Is fear a good retirement saving motivator? I began to think about the power of fear and how it can influence every aspect of our lives, both good and bad. Obviously a rational dose of fear can keep us from doing something stupid and dangerous. However irrational fear may hold us back from reaching our full potential in whatever we are doing or trying to accomplish. Either way fear is a powerful and primal emotion. That is what has me wondering, is fear good for motivating us to save for our retirement?

Is fear a good retirement saving motivator? If so, What Fear?

I think our retirement fears can be a good retirement saving motivator as long as it is balanced. By that I mean a healthy balance of fear of the worst and fear of not being able to have the best that we want and have planned for. Fear as a retirement saving motivation should be seen as a Team that has a good balance between Offense and Defense.

• Offense – All the things we want to accomplish in our retirement. To Score The Dream
• Defense – All the things that we do not want to happen in our retirement. Defend against a negative outcome.

Fear – Team Offense

Anyone planning for their Retirement should understand that the best retirement plan is about what we are retiring to. We should understand what that is and what it will take to fund that dream retirement lifestyle.

My offensive fear was that I wouldn’t be able to live my life on my terms. I wanted to retire early and often. I wanted to only pursue opportunities that I had interest in and was passionate about doing. To do that I wanted which meant being able to leave my corporate career with its 24 X 7 demands. It had inflexible and restrictive work requirements. I wanted a life where I could have uninterrupted time for my highest priorities that are about spending more time with my family and changing to a passion-driven lifestyle.

I also wanted to do all of this while I was young enough to fully engage in everything that I wanted to do. I have hobbies, volunteering, and travels I want to fully experience. My fear was that I would either get my ticket punched to leave the planet due to all the stress or wait so long that age related health issues would keep me from what I wanted to accomplish.

My offensive fear motivated me to save so that I could live the lifestyle that I wanted to live in retirement and retiring early enough to fully enjoy it.

Fear – Team Defense

The other side of retirement planning is saving enough to have a retirement far better than just existing. Having a healthy fear of running out of money or not having any in the first place is a strong retirement saving motivation to do something. Having the fear of ending up old and/or in poor health and unable to support ourselves should be everyone’s fear.

Worst case scenario stuff – Lingering away in a nursing home and not a good one either because of a lack of funds or running through all our money and then ending up there anyway.

Fear of not having enough money down the road many years into retirement in later life is a defensive team fear.

Balanced fear is a good retirement saving motivator

Surely retirement saving needs to look at both sides. Without the defensive fear I would have retired too early and without a clear way to fund late life needs. A strictly defensive fear mindset means I may have stayed in a unfulfilling and demanding career far too long and delayed living the life I wanted and was saving for. I would have retired with regret of a life spent poorly. Balance is important.

Our fears shouldn’t keep us from living our lives, making plans, dreaming, setting high goals, and moving forward. Fear is only bad if we let it stop us from reaching our full potential. Metaphorically cowering in a corner is not the way to let fear rule us. We have to recognize it and take the necessary course of action. In this case the motivation to stay engaged with a retirement savings plan that covers everything that we need to cover.

Closing Thoughts

I believe a little fear goes a long way. I left a comment on a blog post that had me wonder and inspired me to write this post. It was a great read by Yetivesting, What Motivates You To Save. 

So let me ask you, is fear a good retirement saving motivator?

Are your retirement saving motivations more strongly fear-team offensive, defensive, or balanced?