I recently had the good fortune to read the book 20,000 Days and Counting by Robert Smith. I tend to read a lot of books and even though we are only a few weeks into 2013 this book has been my favorite read so far. The book is a short read. You can finish it in one setting, but it is full of great insight.

I recently met with a gentleman who was 65 years old and ready to retire. Did you know that if you live to age 65, then you have lived 23,725 days? The average life expectancy for a man age 65 is approximately age 82. If he is fortunate to live to life expectancy, then he has 6,205 days to live.

I asked this gentleman how he envisioned his retirement? How would he like to live out the final 6,205 days of his life. What is most important to him? As he sat back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling, he shared how he wanted to travel more, enjoy time with his wife, spend more time volunteering with his church, connecting with people who were important to him and he wanted to be more involved with his grandchildren.

Like so many people I never once heard him say, “Jason, I cant wait to spend my retirement years sitting in front of my computer managing my investments”. 

One of the things I’ve learned over the years and was reminded of when I read Robert Smith’s book is often times the people who hire us do so, not because we can manage their investments better than they can, but rather they hire us because they don’t want to waste their time on an activity that isn’t their absolute best use of their most precious asset, their time.