Pete the Planner: Ambition should drive your retirement goals

Dear Pete,

Can you help me think through a decision I have in front of me? Unfortunately, I have to be a bit cryptic with the details, but I’ll do my best to make sure you understand my predicament. I know exactly how much money I need to retire, and I think I can achieve that goal by selling my business right now. Arguably, I’d have more money than I’d ever need. The problem is, with a little bit more time and a little bit more luck, I could actually make three times what I need to retire. Am I having an existential crisis? I feel relatively at peace about purpose and fulfillment. So I really do think this is a financial question. Is there a difference between more money than I’d ever need and three times more money than I’d ever need?

—Name and city withheld

I love how mysterious this feels. I just put on a trench coat and have decided to write this in a whisper. Also, I love this question, and I love this topic.

Your question encroaches upon one of my favorite heady concepts: ambition. I love the evolving world of ambition so much that I’ve seriously considered writing a book to share my observations. For now, this week’s column will have to suffice.

Let’s begin with a rather universally agreeable definition of ambition. Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Sometimes, the discussion of ambition requires a deep exploration of the elements, such as desire, hard work and determination. Today, we should focus on the quest to achieve something.

I’ll take you at your word in regard to your relationship with fulfillment and purpose. But I’d be remiss in not mentioning how difficult it is to achieve a balanced and sustaining sense of purpose and fulfillment. In fact, achieving stasis as a working person is difficult, but finding peace as a non-working person is thought to be even more difficult. It’s really easy to dismiss this idea, especially for ambitious people.

I have a theory as to why.

Ambitious people don’t just want to achieve something; they want to achieve constantly, in nearly every area of their lives. You gave me close to no details, so here’s what I’ve gathered about your current ambitions: You aspired to run a successful business, make a tremendous amount of money and find inner peace as a working person. But I feel like it’s your other ambitions, ones you haven’t shared with me, that will determine what you should do next.

Have you accomplished everything you want to accomplish professionally? Or will jumping off the hamster wheel early seed future regret?

The other element revolves around how you get your head around the idea of “not going for it.” Simply stating that you could have either more than you ever need or three times more than you ever need is a version of quantitative analysis. If your ambition catches fire again, and you’re able to face that ambition outward, could you make a massive impact with your newfound and hard-earned wealth?

In my opinion, that’s where this gets interesting. Adding others to your lifelong needs calculus is precisely where your ambition can work in more than your favor.

Maybe you set up a scholarship that sends first-generation college students to college. Maybe you sponsor significant cancer or Alzheimer’s research. Maybe you pay it forward by setting up a micro-lending foundation for small businesses either overseas or domestically.

Some might read the particulars of your questions and sniff out elements of greed. I do not. I see a person struggling with where their ambitions take them next.

Full distillation of your situation requires you to: A. Decide if you still want to run your business. B. Determine how your ambition will manifest itself in your next chapter. C. Recalibrate your expectations around purpose in retirement.

Here’s the crux of your challenge—ambitious people need an outlet for their hard work and determination, and if you don’t identify your outlet, you might find yourself living in the land of regret. The wisest ambitious people I know figure out how to magnify their hard work and determination to serve others around them. If that inspires you, I’m glad you were able to hear my whispers.•

__________

Dunn is CEO of Your Money Line powered by Pete the Planner, an employee-benefit organization focused on solving employees’ financial challenges. Email your financial questions to askpete@petetheplanner.com.