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W four WN Radio. Well, hello and welcome to Fearless Fabulous You. I am your host, Melanie Young, and I'm delighted that you're joining me on the Women for When network. You can hear all my shows anytime on demand on your favorite podcast channel. I think I'm on like over fifty or sixty now, including the big ones. iHeart Spotify, Apple. I enjoy inspiring women around the world and you listeners to live your best life at any Asian stage, and today we're going to talk about. My theme is I
don't want to live forever. I just want to live my best life now and with no regrets. So lately I have been feeling a little sensitive about my age. I turned sixty five this year, twenty twenty four. And it's not that I feel old, because I don't. I frankly call myself
Melanie Forever Young because I feel young and I feel awesome. But it's just sometimes the way people treat me. And I am going to bring this up because I talked about it at my last show last week and I was turned down for a job because I was trying to get a job after being an entrepreneur, because I was told, oh, you're overqualified and you probably not going to be comfortable reporting people who are younger than you. Well, no one really, you know, don't assume anything about me. If I say
I'm comfortable doing something I put, you know I am comfortable. I'm confident in saying what I say and comfortable in how I feel because I'm comfortable in my own skin. So don't judge me for what I appear to be or if you think I'm too old, because that's not the way it should be.
And you listeners should not be judging people as well, because we don't really know what's going on, and we don't really know people's capabilities and amazingness until we get to know them, and I'm finding a lot of people just don't take the time anymore to get to really know people. They just look at what's there superficially, what they see, how someone dresses, maybe their social media, but they don't really take the time to dig in deep to
get to know people. I do because I have a show where I interview people all the time, and I make it my point to get to know them and understand them before I have long conversations with them. I used not to do that when I was younger. I was much more superficial. I was so busy getting work, bringing in business, doing the work, making clients happy that I ever really got to sit down with my clients to get to know them and ask them how they were doing. It was just too
busy making sure that we were fulfilling whatever the job was for them. But now, given time and reflection, I realized that it is important to have that human connection and to think of people you work with as people and not employers or products or clients or whatever. We're all people. So what's interesting is I do a lot of research online about people and topics, including retirement and difference between an annuity and an investment fund, and all those things you
need to be more serious about when you grow up. Actually you should be more serious about them when you're younger, but boy, when you're older, you do get more serious about them. And so now my online inbox is being flooded with marketers who are targeting me with retirement pitches and articles. Many
are about the best and worst places to retire. So evidently New Orleans, the city that I've just chosen to move with my husband and have settled in and the door, is one of the worst places to retire and live. Thank you, Chattanooga, Tennessee. My childhood home where I just left, is supposedly one of the best. So I'm bucking the trend. I'm always
been ahead of the pack. I go against the trend. Maybe I make good decisions, maybe I don't, but I do what I feel is right for me at the time I'm in and right now, I'm very content because I have many friends in New Orleans, and I enjoy its diversity of culture, food, music, and beauty. It's more or less affordable, except
for the crazy insurance. And now if I can live through a hurricane season, I'm doing okay and I'm pretty happy, So I really have to stop turning on the computer early in the morning and seeing this influx of ads telling me where I should be living and what I should be doing and how I should be investing my money because I'm getting a lot of annuity ads as well, and people keep telling me what I should be doing online because of my age, and I don't really want to hear it unless I ask for it.
I don't need your opinion unless I ask for it. So I'm learning just to tune out and turn off and find incognito ways to search for things, and you should too. No affiliation, but I hear duck Duck go is a good one for that. So here's the reality. According to the US Census Bureau, by twenty sixty, which seems like a lifetime away, but it's not, total life expectancy in the United States is projected to reach
an all time high of eighty five point six years since nineteen sixty. The largest gains in life expectancy occurred around between nineteen seventy nineteen eighty and an increase about three years. And statistically women outlive men, so I'm more likely to outlive my sixty year old husband who's five years younger than me. Reality check. So we are living older. And I remember my mother told me she
was lying in bed in her final days and weeks and months. I never planned to live past eighty, and therefore my finances didn't go that far. Well, we are living longer, hopefully or not, depending on what happens in your life. And we, most of us, have not planned for that. I'm getting that clear and loud in my inbox. So what do we do well, I'll be honest with you. Sixty is the new forty, seventy is the new fifty. Age and gender should not be factors when
selecting someone for a job, or or a partnership or anything. They shouldn't. You shouldn't judge people by numbers. You should judge it by who they are and how amazing they're in what they do, and how they can be a part of your life. Pragmatically speaking, we have to think beyond that.
