
What is being questioned here is not simply how to use money.
It is the very attitude toward time: “How far into your life are you willing to commit to using your money and time?”
The feeling that things you thought “I want to do someday” after turning 45 gradually become “it doesn’t matter anymore.”
This may not simply be due to aging, but rather the price paid for continually postponing experiences due to the misalignment between “the period when the body can move” and “the period when there is money.”
People who pass away with 90% of their retirement savings still intact.
The background certainly includes the biological reality of “declining activity capacity.”
But at the same time, our own attitude toward time — continually postponing “when to use it” — may also be playing a role.
How much are you currently postponing the things you think “I want to do someday”?
When will that “someday” finally become “now”?
Akira
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