Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast

Retirement: Who Am I Without My Work? with Chris Maduri

Chris Maduri · October 5, 2026

Finance · Life Coach · Wellnessin

Interview with Chris Maduri

Retirement: Who Am I Without My Work? with Chris Maduri

Podcast: Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast

October 5, 2026 · 37 min

Listen to Chris Maduri on Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast.

Listen

Retirement: Who Am I Without My Work? with Chris Maduri

0:00 / --:--

Mid-life Men: the mental health podcast

GO TO APPLE PODCASTS →

Key topicsWould You Live Differently If Your Family Depended on You?Most people would say they'd do anything for their family. But Chris challenges listeners to consider a harder question: are you actually living in a way that protects them? That means looking at health, longevity, financial decisions and the choices we make today that could affect our families decades from now. We all say we'd die for our families. But would we change how we live for them? Chris connects the emotional idea of family responsibility with practical financial and lifestyle decisions. His perspective is that protecting your family isn't only about what happens after you're gone - it's also about taking care of yourself while you're here.What If You Live to 100?Chris Maduri asks the retirement question most plans quietly skip: what if the money has to last to 100, and what will those extra years actually feel like? He describes retirement as the fourth quarter of life, with a little overtime if it goes well, and argues that longevity is now the real risk to plan for. He explains why energy and awareness end up mattering more than perfect plans as people age, and why spending early on health, movement and connection is part of the financial plan, not a distraction from it. Listeners come away with a way to plan for a longer life that is well funded and genuinely worth living, whatever age they are starting from.Nothing Coming In — The Fear That Arrives With the First Retirement WithdrawalChris Maduri has spent nearly two decades walking people from earning money to living off it, and he finds the anxiety starts with the first withdrawal, long before markets do anything. Most preparation treats retirement as a maths problem, when the harder change is that after 30 years of watching a balance grow, people now have to watch it fall on purpose. He explains how that feeling drives real decisions, from cutting spending they could comfortably afford to reaching for returns they do not need. Across 15 years and work with about 70 insurance companies, he has seen which plans hold up once people start drawing on them and which only ever worked on paper. Listeners leave able to name what is actually making them uneasy, and knowing which decisions to make before the feeling makes them.View all topics →

About Chris Maduri

Retirement & Life Transitions Expert

Nearly 20 years Helping people prepare for retirement4 Pillars of sustainable retirement planning3 Buckets in his wealth-building approachSales Director Named by Financial Marketing Group in 2013

Chris Maduri has spent nearly two decades helping people prepare for more than retirement - he helps them prepare for the life that comes after work.

Because retirement isn't simply the day the pay cheque stops.

It can change your identity, your marriage, your relationship with your time, your health, your family and your sense of purpose. And Chris believes that's the part of retirement planning most people don't talk about.

Chris began his career just before the 2008 Financial Crisis, an experience that fundamentally shaped how he thinks about risk. Watching carefully constructed plans come under pressure taught him that assumptions can fail - and that a retirement plan needs to work in the real world, not just on paper.

But after nearly two decades in the industry, Chris has come to see that financial preparation is only one part of the equation.

The bigger question is: What are you actually retiring to?

Chris describes retirement as the "fourth quarter of life" - and, if you've done things right, a little overtime.His work explores what it takes to make that chapter meaningful: having financial confidence, maintaining your health, protecting the people you love, staying connected to a sense of purpose and knowing how you want to spend the years you've worked so hard to create.

Featured onApple Featured onSpotify Featured onYouTube

View profile →

About this episode

You might know when you want to retire. But what do you want your life to look like when you do?

Long mornings, no commute, nobody telling you what to do. It sounds appealing. Yet work gives us more than we sometimes realise: people to talk to, a reason to get up, a sense of achievement and an answer to the question, “What do you do?”

So what happens when all that changes?

Chris Madurijoins me to explore the side of retirement we can easily overlook while counting down to our last day. We talk about feeling needed, losing touch with friends and interests, and why suddenly having all the time in the world can be surprisingly unsettling.

And then there’s life at home. You may be looking forward to spending more time with your partner but have you talked about what being together every day will actually mean?

We explore:

• Who you are when your job title no longer introduces you.

• How to build friendships when work stops providing them.

• Sharing a home without losing your independence.

• Trying something new without needing to be good at it.

• Finding ways to contribute when you still have plenty to give.

We also touch on money worries, but the question running through this conversation is bigger: what are you retiring to?

Whether retirement is years away or you’re already wondering what comes next, listen for a different way to start planning: picture a week you’d genuinely enjoy living.

Find out more about Chris: https://vibrantretirement.com/

Guest: Chris Maduri