So you know now that I've gotten that off my chest, that young people should not judge elders as too old, and older people should not consider younger people as an experience, and we all should just appreciate eight people for who we are at any age, because I got to tell you, I've had some really amazing young people teach me things about computers I didn't know,
and I have great respect. And I've been able to teach a lot of younger people about how to be effective communicators, which they don't seem to know because they're too busy community depending on the computer or on the mobile phone. The point is everyone should be considered amazing at any agent stage of their life, and we should never be judgmental based on appearances, names, locations, or anything. Keep an open mind, an open ear, and an open
attitude, and opportunities will open for you and for others. Okay, so I figure reality check, I have about ten to fifteen more years left of my life to live, hopefully all thement good health. So that's about eighty. I don't really care if I lived much longer than eighty, and don't think that's like a big no in negativity. I really don't care. My father died at seventy one, my mother died at eighty eight. Both outlived their financial means and died in poor health. I don't want to follow in
their footsteps. I want to die in good health and in good financial situation and just live every day happy. But if I could write a letter to my younger self and sit my younger self down, I would give her some advice that I'm going to share now, so I wouldn't make the mistakes that
I made earlier in youth, included too much spending and saving enough. Planning for the future seems a lifetime away when you're in your twenties and thirties, but boy, planning it when you're in your sixties, that is like a life sentence. It's challenging when you don't have the means to do it the way you want. So what do you do? Younger self? Not so younger self. You can do it at any age, but this is what
you need to do first. If you are in a situation, if you are younger and you're starting to earn money, set aside money, put it away, get an IRO way, if your company has a matching funds, roth Ara, whatever, do it. Take advantage of every benefit you can because it will save you money and it can make you money. Just do
it. And if you end up becoming self employed, get really good tax advice on how to save money, and you know, write off what you can, because it's not only about making money, it's about saving money. And some of the millionaires in life are people that lived humbly and frugally and saved. They may not have made a lot of money, but they lived humbly and frugally and saved and invested wisely. That's why Warren Buffett, the
Oracle Omaha, still lives in his ranch house. That's all. My grandfather, a CPA by trade, lived in a ranch house, was frugal, shopped at kmart, looked like a farmer in jeans every weekend when he did his gardening, and he died with a lot of money in the bank. Who knew. So if you're in a situation where maybe you're like me, uh, where you spend a lot of money and you lived well and everything was great, but now you don't have as much money as you'd hope,
what do you need to do well? First of all, I want to be very clear, I am not a financial certified financial planner. I am not a financial advisor. I'm not any of that. I'm a human being that's trying to make good based on what she has left in the bank and how many years left she has of her life and reflecting back on what she could have done and realized that she can't go there now. So she's got to just figure it out as it is right now. Okay, I made
a lot of money, I spent a lot of money. I wasted a lot of money. I lost a lot of money. That's in my past. No, I got to look at my present and think about the future. And that's what I'm saying to you. Don't look back and say, damn, what a dumb ass I was. Just move on. You can't shame yourself or what was. You got to just blame yourself and what could have been. You just got to look forward and say, Okay, one foot in front of the other. So one. So I made a tempt
checklists from my last ten to fifteen years in my life. Okay, and again, it's not morbid. I'm accepting it. It's cool. First, take a hard look at what you're spending on a monthly basis and an annual basis, and figure out where you can cut back. The first thing I cut were things I really enjoy clothes, shopping and dining out. That was hard because I just love both of them. It's not that I denied myself any of it. I just cut back. It's not being the queen of
denial. It's about being a better navigator and being more strategic about how you spend your money. Right. So, if I'm going out to dinner, I want to go out with dinner with friends, so I can use that time to visit with friends, not just sit with my husband, which I do every night at home. If I need to buy clothes, I make sure it's because I need to replace something that I'm going to throw away or donate and need to replace, not just go out and buy willy nilly just
