Episode 94

PURPOSEFUL RETIREMENT With Milan Schwarzkopf

Episode Summary – SHORT TERM SACRAFICE PROVIDES LONG TERM BENEFITS – START PLANNING YOUR THIRD ACT TODAY! In Episode ## of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled “PURPOSEFUL RETIREMEN” – I am joined by Milan Schwarzkopf all the way from Prague. He is the # 1 Purposeful Retirement Expert, teaching and coaching how to best plan and live purpose driven retirement. We jump in to focus on key aspects of the Third Act – Finance, health, relationships and higher purpose. Milan shares the pitfalls of not doing this planning and how his book, programs and courses take the fear away from creating your best third act of life. Come listen, download, share and review this important and informative show.

Mentioned Resources 

About the guest – MSc. Milan Schwarzkopf, Ph.D., MBA, spent his working years as a Senior Project Manager on complex global projects. Milan has learned the secret to having an exciting and meaningful retirement is more than just financial security, but also relationships, health, and a new life purpose. He redesigned his own life to reflect the ideal life of his retirement desires, his own Third Act. There was no comprehensive book on this topic, so Milan created this one, based both on extensive study and his own experience. As Purposeful Retirement Expert, he teaches how to best prepare and live through retirement. Finance, health, relationships, life’s purpose.

About the Host:

Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.

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Transcript
Howard Brown:

Hello, it's Howard Brown. It's the Shining Brightly

Howard Brown:

Show. Oh my goodness. We've got an unbelievable worldwide guests

Howard Brown:

from Prague. Milan. Schwarzkopf, welcome. How are you?

Milan Schwarzkopf:

I'm fine. Thank you for inviting me. It's

Milan Schwarzkopf:

my pleasure to be here

Howard Brown:

loves you halfway around the world for me. But

Howard Brown:

we're, I'm in Michigan, USA, we've got Prague, this is this

Howard Brown:

is the beauty of zoom and the beauty of meeting people all

Howard Brown:

over the world that are shining brightly in their own way. And

Howard Brown:

so let me tell you about Milan, oh, my God, he's lived an

Howard Brown:

incredible life. And his job is to lift people up, as they plan

Howard Brown:

earlier for retirement. And it's called the third act. And so I

Howard Brown:

found we met in a breakout room and I just found it so

Howard Brown:

interesting. I wanted to have him on the show. So he can kind

Howard Brown:

of you know, motivate, educate and inspire others as well. And

Howard Brown:

so he's got a bestseller called purpose, purpose, purposeful

Howard Brown:

retirement. And are that's the name of the show, but he's

Howard Brown:

living your best third act, how to be healthy, wealthy and happy

Howard Brown:

in retirement. Don't make the mistakes that most people do. So

Howard Brown:

we'll talk about the book a little bit later, though. So

Howard Brown:

Milan Schwarzkopf is the number one purposeful retirement

Howard Brown:

expert, teacher and coach, and he will help you arrange and

Howard Brown:

plan and live through retirement. He focuses on

Howard Brown:

multiple areas of your life. So the finance part now health part

Howard Brown:

relationships, and something that's really important, a life

Howard Brown:

purpose, life purpose part, we're going to dig in deep deep

Howard Brown:

into that. He teaches people to retire with no fear. That's a

Howard Brown:

big one, right? Because people are like, Oh, my God, you know,

Howard Brown:

I stopped working, what are the next right, and how they can

Howard Brown:

transition into the third act. And then if you are thinking

Howard Brown:

about retirement, and you should be earlier, planned for it, and

Howard Brown:

you can need help, and he's the guy to do it for you. So Milan,

Howard Brown:

thank you so much for being here. And also, share with me a

Howard Brown:

little, you know, something that we may not know about, you

Milan Schwarzkopf:

know, I am trying to walk the talk, I am

Milan Schwarzkopf:

really retired already. I am living my healthy, wealthy,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

happy and purposeful retirement. For instance, I have fulfilled

Milan Schwarzkopf:

my long term dream. I was traveling to Patagonia, Chile

Milan Schwarzkopf:

and Argentina last year for five weeks. It was really, really

Milan Schwarzkopf:

beautiful. Really nice. I could recommend this.

