Congratulations to Nevin Adams as he begins his journey into retirement—or at least his version of it.
Success, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. So it’s hard to define financial independence. It might be golfing every day; it might be fishing and camping; it might even be sitting on the porch. I believe it’s the ability to live according to what is comfortable to me, with ultimate flexibility of my calendar. The freedom and peace of mind that comes with that “success” are hard to argue with.
Replacing one’s income while creating flexibility is not an easy task, nor is it achieved by accident. Methodical, disciplined savings and planning is the only way I know, apart from the lottery.
Our friend and guide Nevin Adams has reached that lofty goal and is planning his journey into retirement, or at least his version of it. We should all be happy, if not necessarily relieved, that he has the ability and freedom to pull this off. After all, he is our chief spokesperson and the voice of reason. If he can’t do it, how can we expect to help others achieve that success?
Now, I’m solidly on the side of keeping Nevin hard at work for at least another 20 years. But I understand his desire to begin to reap the rewards of a well-fought battle. From what I have gathered, he will slowly transition away from full-time toil and into a more flexible and comfortable, but ongoing, role, continuing to contribute to NAPA and all things media and conference support.
That brings me back to my own definition of financial independence—living according to what is comfortable to me with ultimate flexibility of my calendar. Congratulations on achieving that, Nevin! We are all proud of you and so grateful of your contributions to this industry. And we look forward to your reports on the next leg of your journey!
Read more commentary by Corby Dall here.
Speaking of success, we are really excited that we were successful in bringing John Sullivan into the NAPA family to succeed Nevin. John is a tremendous success in his own right, and brings a great array of talent and passion for this industry, not to mention a little younger outlook. (Sorry, Nevin—remember that I am your age, after all!)
I’m confident that the future is in good hands and thankful that we will have John and Nevin for the next little while to help shine a light on what is happening and what we should be doing to help American workers achieve their own version of a successful retirement.
Corby Dall is a senior vice president of OneDigital's Retirement + Wealth division specializing in retirement plan consulting. He is NAPA's 2022-2023 President. This column originally appeared in the Winter issue of NAPA Net the Magazine.