because I'm in the mood. I've also identified, and you should too, spending habits week moments. So many of us have week moments. Mine are usually after dinner and a few glasses of wine and I'll get on the computer and bingo, I maybe spending. So I've learned turn off the computer after dinner. Don't go shopping after you've been sipping. It can get sloppy and messy. So that's number one. Okay. Two, I cut up my credit cards and only have two, one I use regularly in a backup,
and I try to pay off my balances monthly to avoid fees. I also use more cash, although many businesses prefer debit cards. Yes, I've said a budget. The budgets are hard to follow sometimes, but I do the best. But at one point in my life, I think I had like ten credit cards. Nobody needs ten credit cards. That is just like having ten pieces of candy interview and want to eat all of them. It's not good. So I cut them up and I'm actually going to turn them into
works of art. Because my parents had like fifty credit cards and I found them all and I kept them and I'm going to now use those to create works of art collages. This is why not, you know, repurpose. So I'm trying to cut back on credit card use or use it for only essentials. Third, I reviewed recurring charges on my bank and credit cards and canceled almost everything because there are so many recurring charges and you have to sit down and go, am I really using that recurring charge? Am I really
using that service? Am I really reading that magazine? Probably not, So I cut back on a lot of it. I'm getting ready to do it again, because sometimes you just sign up for stuff on a trial basis and the next thing you know you've got recurring charges, So read the fine print when you sign up for free trials and freebies, because half the time you're signing up for a long term commitment and sometimes it's hard to get out of those. That said, I use auto pay for things like utilities and insurance
so I never fall behind because that could be deadly. And I also ask when I'm negotiating insurance plans or other services if there's a discount for prepayment in full. That happened with my car insurance. I got a discount for paying a full and I'm glad I did, although it's still expensive. I also ask for bundling. If I do my homeowners or rental with my car,
can I get a discount? So I think about negotiating discounts. Speaking of when you're over, I learned when you're over sixty sixty two sixty five there are a lot of discounts ask. Don't be afraid to ask. For example, if you were going to the National Park Service, great example, they have a senior lifetime pass. I think it's eighty dollars. For eighty dollars, you can go visit any national park in the country. That's a great deal. There are museum passes like that where if you buy one pass you
can go visit museums all over the country. They have partnership programs, so ask there's discounts for seniors or special partnership programs because you can get multiple deals that way. Same with gas, same with apparently shopping. Certain days at supermarkets they have senior days at certain supermarkets, so ask. And it's also
bookstores like probably not Costco, but maybe Target, Walmart. Wherever you go, say what offers do you have for people over sixty, sixty two, sixty five, whatever the age, Always ask because there are deals to be had. Today, there's autumn Zoo in New Orleans where I'm living, there's free day you can go to the zoo for free. So also ask what days are free? What days are local days? If you live in a city where they have specials for locals, really some of the best ones for
that, or museums, chain restaurants, airlines. Do you know that if you go on line, say Delta or Kayak, you can put in that you're a senior and potentially get a senior rate to toe with your hotels like Mariott Bomboy has a senior rate. Don't be embarrassed or afraid to ask. Just do it. You can get amazing discounts. That's one of the best things about turning sixty, sixty, two, sixty five, whatever the age is, and sometimes it's as low as sixty. You have to ask.
Okay, so that's four. Ask about discounts. Don't be afraid to ask. Ask about bundles, Ask about is there a discount for cash payment, Ask about if there is a discount for full payment on certain high ticket things. Just ask. So insurance, don't scrimp on insurance, but negotiate hard. This is im four. I think it's four. I do a lot of price shopping on insurance, whether it's health insurance or I'm renting versus buying.
That's a whole other topic for another show. Property insurance, health insurance, life insurance. Just do your homework, and remember you can get discounts if you stay with one company, but you know, shop around, call five companies. Take the time and do it because you can get amazing deals. I'll give you an example here in Louisiana. I decided, even the renting that I want to flood insurance. Why because there's a lot of floods in Louisiana, and if this house floods, I want my property to get
some insurance coverage, not my owner. So I do you know. I called three companies and got three prices that ranged in about a three hundred dollars difference. Three companies, three prices, same insurance, three hundred dollars difference. Obviously I went for the lowest one. So price shopping can take time, but it can really pay off because remember it's not about how much you make, it how much you can save and how much you can keep.