Howard Brown:

To you traveled to Argentina, Chile

Milan Schwarzkopf:

and Argentina, Patagonia,

Howard Brown:

and you love the people and I bet you love the

Howard Brown:

beef. I heard the beef in Argentina is incredible. Yes,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

it is. But I was mostly traveling to see the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

beautiful nature landscape.

Howard Brown:

Well, I certainly appreciate that. Give us a

Howard Brown:

little background. Tell Tell us more about you and who you are

Howard Brown:

and what your life's been like.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

You know, I have worked for decades as a

Milan Schwarzkopf:

project manager, both employee and freelancer, leading large,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

complex, international and global IT projects,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

responsibility for huge budgets. And large number of people led

Milan Schwarzkopf:

me to not sleeping well at night, and being overstressed in

Milan Schwarzkopf:

later years. I asked myself, Why am I doing this? How long can I

Milan Schwarzkopf:

extend this? How long do I want to withstand this? Is this job

Milan Schwarzkopf:

still providing me meaning? My why, as it did many years

Milan Schwarzkopf:

before? What will happen if my health deteriorates? Will I be

Milan Schwarzkopf:

able to live decently from the state pension? For many years, I

Milan Schwarzkopf:

suspected this stressful work, and the reliance on the state on

Milan Schwarzkopf:

our Social Security pension would not provide me with enough

Milan Schwarzkopf:

security for a decent retirement. Also, I knew if I

Milan Schwarzkopf:

did not prepare in advance my house relationships, lifestyle

Milan Schwarzkopf:

and fulfillment would deteriorate over time and to For

Milan Schwarzkopf:

these reasons, I have been purposefully preparing myself

Milan Schwarzkopf:

for decades for retirement which I am recently in. I have both

Milan Schwarzkopf:

seen many people struggle in retirement and help my house in

Milan Schwarzkopf:

relationships and life purpose is used. I decided to study what

Milan Schwarzkopf:

was available on this topic. And spend two years reading and

Milan Schwarzkopf:

understanding related books, articles and other literature,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

consulted with experts from various professions, watched

Milan Schwarzkopf:

webinars and trainings of work offers and data tasks I have set

Milan Schwarzkopf:

for myself. I realize all aspects of our life are

Milan Schwarzkopf:

interconnected. Everything affects anything When I finished

Milan Schwarzkopf:

my plan, I had direction and satisfaction in this new way of

Milan Schwarzkopf:

thinking, then I started to think others should be preparing

Milan Schwarzkopf:

for retirement too. I have not found any other comprehensive

Milan Schwarzkopf:

book on this topic. So I decided to write one, I have compiled my

Milan Schwarzkopf:

more than 20 years of knowledge into this book, I basically took

Milan Schwarzkopf:

the best and leave the rest. So you don't have to do all that

Milan Schwarzkopf:

research. Using my guidance, you can have a roadmap to help you

Milan Schwarzkopf:

on your own journey. It will be simpler and easier for you to

Milan Schwarzkopf:

get there than it was for me, you will need some work less

Milan Schwarzkopf:

effort and can avoid the occurrence. Much of the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

information in my book is based on my personal journey.

