Hey, parents, join the L.A. Kings on Saturday, November 25th for an unforgettable kids day presented by Pear Deck. Family fun giveaways and exciting Kings hockey awaits. Get your tickets now at L.A. Kings dot com slash promotions and create lasting memories with your little ones. Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge, skills, insight and encouragement you need to live a rich and meaningful life now while building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less.

My name is Joshua. I am your host. And today I have some relatively simple thoughts for you on what it means to live well. What is a life well lived? How do you live well? I was inspired to create this short show for you because of two influences that stumbled into my life over the last day or two.

The first was an essay by famous country singer Charlie Daniels called Observations on Turning 82. I don't know how I stumbled across this in my web wanderings, but I did. And he wrote this little essay called Observations on Turning 82. I'm going to read that to you and then contrast that in just a moment with something else.

Now, I personally pay a lot of attention to this genre of literature when people write, people who are older, who are coming into the twilight years of their life, and they write about what they've learned in living their life. I pay a lot of attention to what they say.

And I believe that it's an area where we as US Americans are largely deficient in valuing and honoring and listening to people who are older. And so I want to help change that. And so I listen to essays like this very carefully. I'll just read it to you and then we'll go with the example to compare this to in just a moment.

Again, Charlie Daniels writes this Observations on Turning 82. October 28, 2018. God willing, I will turn 82 years old. What are you supposed to be doing and how are you supposed to act when you're 82? Should there be an added degree of sophistication, a thicker veneer of dignity with most of your attention aimed toward the weightier things of life?

Or maybe sit in a rocking chair and regale anyone who will listen with tales of the good old days. Or maybe spend your days in a bass rig or on a golf course or indulging in some sedentary hobby or just sleeping late and learning to name the players and identify with the ongoing tragedies in the lives of soap opera characters.

Well, to those who choose to spend their golden years in such pursuits, as they say down under, good on you, mate. Hats off, kudos, well wishes and bon voyage on your chosen method of cruising into the sunset. But as for me, I look at my next year of life as another journey through the competition, hassle, hustle, bustle, fast moving and sometimes trying an absolutely wonderful world that I have spent the last 60 plus years in.

Half of the 100 plus show dates we'll be doing in 2019 are already on the books. I have three new CDs and a new book coming out almost simultaneously with plans for my first novel to be finished and published sometime during the next 14 months. I have a head full of dreams, bits and pieces of songs, venues that I'd like to play again and fully intend to make at least one more journey to the Holy Land before I hang up my international traveling shoes.

I've got quite a lot of musical avenues I'd love to travel down and people I thoroughly enjoy playing with to travel down them with me. I'm content with my band, road crew, ranch crew and office staff. I wouldn't trade even one of my 25 employees and would be happy to have everybody here for the duration.

I am deliriously happily married and have been for the past 54 years. My son lives just down the road and stops by to have a meal or visit with his mother and me in most days. I have two non-related grandchildren, we assumed grandparenthood for from their birth, one in grade school and one about to finish college and we've been blessed through the years to spend a lot of time with them.

The list of people I could call to come and help me if I ran my car in the ditch at midnight is quite long and at least in my opinion. The guys in my band all play much better than I do, always giving me challenges to respond to and mountains to climb in my profession.

I love my church, my pastor is my favorite preacher and the people who go there are friendly and loving. I am born again not by anything I've ever done or ever will do but by the blood of Jesus who promises us an eternal home, a place of indescribable joy.

I would not change my doorstep one foot in any direction, living on the exact and only location on earth I feel at home at. There are good riding horses, fat Hereford cattle in the pastures, big bass in the pond, squirrels in the hickory trees and Whitedale deer frolicking in the backwoods.

Hazel's flowers bloom every spring, there's a big hill in front of the house and a creek at the edge of the property. We can hear bullfrogs, whippoorwills and the horses nickering on a soft summer evening and a full moon reflecting in the big pond at the bottom of the hill just kind of takes your breath away.

I have a head full of musical ideas and I've even had thoughts of someday writing a symphony. To say I've been blessed is a gross understatement but enumerating my blessings for the world to see is not the purpose of this piece. The real point is I know there are many people who look forward to retirement and would heartily encourage to go forth on those golden paths and relish your newfound freedom.

But for those of you who, despite your advanced years, still have a fire in your belly and unaccomplished goals, don't let a chronological number keep you from relishing the remaining years of your life. From where I stand I say go for it. What do you think? Pray for our troops, our police and the police of Jerusalem.