So don't scrip on insurance. Negotiate hard and don't give up. Maybe take a few days to do it, or just sign up for six months so it advise you time to keep looking for the next six months, et cetera. And remember auto pay sometimes can create discounts for you. Not necessarily pay my phones. Always ask if there's convenience fees if you're paying by phone, for example, because those sneaky convenience fees are really annoying. And how do
I know? Because my mother loved it just pay things by phone. She thought that was more efficient, quote unquote efficient. And when I came back to Tennessee to take care of my mother's finances. There were so many problems. Besides, who's still paying for AOL? And nobody pays for AOL? And the recurring charge have been going I think for over twenty years, she's
been paying for AOL, go figure and numerous other recurring charges. She was paying convenience fees left and right because she was paying by phone, and I said, we got to stop that, because convenience fees are not anything you need to be paying for. You know, you shouldn't be penalized for paying by phone. That's the silliest thing ever. So always look out for pesky
convenience fees you should see. You should have a good tax advisor and a good financial advisor, and start with a moderate savings or investment plan, knowing what your threshold for risk is. Frankly, I'm still sorting this through, and I have not had in my youth, I had a bad situation or two with people who didn't give me great advice. So I'm a little gun
shy here. But I'm doing my due diligence. I'm setting up meetings with people, I'm listening, and I'm not saying too much don't share too much. Just listen. Be honest, but just listen and ask to speak with, get testimonials you know, don't and you know what, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Maybe you work with different advisors and you test them out. You know, you don't have to be loyal to the same people all the time. You need to move around if you have to.
You know, plant your seed in different areas and see where the plants thrive and grow better. If I could speak with every young girl starting out life, and even as young as when they start earning an allowance, I wouldn't underscore the importance of learning to manage your own finances, save early, and never ever ever give up financial independence. I don't care if you marry the love of your life and he's a financial wizard. I don't care if it's
your dad and you trust him with all your heart. You become financially savvy and manage and keep a separate account for yourself, and don't rely on anyone else to take over your finances. One hundred and fifty percent. You have to be in it to win it, and you have to know and ask questions and read statements and ask questions and read more statements and don't stick stuff
in baggies like my mother did. And read statements and ask questions and don't say, oh, I hand this over to my husband or my partner because they know more than me. You have a capability of knowing as much as anybody if you put your mind to it. And there's plenty of free advice online. You don't have to listen to it, you don't have to take it. You could just listen, inform your own opinion, and then get a very solid, trustworthy and trusting financial advisor to help you. It's so
important, so important, and I can tell you firsthand. I've seen disasters occur when women have lost everything because they didn't ask questions and they didn't have frank discussions with their spouse. And frankly, I still go there with that. My husband is still a testing area here in our my own home. So you know, push you need financial independence. So once you have I think this is number six. Once you have financial security and assets, get
a will drawn up. You're never too young to have a will because you could die at any age. Contact a lawyer or I contacted Legal Aid in Tennessee and met with a nice guy, But get a will. Drop that so that you know what's going to happen to anything you own, your a estate, anything. Even if you don't know how, you still have a state. You need to plan for your inevitable death. Planning for your inevitable
death is important. It's investing your life. Because if you don't have a will, and you're of legal age, so you're an adult, it's different if you're a kid, if you're like sixty five, not having a will means that a state is intestate. That means the state where you live, where you lived, will take over and decide how this spense of any assets you have, which could mean nexicin, but could it mean other things.
There's no control and your last wishes that you never bothered to express because you were too busy doing other things besides getting a will, we're never granted. Did you know that Aretha Franklin the Great died without a will. I mean, there's some really amazing people making a lot of money that you look up to and they didn't bother to get a will. That's the stupidest thing ever. And also, don't just put the will away, which you should in
a lock box. That's fireproof. You should have different multiple copies and want online, but also review it from time to time. So when I moved to Tennessee and started taking care of my mother and then she died and I realized that she was in my will, the first thing I did was contact Legal aid and say, I need to change my will because I needed to update it and take her out of it. And also I needed to think about things like I don't have children, what's going to happen with anything I
do have left? Where do I want it to go? What would happen if my husband and I died together? That was a big one. A lawyer said, you've not made any provisions to address what would happen if you and your husband, David died together. Well, I was a big one because I left everything to David. So you need to think about every scenario. And you are never too young. When you're an adult and you're starting to earn income and put money away and have investments and maybe buy house,
you should have a will. Okay, enough said, I think this is eight or seven lost track. So another thing you need to have is a healthcare proxy and a legal power of attorney. Particularly the older you get. But you know, if you have a health if you have a health condition, it's super important. Okay. My first health care proxy came when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and in the hospital said do you have a health care proxy? Well, I was like, no, but I'll get one.
