Day 59 -- Planning for the Future

How do you plan for the future when you don't know how long that will be?  I met w/ a financial consultant today regarding my retirement accounts.  When he asked me where I saw my future, I felt I had to tell him about the lymphoma.  He definitely wasn't expecting that to be part of my response.  He stumbled and fumbled a bit and then ultimately returned to his scripted ideas of imagining that today I'm 47 and tomorrow I'm 67 w/o most of the financial obligations I have today.  I told him I just want to make sure my daughters are provided for, and then I joined in on his back to the future game.  I played along that I'll retire at age 67 and told him what I would like my income to be at that point.  It's really a strange position to be in to plan for retirement when you have cancer....to be looking so far into the future when I should be making the most of one day at a time.  I don't have a Bucket List, and aside from being more conscientious about diet, exercise, rest, and stress reduction, I haven't changed my daily activities.  I go to work.  I do laundry.  I cook and clean.  I enjoy my daughters and my friends and my family.  I walk the dog.  I go on hikes whenever possible.  One thing that has changed is not stressing about taking my daughters out for Mexican food in the middle of the week or getting a 30-minute massage.  But I think that has more to do w/ no longer having a husband who stresses about expenses than it does w/ having cancer.   I've known numerous people who make it to retirement and then die in some bizarre accident or of a massive heart attack.  I don't want to make it to retirement not having enjoyed the trip to get there.  It was easier to make changes to my retirement plan today once I looked at it, one year at a time, knowing that I can adjust the plan next year.  Planning for an uncertain future is easier if that future isn't so far down the road.

I should point out that the consultant said my financial future is right on track for me to retire at 67, but if I want to retire earlier, I need to start putting more into my retirement account now.  So, do I save the money now to spend when I'm 62, or do I live like I want now and screw those last five years?  I'm going w/ the latter.