Howard Brown:

It's you know, so you are the proof case, I love

Howard Brown:

it that you actually use yourself as an example to plan

Howard Brown:

and now you're sharing that with others. And that's part of

Howard Brown:

shining brightly to lift up others. It's really great. So

Howard Brown:

let's dig right in and say how would you define this third act

Howard Brown:

of life? What's your definition for that Milan

Milan Schwarzkopf:

you know, we have all lift our first act of

Milan Schwarzkopf:

life, which like in the first act of drama, most when we were

Milan Schwarzkopf:

developing as human beings starting to know who we are

Milan Schwarzkopf:

actually going up studying, improving our qualifications and

Milan Schwarzkopf:

preparing for our second act of life. In which we expanded our

Milan Schwarzkopf:

knowledge and expertise, working, possibly changing our

Milan Schwarzkopf:

roles. Ideally, achieving the mastery level making money to be

Milan Schwarzkopf:

able to support our family, building a house or anything get

Milan Schwarzkopf:

flat, buying a car or and preparing resources for

Milan Schwarzkopf:

retirement. One day we will retire and we will not work

Milan Schwarzkopf:

anymore, unless we want to, we will actually change our life

Milan Schwarzkopf:

roles. We will live from savings and investments, pension, Social

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Security or company plans. But there is more to retirement than

Milan Schwarzkopf:

just the financial part. That's why I use the term third act of

Milan Schwarzkopf:

life. It needs a holistic view, including house relationships,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

lifestyle, new life, meaning not based on work or or profession,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

which originally has provided us purpose, community structure

Milan Schwarzkopf:

challenges, accomplishment and satisfaction. And we will need

Milan Schwarzkopf:

contribution to the world and happiness. No for the first time

Milan Schwarzkopf:

in history is a third act of life is as long as our first act

Milan Schwarzkopf:

20 to 30 years. If you are also even more and still kneeling,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

nobody is preparing for this. If you are not preparing, it might

Milan Schwarzkopf:

easily become a tragedy. I don't want that for you. I want it to

Milan Schwarzkopf:

be a joy for you with a long duration. Imagine you will have

Milan Schwarzkopf:

saved 10 to 14 hours a day for yourself. How will you use your

Milan Schwarzkopf:

time, energy and resources you will be able to improve your

Milan Schwarzkopf:

house or the relationships which may have deteriorated during

Milan Schwarzkopf:

your second act. Actually, this surf extra fly may be the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

happiest part of your life if you prefer prepare properly. And

Milan Schwarzkopf:

if you really ever connect, so

Howard Brown:

tell me I appreciate that. So tell me what

Howard Brown:

are the pitfalls? What are some of the mistakes that people are

Howard Brown:

making right now that aren't preparing for the third act.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

As I said the you can expect to live 20 30 or

Milan Schwarzkopf:

40 years longer than expected. The average life expectancy in

Milan Schwarzkopf:

the century will increase by 10 to 20 years. The aging

Milan Schwarzkopf:

population is dramatically increasing. For instance, in the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

US by 2030 20% of US population will be outdoors and 65 years

Milan Schwarzkopf:

and nearly nobody is preparing for this longer retirement time.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

In my view. This is a pitfall number one. Pitfall number two

Milan Schwarzkopf:

is thinking that retirement preparation is just about money.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Number three, transition to retirement there'll be very

Milan Schwarzkopf:

pleasant. People think I will have not to work, deal with my

Milan Schwarzkopf:

boss wake up early or have any stress. I will have time for my

Milan Schwarzkopf:

hobbies, travel garden and children. People saying Why

Milan Schwarzkopf:

should I worry about that now? Pitfall number four, thinking

Milan Schwarzkopf:

that planning for retirement is difficult. Number five under

Milan Schwarzkopf:

estimating How differences in approach increase over time. So

Milan Schwarzkopf:

small changes in preparation you do now will accumulate two big

Milan Schwarzkopf:

changes and much better preparation in the future.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Number six, not building social contacts outside of work, and

Milan Schwarzkopf:

possibly number seven, having work as main part, all of that identity.

Howard Brown:

Well, that's the early warning system right now,

Howard Brown:

because we are going to be living longer. And we want to

Howard Brown:

make that as enjoyable as possible. And those do take

Howard Brown:

financial resources. And so I read excerpts of your book, and

Howard Brown:

you recommend to start earlier, and not to ignore that. And I

Howard Brown:

think that's just very sage advice. And tell me about this

Howard Brown:

other part, not the financial part, but really the purpose

Howard Brown:

driven part of the third act and retirement.