I guess it's my husband, David. If I had been single, it would have been my parents. So again you have to keep that updated because if you're single in your healthcare proxy as your mom or dad and they pass away, then you don't have a healthcare proxy. So you also have to think about when changes happen in your life and when life changes for you, what documentation do you need to change with it. So a good example is having current health care proxy and legal power of attorney in the event that
you become ill or incapacitated. And again, that could happen at any age or stage in your life. Hopefully not when you're young, but god forbid, you're in a our accident and you're in a coma. Who was going to be your health care proxy and your legal power of attorney if you cannot make decisions? This person or person should be a trusted family member, a
friend or counsel. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I needed to resort to showing my power of attorney documents when dealing with my own mother's health and finances as she entered the final two years of her life. It was on file. I had to send it to credit card companies, I had to show it at hospitals. I had to go to the banks, I had to go to insurance companies. I had to show it every step of the way with her my power of attorney and in our case, we
had a co power of attorney. We had two powers of attorneys because my mother didn't trust me completely, but it was used a lot. So think about who was going to be your power of attorney if something happens to you and you cannot make decisions, and it really needs to be somebody you trust, and if you don't, they need a copower of attorney so they have to make decisions together. Same as I said with health care proxy, that
is super important. Next, and I believe this is eight unless I have a bonus, create a blueprint of your life and key accounts, passwords and locations of major documents, both print and online, and make sure this information is routinely updated. Wow, I can't say enough about this, because when my dad died, we can access his phone. When my mom died. Fortunately, because my dad died, my mother didn't have you know, she
didn't think about getting his computer passwords. She didn't think about getting access to his phone, so she couldn't contact anybody in his phoneless to say he died. People didn't know my dad died because my mother didn't know where his friends were because she didn't know how to find them online or in the phone. But it could be worse than that. What if you can't access to your loved one's bank account, or there's stock account, are there insurance account or
their utilities built? I could go on and on and on. I am telling you passwords need to be in a secure place, and they need to be updated regularly, and may a couple. I'm the worst at updating passwords. I'll get frustrated updated password and then forget to put it into the document I've created. So try to as much as if as much as you make regular hair appointments, and you keep detailed documentation of other things in your life, get documentation in writing on the cloud, in paper, and a secure
file of all your accounts. And there are a lot of them. I mean, you know, I made a listen to my accounts. There's go Daddy from my computer. There's Ascuma or my software. There's technology accounts, there's phone accounts, there's insurance accounts, there's utility bill accounts, there's you name it, and of course there's access to phones. There's access to social
media. How you access social media. What if you want to take somebody's social media down because they're dead, You don't want to make it immemorial. What if they've been hacked. There are so many accounts you need to create a detailed list by category, technology, insurance, utilities, banking, investments, magazine subscriptions, all the things you're paying for, somebody's got to deal with if you're not able to take care of it. Super super important.
