Uncover what really matters to you
HAVE you ever thought about writing a letter to yourself to describe your ideal future life, long-term life goals and the process of how to plan for them?
Imagining what you want your life to be like in the long term when you retire will help you think much further ahead than you might have done before. Research conducted for a new campaign shows that over half of people plan their lives only days or weeks ahead.
The participants were asked to look deep into their future lives in a bid to uncover what really matters to them. When asked to write a letter to describe their ideal future lives, people were very good at imagining it. But many didn’t know how they were going to achieve it or how to take the next step to build a bridge from now to that future self by putting a plan in place to get there.
The writing exercise uncovered how people really envisage their life in the future. The letters illustrate that wellbeing in old age pivots on simple hopes (family, health and happiness) rather than extravagant financial ambitions. A well-balanced life was a key aspiration for many respondents. The letters confirm a clear hierarchy of needs and aspirations in life that many of us would have expected: family/partner, followed by career and financial security, followed by hobbies and interests, including friends.
While a handful of the respondents hope for lottery wins or gold medal glory, the overwhelming majority express their desire to remain healthy and active in old age and to live ‘comfortably’ with some degree of financial security. The letters revealed a nation aspiring to much more grounded ambitions: the centrality of family, a desire to travel, to learn throughout life, and to have fulfilling but balanced careers with a good work/life balance.
It’s not surprising that family, health and happiness are central pillars for people’s well-being.
The letters are wonderfully optimistic, but there is a reality check.
The findings showed that people underestimate their required size of pensions pots by up to £550,000, while many people who have the capacity to save aren’t doing so. By using the letter as a catalyst, once you know what your goals are, the next step is to plan for them. To support the letter writing campaign, a study was also commissioned to gauge people’s current well-being and life goals[2]. The survey indicates a fundamental disconnect between the life people aspire to and their life now.
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