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Anyone wondering what the keys are to a successful, happy retirement needn’t look any further than Jimmy Carter. The former president — who is celebrating his 97th birthday on Friday — sets the perfect example for the rest of us.
Like lots of people, Carter was forced into early retirement, albeit in an unusual way: His re-election bid was crushed by Ronald Reagan in a 1980 landslide. But, rather than moping about it, he got right back to work, launching the Carter Center in 1982, a nonprofit organization with the mission of advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering. It was the beginning of a truly remarkable four-decade run of volunteering, working to eradicate disease, writing, preaching and serving.
It has been such a long stretch of achievement, in fact, that the first half of Carter’s life — when he was an engineering officer on a nuclear submarine, a peanut farmer and then governor of Georgia and the U.S.’s 39th president — seems like ancient history.
Below are some lessons we can take from Carter’s many years of “retirement.”
Lesson 1: Retirement is an opportunity to retool and give back
Retirements today can last for decades, offering us a wonderful opportunity to stay active and engaged in all sorts of ways. You and I won’t win a Nobel Peace Prize, as Carter did at age 81 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development,” but there’s nothing stopping us from volunteering at the local library, mentoring underprivileged children or helping to build homes with Habitat for Humanity — as Carter and his wife of 75 years, Rosalynn, did well into their 90s.
Lesson 2: Downsize (or never upsize in the first place)
Tens of millions of retirees worry about money. The Carters have no such concern, of course — he gets a presidential pension and earns royalties from the many books he has written. But they give tons of it away, and spend almost nothing on themselves. Since 1961 they have lived in the same small ranch house in Plains, Ga. — he built it himself — that’s valued, according to Zillow, at about $213,000. By contrast, the average house in the U.S. sold for $434,200 in the second quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve. Mar-a-Lago fit the bill for the Trumps and Martha’s Vineyard for the Obamas, but the Carters have always been content with their modest little castle in the woods.
Lesson 3: Live below your means
The Carters are known for enjoying potluck meals with neighbors, often eating off paper plates, and shopping at Dollar General, which is about a half-mile away. They’re obviously living not only within their means, but below them. This is a lesson unto itself. Studies show that acquiring things, and being materialistic, generally isn’t associated with long-term happiness. The Carters have always derived great pleasure from the company of family and friends.
Lesson 4: Keep your brain revved up
Carter has written some 30 books on a wide variety of topics. The challenge and discipline that’s involved with writing is one way he has remained sharp over the decades. Let me plug one I’ve been reading this year: “Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President,” which offers a daily lesson drawn from Carter’s deep well of Christian faith.
Becoming an author might not be your thing, but there are certainly any number of other activities you can engage in to stay sharp. I’ll bet when you were younger, you lamented the fact that you didn’t have much time for a special hobby or interest. What about now? And speaking of staying sharp—by far the best way to keep your brain in high gear is by getting more oxygenated blood to flow through it, and that comes with exercise.
Read: How exercise can help prevent dementia
Lesson 5: Reach out to others, stay humble
One wonderful example of Jimmy Carter the man was his habit, when he used to fly, of walking down the entire airplane aisle and shaking hands with fellow passengers. He always flew commercial, often with no one other than a Secret Service agent with him. Young people often had no idea who he was, but were thrilled to meet a former president. I’ve always thought that this modest and completely unnecessary gesture has always illustrated Carter’s insistence on civility and treating total strangers with decency and respect. I think that staying grounded like this correlates with health and happiness.
Lesson 6: Keep the faith
In addition to his books, Carter for many years taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains (he obviously hasn’t since the pandemic began). Anyone could go, and after being wanded by the Secret Service, passing through a metal detector and being sniffed by a guard dog, you would be treated to a wonderfully charming hourlong lesson on faith.
In one of his books, 2018’s “Faith,” Carter writes that “My faith has guided and sustained me, as well as how it has challenged and driven me to seek a closer and better relationship with people and with God.” This most famous of senior citizens has shown the rest of us that staying active and engaged, caring about others, living humbly and surrounding yourself with the love of God and family is perhaps the best way to ensure that your golden years will be—as his have been—rich and productive.
Read on: Planning for retirement is hard, but you can do it, one step at a time