Next, be very clear and put in writing what your final wishes are. And I'm not talking about a will, well, I've already covered that. I'm talking about how you want to spend the final years, months and days of your life. Okay, this is important because I'm seeing and I have a lot of friends who are now caring for elderly parents and the onlyly parents. You know, usually there's a sibling fight. But what are we going to do with mom? She's really old and she's you know, really like
losing it. What are we gonna do with And Mom may not really know what she wants to do, But usually mom wants to stay at home because moms never really want to go with the assists of living. Moms or dads just want to stay at home and have a nice life. My mom never wanted to leave her house. She made it very clear to me. She wanted to live and die in her house, very clear. So you need to have a plan, and if you have siblings or family members that need
to want to be involved, make them part of the discussion. Don't make unilateral decisions about what you're going to do with mom or dad without consulting with the rest of your family, because I trust many of you may have differing opinions that also have that conversation with your parent. So one of the best conversations I have with my parent is that my mother and my father both sat down with me and they were very clear about how they wanted to live the
last days of their life. One they did they wanted a DNR do not resuscitate if they became totally incapacitated. My mother did not want a feeding tube. This was a tough one. It had put her into rehab after she fell. She did not want a feeding tube, but she did want to be kept alive if she was still mentally capable. So feeding tubes are very
different from being mentally capable, very different. And at one point I kind of got nervous when I was signing all these documents as her power of attorney, and I had to go into the room and say, Mom, I'm a little unclear about this. Do you want a feeding tube if you're unable to eat? What do you want to have happened? And it was not awkward, it was important, and she answered and I felt more comfortable putting my initials down as a result. But I wasn't sure. But have that
very clearly in writing. So what do you ask them? What happens if you become incapacitated and incapacity It could mean several things. It could mean I can't feed myself, I can't dress myself, I can't shower, I can't walk. So there's those physical things we call normal activities. I think there's
five that are concer you're disabled. There's like five. I think it's feeding, walking, dressing, showering, bathing, using the bathroom if you can't go to the bathroom yourself, or you can't get to the toilet, or you need a you know, special potty under your butt. Those are things where you will need help. You can't do them yourself, and you if you qualify, those could be covered by insurance or Medicare or medicaid or whatever
you're on. It's a whole other topic. But it's different when you're becomes your mind. You may be physically okay, but maybe your mind is going, what do you want to do? If your mind is kind of in and out but you're still functioning, you're just not functioning at high level. You need to kind of create degrees of what do you want to happen? If what would you feel more comfortably than have that conversation? And then look
at the financial ramifications. Can you afford putting your loved one in a assisted living? Do you have the means? Because you better have money put away or start socking money away for that, or have a long term care plan, which I could go on and on about the pros and cons of that. But do you have the resources for that, because if not, you may have to sell the home that your loved one's in so that person can move into assisted living. There's a lot there. I mean, what if
they don't have a homework, if they're renting. I'm renting now, so I don't know what's going to happen to me. If I have to go into assisted living. Probably i'll die. I'll probably just go to Switzerland and do assisted suicide. I know that's more ad, but then bother me again. I don't want to live my rest of my life out sick and poor. Bingo had that conversation while your loved one is still mentally capable. It's
awkward but necessary. My mother actually sat me down and not only made it clear that she wanted to live out the rest of her life and her house no matter what, and we did it, no matter what, and it cost us a small fortune, but we did it. But she also laid out her wishes for her funeral, down to where she wanted to be buried and what the music was and who would cater it. Because my mother left to plan parties at nauseum and I'm proud to say we honored all of it.
We really did, and I'm glad we had that conversation. I took notes down to what she wanted read at the funeral and we did it, and I filed it, and when she died, I pulled it out and bingo, I followed her little checklist down to the tea. So what happens if, like me, you don't have children or heirs, Who do you want to be your legal guardian? If there's no one to care for you? Well, I don't know. David and I talk about that all the time. I mean, if something happens to me, David'll be there,
and somebody has David, I'll be there. But if we go together, we've already I've addressed it in my will. I don't know if he's addressed in his, because we have separate wills. But I know what I plan to do. I plan to leave a lot to charity because I really don't have family members. I have friends, I live this and that too. But if I get incapacitated, plan B, as I said, is to figure out where I can go to just say I'm done and move on to
the next world. I don't have a fear about that. I have a greater fear of being unable to care for myself and have nobody care for me. So you have to think about that. Who will care for me if there's no one there? And do I care if it's time to go? You know, sometimes it's just time to go. But you got to have that writing, put your final wishes in writing, and update it if you change your mind. Yeah, because you can't change your mind, but do
update it. Make sure people know where it is, because if you don't know where it is, then people won't know how to take care of it. So yes, I figure I have ten to fifteen years left in my life. As it is, I am trying to live more consciously about not spending a lot of money figuring out how to make money. I'm still pissed it I got turned down for the job because I'm apparently too overqualified, too
old. But that's not going to stop me from doing other things. And I'm brushing out my resume, but I'm also brushing up a sales kit to go out and sell myself as an amazing consultant to help people better figure out what they want to do with their life. Because I'm good at that and communicate those their capabilities to people and help them grow and build. So I'm
dusting that off. I'm going to dive right in. Hopefully somebody out there is going to sponsor this podcast, because that's really what needs to happen, Bingo, and I'm going to stop offering free promotion to people on this show who are getting paid and making money. I do charge for some That's why I do more single shows now, because I'm tired of promoting other people who are making money off my back. So I'd rather just share my own interest.