Howard Brown:

So while you're while you're looking at your notes, I will

Howard Brown:

tell you that most people think it's just, I can go on vacation,

Howard Brown:

I can, I can go to the theater, and I can go exercise and you

Howard Brown:

know, that it's just, you know, complete freedom. And it's not

Howard Brown:

necessarily it comes with rules it comes with, you have to have

Howard Brown:

higher aspirations. So tell me about the purpose driven part of

Howard Brown:

the third act.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

You know, the more people had their purpose

Milan Schwarzkopf:

based on their work, the harder the transition to the retirement

Milan Schwarzkopf:

will be, there is no general prescription of how to find the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

purpose, I see that many people discover their purpose in

Milan Schwarzkopf:

retirement in starting helping others it was my case as well.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

That's why I have written this book, I am preparing the course

Milan Schwarzkopf:

and I am coaching people on this topic as well. I have many

Milan Schwarzkopf:

homework, many checklists, many questions in my book devoted to

Milan Schwarzkopf:

purpose. But the real purpose for retirement is up to anyone

Milan Schwarzkopf:

to discover and think about, it's never too late to start

Milan Schwarzkopf:

this transformation, it can be done before retirement or during

Milan Schwarzkopf:

the retirement.

Howard Brown:

I will tell you this, that you know, from my

Howard Brown:

book, that I will tell you that you're right, it is about

Howard Brown:

finding on helping others and lifting them up. And so finding

Howard Brown:

a charity cause finding something that you care about

Howard Brown:

and want to get more involved in and want to support with

Howard Brown:

volunteer time and dollars. And very simply, you can choose to

Howard Brown:

be kind, choose to be giving choose to be choose gratitude.

Howard Brown:

And this is really what it's being so you know, me being 58

Howard Brown:

and getting close to the, you know, the magic number of 60.

Howard Brown:

You know, I choose to you know, being a cancer survivor, I

Howard Brown:

choose to help raise money and spread awareness on cancer,

Howard Brown:

there's so many good causes out there that you can find one that

Howard Brown:

meets your needs and brings joy to your life. So I'm in complete

Howard Brown:

agreement with that. And so, yeah,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

I fully agree and it is I would add to that it

Milan Schwarzkopf:

is best done, not for yourself. But this is an external help.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

You can read a book, you can hire a coach, you can discuss

Milan Schwarzkopf:

this with somebody. You should also include all four pillars

Milan Schwarzkopf:

you should include including your relationships, including

Milan Schwarzkopf:

improving your health. And most probably, you will have to build

Milan Schwarzkopf:

new life routines to keep you on the new track.

Howard Brown:

I agree. So the question after you know people

Howard Brown:

listening and watching this show are going to say, Milan, how do

Howard Brown:

I get started? Where do I start? It seems overwhelming. How do I

Howard Brown:

get started? And so what would you advise for people to get

Howard Brown:

started?

Milan Schwarzkopf:

I would say first of all, realize the

Milan Schwarzkopf:

importance of this topic. Start immediately. Don't say I have

Milan Schwarzkopf:

time enough. Start even with small steps. Have or build your

Milan Schwarzkopf:

vision. Keep discipline and consistency, you should be also

Milan Schwarzkopf:

prepared for some short term sacrifices for long term

Milan Schwarzkopf:

benefits. You should learn how to avoid comfort zone trap, or

Milan Schwarzkopf:

learned helplessness, that is fear of any loss, you should

Milan Schwarzkopf:

avoid choosing the path of least resistance. It's time to act,

Milan Schwarzkopf:

it's never too late to learn.

