IN’s Pavia: Science proves it — happiness begins at 50

I have some wonderful news for financial advisers who are dealing with anxious, stressed-out clients.
Apparently, once clients turn 50, they become happier, less stressed and more optimistic, according to the findings of a new research study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The discovery that 50 is the age when happiness begins is great news for advisers who are dealing with difficult 49-year-olds.
The next time such a client freaks out over the market, demands that you cash him out of all of his securities and otherwise goes ballistic, simply take a breath. Look the client straight in the eye and assure him that if he can hold off doing anything until his birthday, scientists have proved that the market won’t bother him any longer.
As many of your 50-plus clients may not have read the study and aren’t aware that they have crossed the anxiety barrier, it is your job as their trusted adviser to enlighten them.
Feel confident to inform them that if they now find themselves more relaxed and less stressed they aren’t falling apart — they are fulfilling their biological destiny. They will love you for sharing this information.
Here is something else from the study that they will find delightful: Young adults experience more negative emotions — with greater frequency — than 50-somethings.
Doesn’t that just warm your heart?
The study found that immediate hedonic measures such as happiness, enjoyment, stress, worry, anger and sadness all change with age but show very different patterns.
For example, anger steadily decreases from young adulthood through old age. Worry and stress are fairly constant until 50, when they drop sharply.
Another finding that I really enjoyed: People’s overall satisfaction with their lives show a U-shaped pattern, dipping down until about 50 before trending upward again.
So here is the plan for advisers who are dealing with highly charged clients in their 40s.
First, don’t discuss retirement, underperforming assets or anything else that may rile them up. Second, always serve cookies when you meet with them to raise their blood sugar levels just enough to take the edge off.
Finally — and this is most important — schedule a comprehensive portfolio review and retirement-planning session for the month after they turn 50 (it is sort of like the 70½ rule for withdrawing money from an individual retirement account, only better).
That is the meeting at which you can have a meaningful discussion about their future and actually accomplish something purposeful.
I wanted to share these insights with you because I turned 50 in March and am now operating on a new, totally serene level. Better still, I don’t even remember what bothered me so much before March.
Actually, I no longer can remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, either, which may be another benefit of turning 50.
I ran the study past several of my 50-something friends, and they all corroborated its findings. They said they now cruise through the day in a Zen-like state of stress-free bliss.
Here is their list of the 10 best things about turning 50: You embrace your imperfections, you make jokes more often, you are less fearful, you have a reason for forgetting and losing things, you have an excuse for telling the same stories over and over again, you can be as grumpy as you wish, you get a letter from AARP every day, it is OK to take naps again, you stop caring what other people think, and you stop sweating the small stuff.
A buddy from my college days summed it all up: “We 50-somethings are happier and less stressed, because with age comes wisdom and emotional intelligence. We’re just smarter than younger people.”

Jim Pavia is the editor of InvestmentNews.