And I only say that to you now because you need to be very careful of your value and your time when you're talking to people as well. Okay, so yeah, I have ten to fifteen years of my life over That means officially lived more than well over half of my life. Wow, I've lived more than half my life and now I have about ten to fifteen years left. That's about six thousand days by the way I calculated, maybe six or seven I don't know. So does this mean the best parts are
over? Well? In some ways, I do believe that's true. I had a great successful business, make of money, live the New York, creating impact of programs, Live the High Life, Lived the Best Life, didn't save a dime, and now I'm paying the price for it. But I also did new things. I created these shows, this one and my other one Connected Table, I've shorted writing, I've connecting with people in other
ways. I don't work as hard, and I'm using the time to explore other areas of passion, including travel and connecting with people in a new way. So I never want to rest on my laws, and you should not either. Yes, I had a former life and you probably did two, and it was fabulous. But we cannot live in the past. We can only live in the moment and make the best of the time we have and
what remains of it. And you have the potential to do new things and try new opportunities and spend and grow in new ways if you choose to. You just have to be open to this and never say I'm too old, I'm too tired, i don't have enough money, I can't do this, blah blah blah. Sure you can't, or you can at least try. If you try and it doesn't work out, then move on to something else. Wash your hands and move on, which leads me to my final point.
Maybe it's ted, maybe it's love, and maybe it's twelve I've lost count. It's this. Saving for the future is important so you have long term security, as in long term financial security and human security. People you know you can trust on to be there for you when you really need them. That's saving. But spending on what really matters is also important. Spending time doing things you love, going out and doing things, and not denying
yourself. If you only have ten to fifteen more years of your life, why are you denying yourself things that bring you joy? What are you saving for You've already you know, So spend on the things that really matter and bring you joy. And if you want to take that special trip because you only live once, just do it. Just do it. Don't just say oh, I'll wait a couple more years, because that's a couple more years may not happen, that opportunity may not pass its way again. You need
to seize opportunities. I'm a big opportunist. You know. Some people see the glasses half full, others see it half empty. I drink the glass. That's called opportunist. You drink the glass and just do it because you never want to say, with regret, if only I had done this, said this, tried this, experienced this. You never want the words if only I wish I had, I should have would have cout a I wish I had if only you never want to say those. Regret is the worst.
You know, guilt is bad, Regret is equally bad. You never want to feel guilty, but you never want to feel regretful that something happened and you didn't seize the opportunity to take advantage, and it could have been. I never I regret not having a great conversation with my mom. I regret not seeing my friend before they were walking. You know killed. You know people, people live and die at all ages, and you know you just want to live with no regrets. So I leave you in this episode
with two poems versus. They're not poems and versus. The first is from the great poet John Greenleaf Wittier. The saddest words of all said, words of tongue and pen. The saddest are these. It might have been. Let's add this thought and to this verse it might have been a great deal worse. I love that, But now I add my own verse by Fearless Fabulous Melanie Young and maybe I'll become a poet after this. Live for today with no regret, be prepared for challenges you have not met. Life is
never one way set. Your future can always be even better yet, so live a life full and with no regret. And with that I leave you to ponder what you're going to do today that's going to make your day awesome, and what you're gonna do and say to someone to make their day awesome. Beau's not only about making you feel good, but making people around you feel good. Live a full life with no regret, and remember this, You can choose life to live on your terms. If you choose, don't
let people choose your life for you. Stand firm, stand for what you believe in, and remain the fearless fabulous you you deserve to be at any age and any stage of your life. I'm Melanie Young. Please follow me at Melanie Fabulous on Instagram and Fearless Fabulous Melanie on Facebook, Twitter, I'm Mighty Melanie and visit me at Melanie youong dot com and take time to listen to my other show, The Connected Table, which I host with my husband
David ransom. It's all about eating and drinking my passion. Thank you for joining me and have a fabulous day.