Living Your Best Third Act

LIVING YOUR BEST THIRD ACT

HOW TO BE HEALTHY, WEALTHY, AND HAPPY IN YOUR RETIREMENT

DON’T MAKE THE MISTAKES MOST PEOPLE DO

MILAN SCHWARZKOPF

Foreword by Chip Conley

©2023 Milan Schwarzkopf

All rights reserved.

First edition

ISBN 978-80-11-03262-3 (printed copy)

ISBN 978-80-11-03263-0 (e-book)

Praise for Living Your Best Third Act

“No one addresses the importance and power of fun for your retirement years better than Milan Schwarzkopf! Living Your Best Third Act is a masterpiece that humanizes your retirement plan and creates the ultimate guide to living your most complete and happy twilight years. Read it, apply it, and reap the benefits!”

- Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, Marshall Goldsmith Inc. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach and New York Times bestselling author of The Earned Life, Triggers, and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

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“The author, Milan Schwarzkopf, has a real handle on the make up of a successful retirement. By addressing his four key areas of living, he has provided a complete picture of living your best life after your career is complete. It’s refreshing to know that a book was written by someone who learned in the trenches and not just in academia. You’ve given people hope and a process for growth and fun in retirement!”

- Jim Connolly, CEO Chef. CEO and Author of Cooking Team Building-How You.Can Access the Hearts of Your Employees By Way of Their Stomachs

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“Living Your Best Third Act will motivate and inspire you in becoming the best you can be. Not one of those all sizzle and no steak kind of books.Milan has taken a difficult life subject and humanized it to the benefit of the individual, the spouse and the whole family. A win for all!”

- Eric Lofholm, Master Sales Trainer & President of Eric Lofholm International. Best-selling Author of The System - The Proven 3-Step Formula Anyone Can Learn to Get More Leads, Book More Appointments, and Make More Sales.

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“There are many ingredients to a happy retirement and several planning tools that help retirees plan for their own “third act” of life, in new and more meaningful ways. One of the most powerful tools is “Living Your Best Third Act” that you won’t find in any other retirement preparatory books. The retirement wisdom and knowledge that you will find in this book will prove to be much more important than how much money you have saved. “Living Your Best Third Act” helps you create an active, satisfying and happy retirement in a way that you don’t need a million dollars to retire.”

- Dr. Renee Michelle Gordon, Philanthropist, Humanitarian, International Speaker & Author of Finding Your Love at Last, Five Simple Steps to Attract Your Soulmate Within 90 Days

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“Living Your Best Third Act is an inspiring book for anyone who wants to create a retirement plan that’s not just about being financially comfortable but aimed at helping you to live a vivid and fulfilled life. The book provides the right perspective at the right time, and if you want to build a retirement plan that is both solid as well as inspired, you need to consult this book. Milan Schwarzkopf has done an amazing job in helping you enjoy the best years of your life!”

- Lubna Samara, CEO Founder of HigherWill, Award-winning Leadership and Spiritual Coaching Company, Author of Beyond Potential

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“This is a unique book, tackling a very important but much neglected subject. It’s really easy to avoid thinking about one’s old age, until it’s too late. This guide is very thorough. It deals with all of the objections in a systematic way, and it covers every part of the subject, not just the financial aspects but happiness and health too. Additionally, Milan has generated some truly unique and original models which you won’t find anywhere else apart from in this book, so it’s a must read for everyone who plans to live until they are old!”

- Chris Croft, Chris Croft Training, Author and Speaker

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“If you have health, you have everything! This author added to everything and gave us three more guiding principles for retirement. Get this book now and reap the benefits of an inspired retirement life!”

- Debbie Saidyfye, Plant-Based Lifestyle Advocate and Author of Forever Young Eating

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“Milan Schwarzkopf has nailed it with this book. The timing of his wisdom and the knowledge contained in these pages is an excellent guide to those people seeking to improve the enjoyment and fulfillment of their retirement years. I highly recommend Living Your Best Third Act if you want to create your own best third act!”

- Sidrid Y. Rivera, Sidrid Rivera Enterprises, Author of I CAN U CAN.

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“So timely, so perfect! Living Your Best Third Act is the right book, at the right time. As a single Mom of two, there was no time to think about retirement. Now I need to and I could not have a solid retirement plan without consulting with this book. Milan Schwarzkopf has done an amazing job in helping you understand and enjoy the best years of your life!”

- Nicole Grey, Nicole Grey Real Estate, Realtor/Author of Who’s the Baby; Who’s the Boyfriend?

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“As someone approaching my “Third Act,” I appreciate how Milan Schwarzkopf has taken a complex topic and broken it down into clear steps. If you want to make the best of your “Third Act," read this book. It will give you a clear game plan for planning, and it will give you clarity and confidence as you approach retirement.”

- Tom Ruwitch, Story Power Marketing, Founder and CEO

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“An Inspiring Yet Practical Guide.

This book will nudge you from clueless to confident about your retirement years. Going through this process without the book is a mistake you don’t want to make. Milan doesn’t just focus on Financial, but also, Health, Social and Lifestyle. Your time and money will be well invested.”

- Tommy “Lemonade”, CLJ (Chief Lemon Squeezer) of Tommy’s Lemonade, Author of The Lemons God Gives You

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“Every now and then a book comes along that provides the right perspective at the right time. Living Your Best Third Act is one of those books. You can’t build a solid retirement plan without consulting with this book. Milan Schwarzkopf has done an amazing job in helping you enjoy the best years of your life!”

- Aylin Webb, Anxiety & Perfectionism Specialist | Author | Master Coach, CBT & EM DR Therapist | Public Speaker, Psychologist (MSc) | Lecturer (UH) | Podcaster

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“We spend so much of our time dreaming about retirement, but rarely make concrete plans and goals about how we truly want to live during retirement. This often leads to depression and loss of purpose for the newly retired. Milan's book gives you the roadmap you need to plan and prepare for your retirement and truly make your retirement the golden years you deserve! Retirement is so much better if you can use Milan's roadmap to skip the ‘figuring it out’ stage and get busy living!”

- Rebecca Jensen, CPA, MaxQTC, Inc., 101 West Cascade Way, Suite 102, Spokane, WA 99208

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“Milan Schwarzkopf’s book Living Your Best Third Act is rich with wisdom and knowledge to help you create your own best third act. If you are ready to create your best third act, I would definitely get this excellent guide!”

- Judy Wong, Living Out Loud . . .Ain’t Over Yet!, Energy Accelerator /Transformation Coach

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“Do you have a retirement plan? If not, it is essential to make one in this age of uncertainty. And if you already have one, are you sure it has been properly thought out? Living Your Best Third Act covers every aspect of planning for retirement, not just the financial matters. Understanding the DNA of a complete and balanced retirement plan is key to enjoying your enjoyment. Milan gets it, and so will you when you read this book. The advice therein is priceless, and the tiny investment will be repaid 100-fold or 1000-fold when the curtain rises on your Third Act.”

- Robiyan Easty, Dovetail Publications, Publisher of The Braids of Kaminari series and Ridds for Kids series

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“Milan Schwarzkopf's understanding that a complete and balanced retirement is much more than the financial aspect of a plan! His book teaches the new fundamentals of retirement that most people desperately want and need. This is a must read for yourself and for your loved ones!”

- Martin Gassner, Liechtenstein Fiduciary Expert for Wealth Structurinq and Estate Planninq

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“If you’re serious about your own third act of life and your retirement, then this is the book for you. Read and apply these principles from this powerful book for your life and wellbeing!”

- MSc. Jiří Čadek, Head of Wealth Management, MONECO Ltd.

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Contents

Praise for Living Your Best Third Act 3

Chapter 2: Why Should You Care about Planning for Your “Third Act”?. 37

Chapter 3: Why Planning for Retirement Seems Difficult 59

Chapter 4: The Supporting Pillars of Your Third Act Preparation. 73

Chapter 5: Your Financial Plan for Retirement 81

Chapter 6: Your Health Plan For Retirement: Body Care & Physical Health. 112

Chapter 7: Managing Stress. 158

Chapter 8: Your Social Plan - Relationships. 164

Chapter 9: Your Lifestyle Plan. 184

Chapter 10: Build Your Routines. 214

Chapter 11: Retirement Planning Is a Project 221

Chapter 12: Beyond Pension, Social Security Administration, and 401(k) 224

Last Thought 226

References/Links to Books, Websites, and Other Resources. 227

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Preface

For the first time in history, your retirement will be 20-30 years (about the same time as studying and gaining your qualification), and if you are healthy, even more. Although we all prepared for work, nearly nobody is preparing for this longer retirement time. If you are not preparing, it may easily become a tragedy. I want it to be a joy for you, the best part of your life.

I believe everyone deserves a healthy, happy, rich, and fulfilled retirement. Retirement planning is a project. In any project, always begin by defining what exactly a project involves and what is to be achieved. This book should help. This project is yours. You are both the customer and sponsor/investor of the project. You will learn to set your goals and create a plan to achieve them. You will learn to make choices, not adopt the choices of society or others.

The amount of information on this subject is huge, but it has not been available from one source until now. I do not want you to be overwhelmed. I have broken things up into smaller, manageable bites and will lead you on your way. Take a deep breath. We are taking off.

I have worked as a Senior Project Manager on international and global projects for three decades. I made transitions several times: I have lost my job three times during my career (for different reasons) and could not find a new one for several months. It was very demanding not just financially but mainly psychologically. I drew a conclusion: I increased my qualifications (graduating as an MBA), remained within a project manager profession, and became a freelancer (with much higher daily rates) as preparation for the Third Act. When my last project finished many years later, the transition to the Third Act was financially simple, but I must admit it still was psychologically rather complex and took some time. I can imagine how hard it can be for somebody who is unprepared. Later I started to improve my health and learned ways to improve my relationships. And I continue to refine my Third Act life meaning (passing on my knowledge being part of it).

