India 
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Okinawa, an island located south of mainland Japan, is one of 5 places in the world that National Geographic explorer Dan Buettner calls a “blue zone,” where he says people live the longest, happiest lives. Others include Sardinia (Italy); Nicoya, (Costa Rica); Ikaria (Greece); and Loma Linda (California). Okinawa is also nicknamed the Village of Longevity where they follow the Japanese philosophy ‘ikigai’ which literally means ‘the purpose of your life’. The people in Okinava take great pride in living to 100 and beyond with fewer chronic illnesses. The question is how? They follow Ikigai and lead a simple life with few possessions, plenty of time outdoors, staying active with friends, getting enough sleep and eating light and healthy. To follow Ikigai, you need to ask questions like -What do you love? What are you good at? What motivates you? The answers will lead to your ikigai. Here are 5 habits that can help cultivate ikigai-1. Stay busy without hurrying. 2. Nurture connections with friends daily. 3. Keep moving your body. 4. Eat healthy food but in moderation. 5. Connect with nature every day.
Whether it is through Ikigai or through advancement of medical technology, we are likely to live longer than our elders, for which we would need enough money to sustain our livelihood and beat inflation. If your expenses are Rs.1 lakh per month (Rs.12 lakh pa) when you retire at 60, they are likely to double to Rs.2 lakh by age 75, go up 3 times by age 85 and 4 times to over Rs.4 lakh (Rs.48 lakh pa) by age 90 (inflation rate of 5%). Imagine all this happening when you don’t have an active income. Hence it is important to save and invest in your 35-40 years of working life to lead a peaceful retired life!!
About the author
Satish Prabhu is an avid blogger and has written close to 300 blogs on the basics of investing. He prefers the short story-telling format for his blogs and writes motivational life stories which are then weaved to give a message on investing. While content writing is his forte, financial literacy initiatives are close to his heart. He feels that investors can create wealth not by investing more money but by improving their behaviour with money. His stories give the message of patience, perseverance and resilience, the keys behavioral traits to be imbibed by investors. He is greatly inspired by the book ‘Psychology of Money’ by Morgan Housel. You can read all his blogs on his LinkedIn page.
On the professional front, Satish is the Vice President & Head of Content & Direct Customer Engagement at Franklin Templeton (FT) Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd since December 2013. Prior to FT, he worked for 8 years with CRISIL Ltd. (a Standard and Poor’s Company) and for over 7 years with the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL).
He speaks at various investor education forums, conducts knowledge sharing sessions, webinars, podcasts for investors, advisors, relationship managers, corporates, among others.
