The One Thing You Need for a Happy Retirement

So this week I was going to write about the Happiness U-Curve. This is a theory — popular in the last few years — that human happiness starts to decrease in early adulthood, bottoms out in our 40s, and begins to rise again in our 50s and beyond. My memory being what it is, I needed a refresher, so I did some research. And found <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/u-shaped-happiness-curve-age-mental-health" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">this</a> and <a href="https://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/2196.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">this</a>. The Guardian has a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/jun/24/life-happiness-curve-u-shaped-ageing" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">good explainer in plain language</a> that teases out some nuances, but still: not great. It seems that the curve is not a direct path to joy — if it exists at all. As the <a href="https://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/2196.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">researchers in Perspectives in Psychological Science</a> put it, “Given the body of evidence over recent years, we cannot conclude there is a universal U-shape in happiness. Furthermore, we are not the only researchers drawing this conclusion.” <a href="https://medium.com/crows-feet/how-to-be-happy-in-retirement-09c01b13d8b7">Website</a>