Howard Brown:

I love that they that your statement about the

Howard Brown:

short term sacrifice for the long term benefits is, is really

Howard Brown:

good thinking it's it's quite important to do that, and you

Howard Brown:

can't start today. So one of the ways is to, you know, take your

Howard Brown:

life's work, which is your book, which is going to help people so

Howard Brown:

that that's the first step that I think someone could take as

Howard Brown:

well as to actually get your book as well. So it's a short

Howard Brown:

show. So I'd like you to put on your sunglasses, Milan, because

Howard Brown:

we're going to actually do something called the shining

Howard Brown:

brightly spotlight. And we're shining our light on each other

Howard Brown:

and the world to think about the third act. And so I would love

Howard Brown:

people to tell people how you can get a hold of you, you have

Howard Brown:

a giveaway, and then share some inspiration with me to close out

Howard Brown:

the show.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

I will share with you my web page. Third act

Milan Schwarzkopf:

resources.com. There are there is some quiz, podcasts

Milan Schwarzkopf:

recordings, overview of some toxic panic beliefs and so on. I

Milan Schwarzkopf:

will share a special freebie 10 simple habits to live longer and

Milan Schwarzkopf:

better. I will share my book link, my link get in contact my

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Facebook group and my introductory video. If you buy

Milan Schwarzkopf:

the book, you will get an access to another web page which is

Milan Schwarzkopf:

full of templates, freebies, handouts, checklists,

Howard Brown:

and so on. Lots of great resources, I appreciate

Howard Brown:

that. So share with me a quote or story some inspiration to

Howard Brown:

conclude the show.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

I would use a quote from Michael Kenny, those

Milan Schwarzkopf:

who do not think about the future cannot have one.

Howard Brown:

That's powerful, right? So we've got to even

Howard Brown:

though we're not sure of it, we've got to plan for it. And

Howard Brown:

and you lay out the steps how to do that. So really important

Howard Brown:

topic. This is just a tease to share with you, your experience

Howard Brown:

your coaching, and your book. So thank you for that. Let's let's

Howard Brown:

start thinking about the future today. So thank you for for

Howard Brown:

sharing that inspiration with us though. This has been the

Howard Brown:

shining brightly show. I'm Howard Brown, you can reach me

Howard Brown:

at shining brightly.com. And my book is up there. If you want me

Howard Brown:

to come in and speak at an event or a fundraiser or, you know,

Howard Brown:

facilitate a panel please let me know. Also the this podcast

Howard Brown:

there's feeds there as well. And we're reaching a lot of people

Howard Brown:

throughout the world and trying to share a little light and

Howard Brown:

inspire people there. And then also my advocacy which is very

Howard Brown:

important to me, which is helping others in the world of

Howard Brown:

cancer. Babson College and entrepreneurship and the

Howard Brown:

interfaith world, we need a lot of work there, done for that. So

Howard Brown:

just remember that if we choose to shine brightly, a little bit

Howard Brown:

each day for ourselves, and then go lift up others, the world

Howard Brown:

will become a better place. Milan is a pleasure. Thank you.

Howard Brown:

You're doing such important work, and all the way from

Howard Brown:

Prague. Really, thank you for being a great guest on my show

Howard Brown:

today.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Thank you. It was my pleasure. And thank you

Milan Schwarzkopf:

again. Absolutely.

Howard Brown:

And all that information will be in the show

Howard Brown:

notes and beyond public when I released the episode on LinkedIn

Howard Brown:

and Facebook and Instagram. And I'll give a quick shout out to

Howard Brown:

the people that make me look great every day, my publishing

Howard Brown:

house friend and publishing, read the spirit.com that comes

Howard Brown:

out every Monday and my podcast team that makes me look good

Howard Brown:

from amplify you. And then also the diamond moments magazine

Howard Brown:

that I've been featured on the cover in the month of May. So

Howard Brown:

with that keep shining always Milan and thank you what a great

Howard Brown:

show. Bye bye.

Milan Schwarzkopf:

Thank you

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