A life worth living?

If you watch the news on a regular basis, it is hard to shake the sense of despair at the state of the world and its leaders, who appear to have learned nothing from history. Social media as we all know is awash with fiction posed as fact and opinion posed as expertise and many seem all too willing to believe their eyes.

The worlds of literature, television, music, arts and film are currently experiencing something of an appetite for dystopian tales of apocalyptic disaster, be it environmental, climate or more deliberately-introduced political intention.

A new series to tackle this showing on the Paramount network is Paradise. I won’t spoil it for you other than to say that like most others of its kind, it prompts us to ask ourselves “would it be worth surviving?”.  Perhaps a better way to consider this is the question – what makes life worth living?

When phrased that way, I wonder whether there may be a question beneath the question. What indeed does make life worth living and does there come a point when it is not? Is this a strand of the current discussion around euthanasia and assisted dying?

I appreciate that this is a highly inflammatory topic with fierce arguments either side, but the mere fact that the discussion is now more mainstream suggests that there is need for the debate. Perhaps this is one of the consequences of the pandemic, when there certainly was an attitude displayed by many about a “herd” (we being the herd) and a ‘less than’ value ascribed to different people’s lives for a variety of reasons. To be blunt, there was probably a gnats wing of difference between some of these attitudes and those of German “Nationalists” in the 1930s.

I am not about to become embroiled in the debate, simply noting an observation that the discussion about what makes life worth living is more within everyday parlance. However, one of the challenges I often pose to you, our clients, is “what do you want from life?”. It may take different forms, but in essence, I’m asking you about the lifestyle you have and want to maintain, the experiences you wish to have and the skills you wish to develop. In short, what brings you contentment and joy? It seems to me that this is an entirely appropriate and reasonable question to pose.

As I am sure you know, we structure your financial plan around your values and the objectives that you determine important to you. Anecdotal experience means that I encourage you to ‘front load’ your retirement with many of these bucket list experiences; health is something that most of us will battle with as we age, reducing our ability to do things that we might currently take for granted. As health and independence deteriorate, this is where the question of ‘a life worth living’ resurfaces and will elicit different responses from each of us for different reasons and set within a context.

We know that life is brief, so carpe diem, here’s to your very good health!

Here is the trailer for the 8-part series Paradise starring Sterling Brown.