Is that It?

What a famous Hawaiian road can teach us about money, retirement, and the things we miss along the way.

My family loves Hawaii. We’ve been sixteen times, and we still find something we missed before.

Years ago, I heard a story about the Road to Hana on Maui. I’ve never forgotten it.

The Road to Hana winds through more than 600 curves, past waterfalls, lush forests, and coastal views. With stops along the way, the trip to Hana and back can take most of a day.

And then you arrive in Hana: a small, quiet town that can seem surprisingly ordinary after such an extraordinary journey.

According to the story, a woman made the entire drive, more interested in reaching Hana than enjoying the journey. When she finally arrived, she looked around, disappointed, and asked a simple question:

“Is that it?”

I’ve always found that both funny and a little revealing.

She was so focused on reaching Hana that she missed what made the trip special in the first place.

After more than 20 years helping people plan for their financial futures, I’ve seen how easily we can focus on where we’re going instead of what we’re experiencing along the way.

We spend decades working, saving, investing, and preparing for some future destination. We set financial goals, calculate how much we’ll need, and make sacrifices along the way.

All sensible things to do.

But somewhere along the way, we can begin treating retirement as the point when life finally starts.

We’ll travel when we retire. Spend more time with family when work slows down. Pursue interests we’ve been putting off when we finally have enough money.

The problem is that there’s always another reason to wait. Goalposts move. Another expense. Another year of work that might make us feel a little more secure.

And some opportunities don’t wait.

Our children won’t be this age again. Our parents won’t always be around. And the things we’re physically capable of doing today may not be possible twenty years from now.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t save or plan carefully. Financial independence can provide extraordinary freedom and security.

But the point of accumulating money isn’t simply to accumulate more money. It’s to make possible the things we value.

And if we haven’t thought carefully about what those things are, achieving our financial goals may not be nearly as satisfying as we imagined.

So What?

A good financial plan shouldn’t simply be about reaching a number. It should help us decide what matters enough to save for, and what matters enough not to postpone.

Sometimes the right decision is to save more. Sometimes it’s to spend a little. And sometimes it’s recognizing that we don’t need to wait to enjoy the most important things in life.

Here’s a simple exercise. Write down three things you’re saving for “someday.” Then ask which ones truly require more money, and which just require a decision.

It would be a shame to spend your entire life trying to get to Hana only to realize you missed the waterfalls along the way.

For educational purposes only; not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice.