The Best Investment After 60 Might Be Yourself

🟧 Midweek After 60 Conversation

As Sharon and I come to the end of our three-week working trip exploring England’s East Coast, I’ve had plenty of time to think.

We’ve discovered some wonderful places, enjoyed some memorable meals, walked miles along the coast and, in between, I’ve been quietly adding to Ropho’s growing library.

Something has been playing on my mind.

When I launched Ropho, I thought my most popular articles would be about good food, interesting wines and finding hidden gems for a weekend away.

Instead, the article that continues to attract the most readers is one comparing resistance bands with dumbbells.

That genuinely surprised me.

But perhaps it shouldn’t have.

Every Monday we talk about building businesses that are profitable enough to give us more freedom.

We regularly discuss pensions, savings and making the most of the money we’ve worked hard to earn.

The weekend conversations are about enjoying life, travelling, good food and making memories.

Yet all of those things rely on one asset that many of us neglect.

Ourselves.

A Lesson I Had to Learn the Hard Way

A few years ago, life gave me a sharp reminder that none of us are invincible.

After my heart problems and having a pacemaker fitted, I had to make some significant changes.

Giving up smoking wasn’t the difficult part.

Replacing the habit was.

For a while, my new best friends became the fridge and the sofa.

It would have been easy to stay there.

Instead, I slowly discovered something that has become one of the most valuable lessons of my life.

Exercise wasn’t just helping my body.

It was helping my mind.

The hour I spent walking or doing resistance training wasn’t time taken away from my business.

It made me better when I returned to it.

The Six-Hour Investment

Around the same time I was helping several business owners who were working sixty or seventy hours every week.

They wanted help growing their businesses.

What many of them actually needed was permission to look after themselves. They were burning themselves out, not eating properly, not sleeping properly and definitely not exercising.

That experience led me to a simple rule that I still follow today.

Protect six hours every week.

Three hours working on your business, and then spend three hours working on yourself.

Not because you have plenty of spare time, because you don’t

Those six hours often improve the other hours in the week.

Then Something Happened

Over recent weeks I’ve noticed something else.

The conversations I’m having with readers are changing.

One reader, a GP, told me she found my article about management and leadership refreshing because it explained complicated ideas in a straightforward way.

She admitted that although she became a doctor to care for people, today she also has to lead teams, manage budgets and run a practice.

Another conversation this week was with a young entrepreneur who runs a successful food business. Despite the difference in our ages and industries, we both reached the same conclusion.

Whether it’s sales, marketing or leadership, success comes from understanding people.

These conversations have reminded me why I started Ropho.

It isn’t simply about business, it isn’t just about money, it isn’t only about fitness.

It’s about helping people over 60 make the most of the years ahead.

Sometimes that means discussing pensions, sometimes resistance bands, sometimes business strategy, sometimes finding a great place for lunch.

The subjects change.

The purpose doesn’t.

This Week’s Money Conversation

That brings me to another subject several readers have asked about.

Could delaying your pension actually leave you better off?

The answer, as with most financial decisions, is that it depends.

For some people, waiting can make excellent financial sense.

For others, taking the income sooner allows them to enjoy the years when they’re healthiest and most active.

Over the coming days we’ll explore the advantages, the disadvantages and, more importantly, the questions you should ask before making such an important decision.

Over to You

One thing I’ve realised recently is that many of my favourite articles haven’t started with my ideas at all.

They’ve started with our conversations.

So I’d like to ask you something.

What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing as you look towards the years ahead?

Is it your health?

Your finances?

Finding purpose after retirement?

Running a business?

Or simply making more time for the people who matter most?

Drop me a comment below or send me a message.

I read every one of them.

There’s a good chance next week’s conversation will begin with yours.