God bless America. Charlie Daniels. And when I read essays like that, I think about what's involved. When an author sits down and reflects on their 82nd birthday, what do they choose to write about? What's important to them? And of course, since I think a lot about money, I always look to notice how does money play a role?

Now, don't mistake me. Money is important. It's very important. And somebody like Charlie Daniels, who is an accomplished and well-known famous musician, I assume and I hope that he's exceedingly rich. He certainly had a long and successful career in his chosen genres of music. I hope that he is massively prosperous.

But you notice that many of the things that he writes about aren't specifically related to money. The closest he gets in this little essay to talking about money is in reflecting then the place that he lives. The fact that he lives on a beautiful ranch with good riding horses and fat cattle in the pastures and bass in the pond and squirrels in the hickory trees and a beautiful creek at the edge of the property.

Well, that's great. And he has it takes money to buy a ranch. But I know a lot of people who live in such beautiful places and don't have a lot of money. You don't have to have tens of millions of dollars from a successful international music career in order to enjoy those things.

So in just a moment, I want to give you six things for you to keep in mind that stand out to me just about things that lead to a life well-lived, six areas of goal setting. But I want to contrast this with a movie that I've just been watching this week.

As you may hear, my voice is quite weak and my family and I, we've we've all been sick the last few days and it's been, of course, quite the adventure. Parents have been there when, when you've got mom and dad both sick and you've got three children all with snotty noses and, and sore throats, et cetera.

It's been one of those, one of those weeks, which is challenging. And especially when you're living in a little RV and in the middle of nowhere, it's it's challenging. But because of being sick, I've slowed down a little bit and I made some time to watch a couple of movies.

And one of the movies that I have been watching is the Godfather. Now the Godfather is, I know of course, a well-known movie, probably everyone in the world other than me has seen it. Uh, I'm generally, however, a pop culture ignoramus. And the only way that I really come into contact with much of pop culture is by friends who, upon finding out about my ignorance, say, no, Joshua, you need to watch this.

And so before leaving on a trip, a friend of mine gave, uh, gave me the trilogy of the Godfather one, two, and three. And my wife and I have watched, um, movies number one and two. We haven't gotten to number three. Well, I was reflecting on that and I'll, by the way, spoiler alert, I assume I'm the last person in the world who hasn't seen these movies, but in thinking about how utterly dark the Godfather one and two are just how utterly depressing, um, the man, the protagonists, life's lives are, and who knows, maybe there's a redemption story and, um, number three, but I'm not really expecting it at this point.

And again, we'll see when I, when I, when I finish it, but I was just reflecting on what an awful, awful life these men put together. Now, of course, the script writers create empathy in you for some of, uh, you know, for the conditions and the experiences that lead these men to choose such evil paths.

But when you look at the reality of their life, I mean, we just finished last night, Godfather two, and you think about the protagonist who, uh, not only, um, has, you know, he murders his brother-in-law, uh, he murders his own brother, uh, in addition to the scores of other people that he murders to advance his career, his wife murders their baby to get even with him because she doesn't want to, uh, she doesn't want to carry their baby.

And it goes on and on and on. It's just evil and dark and awful. And yet the man is obviously wealthy. And yet the wealth that comes with it is so tainted and so destroyed that there's no possibility for happiness. You have a family's destroyed by decisions. Now in life, we reap what we sow.

And so if you sow evil decisions, you reap evil, but if you sow wise decisions, you reap wisdom. So let me give you just six examples that I reflected on from this Charlie Daniels piece that just made me think. And again, when you, when you put it up against the foil of protagonists, like the Godfather, uh, it's stunning just to see the difference that life choices make.

So first, first thing I noticed in Charlie Daniels 82nd birthday reflection is this, one of the things to cultivate and appreciate is physical health that allows you to keep going into old age. If you don't have physical health that allows you to maintain yourself and maintain your career, maintain your body, maintain your relationships, then it's hard to look forward to old age.

So there are decisions that we can make today that will help us to maintain physical health so that we can keep going into old age. Some of those decisions have to do with the things that we're lectured on constantly with regard to medical choices. Some of those decisions are things that are related to our career.

For example, one of the things that I'm convinced of is we should try to choose careers that we can do for the longterm. That means that you're probably not going to choose a career that is physically destructive of your body. Because if you choose a career that's physically destructive of your body, you start to reach around 45, 50 years old, and you start to thinking about retiring.

