What Makes for a Happy Retirement?

Greetings all,

As financial planners, we at Bona Fide Finance spend a lot of time working with people to get them to retirement. We analyze current cash flows, we project future income, we optimize tax strategies, and do a myriad of other things chiefly centered around making sure you arrive at retirement with enough resources (aka, money) to get you through your retirement years without worrying about outliving your bank accounts. Something that can get lost in this focus on the arithmetic of retirement is the question of what makes a ‘good’ retirement. We believe it is equally important to focus not only on getting you to retirement with an appropriate nest egg, but also to help you realize what is going to make you happy in the retirement you’ve worked so hard to create.

Watch – 
If you haven’t noticed, we are big fans of a good TED talk and that’s where we lead off here. Watch Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the world’s longest studies of adult life, address the topic, “What makes a good life?”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, creating a happy and well-lived life isn’t just about the amount of money you have (although it certainly doesn’t hurt), but more so about the amount and quality of relationships you have and how fulfilled you feel in your personal life. In his talk, Robert shares, “shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.” We hope you’ll enjoy this as much as we did. 

Read – 
If you enjoyed the above TED talk, you’ll surely want to read more in this article from the Harvard Gazette, “Good Genes Are Nice, But Joy is Better”. The article is full of wisdom such as, “The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80”, so if you feel like you’ve neglected some of your personal relationships in pursuit of your professional success, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities. Let’s say you are blessed with financial stability, great relationships, and long life, what then? There is a growing movement in financial planning toward taking care of the people who are spending more and more time in their retirement years. This increase in longevity requires special skills. This is an area we are acutely attuned to and Ben recently attained his RICP® (Retirement Income Certified Professional) which focuses on longevity planning among other topics. If you’ve got questions about how to prepare for your later years, we can help you.

Listen – 
In what appears to be one of our best finds in recent history, check out the Lifespan Podcast with David Sinclair, professor at Harvard Medical School. This podcast started just in December of 2021 and from what we’ve watched is of exceptional quality. With high production values, tons of good information, and a host that is extremely easy to listen to, this is one of the most engaging sources of information on the science of aging that we’ve found. If you are interested in living a healthier, happier, and longer life, then this is a great resource. 

Thank you so much for spending your time reading our newsletter. We hope you’ve found some value here. Please reach out if you have any questions or comments. Share this with your friends and family and let us know if you have any topics you’d like us to cover. Have a great month and we’ll see you next time!

Best wishes, 
The Bona Fide Family

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Bonnie Martinek

Administrative Assistant
Bonnie (Ben’s mom!) is a mother of 9 and a grandmother of 17. She has lived in rural Indiana her whole life and has a master’s degree in Special Education. In her own words, she’s done a little bit of everything but is a master of none (teaching, construction, manager of a corn maze, CNA, farm work, cashier, auto bodywork, and the list goes on!). Widowed in 2019, she is reinventing herself through her work in the day-to-day operations of Bona Fide Finance and client relations. Bonnie loves getting to know our clients and is happy to serve them well!

Deb Martinek

Relationships Specialist

Deb has been with Bona Fide Finance since its inception in 2015 and long before that with her support of Ben studying for the CFP designation and the dream of starting the business of helping individuals and families meet their financial goals.

She fills the Relationships Specialist role – Deb is typically the first encounter our new clients have as she walks them through our service offerings and introduces them to the map of financial literacy.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and a master’s degree from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Deb lives in Bismarck with Ben and their two young daughters, is a card-carrying member of the CDL club (read more about those adventures here) and is happiest reading an epic novel, solving a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, or working in her kitchen where she can serve love to the people in her life through quality food (clients enjoy her holiday shipment of homemade goodies each December!).

Ben Martinek

CFP®, EA, CSLP®, RICP®, Founder and Advisor

Ben Martinek, CFP®, EA, CSLP®, RICP®, is the founder and lead advisor at Bona Fide Finance, an independent, fee-only firm dedicated to helping doctors, young professionals, and growing families take control of their financial future. With a deep understanding of student loan debt—having tackled his own—Ben specializes in guiding clients through debt repayment strategies, smart investing, and comprehensive financial planning so they can build wealth with confidence. Ben’s passion for financial planning comes from his desire to provide honest, objective advice tailored to each client’s unique situation. He loves seeing the impact of his work, whether it’s helping a family pay off student loans years ahead of schedule, setting up an early retiree for financial freedom, or giving clients the peace that comes from knowing their finances are in order. His clients appreciate his thoughtful, high-touch approach, often saying that working with him has changed their lives.

Before launching Bona Fide Finance in 2015, Ben’s career path was anything but conventional. The fourth of nine children, he grew up in rural Indiana and initially pursued a path in academia, earning a B.A. in philosophy and classical languages, followed by a master’s degree in philosophy. Along the way, he explored careers in construction and truck driving—logging over 600,000 miles across the U.S. with his wife, Deb—before finding his true calling in financial planning.

Now based in Bismarck, North Dakota, Ben and Deb stay busy raising their two daughters, Edith and Virginia. Since their truck-driving days, Ben is happiest on a long road trip—preferably behind the wheel of his TDI Volkswagen Jetta. He enjoys sailing on Lake Sakakawea, camping in their vintage ’90s pop-up camper, and smoking a pipe by the grill. A lover of strategy board games, he favors Clans of Caledonia (mostly because Deb refuses to play Risk with him). When he’s not working with clients, he can be found smoking meat, gardening, hiking, or diving into The Lord of the Rings or Dune. Ben also serves on the school board for his daughters’ Montessori school and is actively involved in pre-marriage ministry in the Bismarck Diocese.