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Introduction

Every author hopes for one thing when they dispatch their book out into the world: that readers reap the most benefits possible from their words. I see you as a long-term thinking, ambitious, and determined professional. Probably in your mid to late age, you’re worried about your retirement (what I call the Third Act of life). You want to achieve everything possible for you to retire well and have your retirement years be the best time of your life. And you are willing to prepare for it and make that desire a reality.

You'll find the answers to the most obvious questions you’ve had about retirement. You’ll then discover how retirement can become the best part of your life. You will also learn why you should personally care about your retirement, right now. Later on, I’ll introduce to you the idea of the Third Act.

You may currently be in the middle of your Second Act — you're still working and fully engaged in making money and completing your career, while also aware that your Third Act will come one day. And you’d like to make the Third Act of your life the best it can possibly be. I will help you realize that preparing for retirement is not just about money. Good relationships matter, too. Crucially, I’ll also teach you how to prevent yourself from getting stuck in a mode of Pending Life Purpose (PLP).

Whether you are aware the Third Act of your life is coming up, or you have already started it and want to do it better, you may be asking yourself What am I missing? So next we go into more detail about planning your Third Act. You will also learn the dangers of neglecting retirement preparation.

Planning for retirement may be difficult; I will show why. You’ll also learn the relationship between beliefs, thinking, feelings, and the results you seek. You will then understand why not many people have a real retirement plan and see the need for vision, discipline, and consistency.

In my view, there are four pillars (plans) to focus on during your Third Act preparation. They are Financial, Health, Social, Lifestyle (aka life meaning, contribution, happiness). After you learn these pillars, accepting full responsibility for the preparation of your Third Act and setting your retirement goals will come naturally.

The most obvious pillar is the Financial plan for retirement. You’ll learn the importance of your money mindset, how to get rid of toxic money beliefs, get hints on preparation steps, go through several action steps, and learn a potential financial strategy for watering your wealth tree. Using this system, you will create your retirement financial plan, enabling you to retire financially secure, do almost everything you want, when you want, with whom you want, wherever you want, for as long as you want, and enjoy your wealthy Third Act of life — when the time comes. Your retirement years will be the best time of your life.

The human body has the ability to live 90+ years in good health, so we are playing for at least 8 to 14 more years of a healthy life in retirement, based on the present life expectancy data. Only 10% of life expectancy is influenced by your genes. The rest is determined by your lifestyle.

I like to use a tree metaphor for your health, so I call it planting your “health tree.” You will learn the “Health Equation”: Understanding the contextà Building the basicsà Planting your health treeà Watering your health tree. By using these techniques, recommendations, and action steps to keep your health as good as possible, you will become the CEO of your health. Your new lifestyle will ensure you can retire healthy. Imagine being able to do almost anything you want in retirement!

Everyone knows that excessive stress can have a very negative impact on all areas of life and even kill you. I go deeper into how it can affect you, so you can minimize the impact stress has on you.

Social and relationship planning for the Third Act is vital. Social isolation increases the risk of premature death by 30%. You will learn the “Social Plan Equation,” consisting of family, friends, and other communities. I will offer you other useful tools, too: how to cope with great anger, the art of living alone, and how to make friends at all levels.

Implementing a retirement social plan will help you enjoy decades of happy life and good relationships before, and in, your Third Act. Imagine doing what you have planned for, when you want to, with whom you want to, when retired.

The last pillar in building your Third Act plan is Lifestyle — mental health care, fulfillment and purpose, and emotional health planning. You will understand the steps to build your emotional health lifestyle plan, possible approaches and techniques, and your attitudes. You will also build your routines. Your new identity, not based on work, will make the decades of your retirement a joy to look forward to and experience fully. Imagine all the personal freedom, leisure, and change of life structure you will gain in retirement. See yourself as a new person, with new desires and possibilities of how to live your new life. You may also add another item (= WHY) to the meaning of your retirement life, so you can make your retirement years the best time of your life.

As you have probably noticed, planning your Third Act is just like planning a project: the project of you. You have an opportunity to take the rest of your life in your hands. You will see why retirement planning is a project, and where you go in this project is the most exciting next step of your life. Project planning can be exciting if you allow it to be, by making the project for you.

Your Third Act may have more structure than the other acts of your life, but you'll learn that proper planning alleviates a lot of stress by knowing where you're going. The Third Act of your life will be the best part of your life because you are thinking about it in advance. You’ll set a plan, but with the flexibility of improving upon it during the years to come, it will be ever changing and growing with you.

Whether you are still in the second act of your life, or have crossed over to the Third Act, I know you'll enjoy this book. If at any time you want more information, visit www.livingyourbestthirdact.com.