Now, maybe you can transition to something else, but it's much wiser to think about what is a career that I could do until I'm a hundred. And if possible, if you have the opportunity, choose a career that will allow you to stay involved in it for a very long time and to whatever extent you can influence it and control it, maintain physical health so that you can keep going into old age.

Number two, choose a career that fascinates you and will allow you for the opportunity for constant and never ending growth and improvement. If you notice in what somebody like Charlie Daniels says, and there are many examples that you can find of this. This was just one that stumbled across my desk.

And if you notice one of the hallmarks of a good career is something that allows you to keep growing where you don't get stale, something that you can do that will allow you to continually get better. Now that may be a craft that you can improve. Maybe it's better results.

There are lots of ways in which you can embrace that principle, but find a career that will be fascinating for you for the longterm, and that will allow for constant and never ending growth and improvement so that you will never be the best that you could be. Because if you do that, it'll keep your interest.

Now, additionally, look for a career that has seasons of life, times of hustle and work and times of rest, because we need both of those things. If you live a sedentary and restful life all the time, you don't have the opportunity to experience the joy of accomplishment and achievement and the joy of challenge and busyness.

But on the other hand, if you choose a career that's always hustle and bustle and never has rest, you never get a chance to recharge. And so the best model is to have something that has times of hustle and effort and hard work and times of rest and relaxation, and to build those into your life.

Choose a career that provides you with excellent financial income. I don't think it has to be millions, but it's got to be excellent because that income goes far. It allows you to consistently move yourself out of the things that you're not well suited to. And it consistently allows you to do the things that you really love.

If you study the career paths of musicians, there are a lot of really excellent musicians who in the beginning years of their careers are absolutely drowned in the minutia of administrative scheduling and managing their careers. I've not spoken to many musicians who would want to continue that for 60 years.

It's hard to think of an 82 year old musician who would still be enthusiastic about picking up the phone and calling venues and figuring out all of the details of ticket sales. But if you'll choose a career that provides you with good income potential, then you can focus on those things that you're uniquely skilled at, such as playing music or writing songs, those things that give you joy.

Some people find joy in the administrative minutia. And some people find joy in writing songs. And so one of the benefits of choosing a career that has high financial prospects is you can continually hire out the things that you're not skilled at, which leaves you just the opportunity to focus on those things that you are most skilled at.

Final point on careers, work with people you like and enjoy being together with, and especially work with people that make you better. Don't be the most competent person in your sphere of influence. Work with people that make you better. So you are stretching and growing and learning and progressing.

When Daniels writes about his crew and his band members and the people who he enjoys being with, that's important because life is a journey together with other people, and if you'll be challenged by the people around you, then you'll continue to enjoy growth. So first was physical health that allows you to keep going into old age.

Second component of a life well lived, at least from this analysis is a career that fascinates and allows for constant and never ending growth and improvement. Number three, rich, loving, peaceful family relationships and friendships. I repeat rich, loving, peaceful family relationships and friendships. When you look at the things that people tend to be doing, they're people tend to most appreciate in life.

As they get older, you find that people focus more and more on relationships. This struck me in watching the first of the Godfather movies where the protagonist, the elder Godfather, here he is at the end of his life and the twilight of his years, and what is he taking joy in?

Playing in the garden with his grandson, playing silly games. Everything else is stripped away. Relationships matter, but you have to invest in those relationships because if you think about relationships of joy versus relationships of pain, consider again, the plot of these Godfather movies that I've been watching. Imagine the pain of watching your eldest son be murdered for your own actions.

Imagine the pain of watching your other children fight and quarrel with another. Imagine the pain if you're aware of it, of knowing that one of your sons murdered his brother-in-law. Imagine the pain if you knew of it, of knowing that one of your sons murdered the other and knowing at the end of the line, you'll have one son, your youngest, who's basically murdered everyone else in their family.

If you were aware of that as an elderly grandparent, it wouldn't bring much peace to your life, so cultivate rich, loving, peaceful family relationships and friendships. Number four, live in a place that you love, live in your dream location, whatever that is, live in a place that you love because the small joys of being in a place that you love will accumulate over time, will lead to a sense of satisfaction.

Now, this is the only thing on my list of six that requires money. And what's interesting, if you do all these things, you could actually get away with never becoming wealthy. For example, if you were still working and earning income, you could always just live on that income. You wouldn't need to save money to be financially independent.

If you had a career that fascinated you and fed your soul and allowed you to be, use areas of your life that you're skillful, doing work that you care about with people that you like. If you were to pursue that, you could continue doing that for a long time.

You wouldn't ever have to freak out about quitting. You don't need a lot of money for that. If you're building rich, loving, peaceful family relationships and friendships, that doesn't cost a lot of money. You can certainly invest some money into a nice Thanksgiving day spread and some nice family vacations.

And it's nice to be able to take the whole family on a cruise, but you can take the whole family to a national park. You can take the whole family on a cruise. With one choice, you'll spend a thousand bucks for a week. And with another choice, you'll spend 8,000 bucks for a week.

Both of those can build rich family relationships. The only one of these things that takes money is living in a place that you love. Now stop and think about this for a moment. If you could today clarify what living in a place that you love looks like. And if you could arrange to buy such a place and be there, be there for the long term, you can afford to live in a place that you love.

Whether it's a beautiful ranch, whether it's a penthouse condo. If you got to buy a place for a million bucks, your dream place, and you finance it over 30 or 40 years, and you just make that payment every year for 30 or 40 years, and you stay there, the end of the day, you get to live there for 30, 40 years, and you get to continue living there and enjoying it.

Even when the mortgage is paid off. Most people, if they would choose a place that they love and set up a household and stay there, they could afford to live in their dream location. It's the constant movement that is very draining on your expenses. So think about what a place that you love might look like.

Do your very best to live there in your dream location. Whatever that is. If you like to hear your horses nickering on a soft summer evening, if you'd like to look down at the full moon reflecting in the big pond at the bottom of the hill, build that. Doesn't cost that much.

Number five, spiritual peace and harmony. If you can find a place of stability and find spiritual peace in your life, be at harmony, understand what you believe and why, and achieve that sense of peace, that peace pervades your life. It's an important component of a life well lived. And finally, number six, a vision for the future.

Vision for the future is one of those things that will keep you young. Always make your future bigger than your past. Don't look back to the good old days. Rather forget those things that are behind and press forward to the things that are ahead, to the upward call of the vision that you have set for yourself.

Vision for the future pulls you forward and keeps you young, keeps you engaged. It's a far richer life in my opinion, then the life of saving up a bunch of money and quitting. I hope this is useful to you. Whatever you choose to do with your life is up to you, but think about it and read about what other people have to say when they're older and set your course, because whatever you set your course to, you'll probably achieve it.

You set your course to be the number one mafia kingpin, wipe out all of your competition, you'll probably do it. If you set your course to have another kind of life, you'll probably do that. Whatever you sow now, that's what you're going to reap in the long term. My voice is about shot.

I'm glad I got through this. I had to pause a couple of times to cough. I'm going to close out just for fun. I'll play for you my personal, my personal favorite Charlie Daniels song. It's an old song called "Hi Lonesome" and it puts a picture, it always has put a picture in my head of something that I personally desire.

Like music has a way of doing that to you. And so I hope you enjoy this and go forth and think about those things that, those decisions that you can make. Remember those decisions are probably not going to be limited by money. Choose to build physical health that will keep you going into old age.

Choose a career that fascinates and allows for constant and never ending growth and improvement. Build rich, loving, peaceful family relationships and deep enduring friendships. Live in a place that you love and pursue spiritual peace and harmony in your life and develop a vision for the future. Just you and me and a little white pup Sitting here waiting for the sun to come up Keepin' chill away Drinking our coffee at the first crack of dawn Watching a doe while she nuzzles her phone It's my favorite time of day I long so God don't ever let this mountain change I long so I hope you'll always stay the same Sometimes in the evening when it's all kinda still Sweet mountain music floats over the hill For tomorrow's sitting breeze Sometimes when the night birds are scolding the mist I think I might know where heaven is It's just above the trees I long so God don't ever let this mountain change I long so I hope you'll always stay the same Watching my summer times turn into falls Seeing my son growing honest and tall Keeps me satisfied If I live forever or I die today All I would ask is you just let me lay here On this mountainside I long so I long so I long so With Kroger Brand products from Ralphs, you can make all your favorite things this holiday season because Kroger Brand's proven quality products come at exceptionally low prices and with a money-back quality guarantee, every dish is sure to be a favorite These are a few of my favorite things Whether you shop delivery, pickup, or in-store, Kroger Brand has all your favorite things Ralphs, fresh for everyone (dramatic music)