This is Oprah Winfrey’s best advice for boomers

Oprah Winfrey is loved by millions. Somehow, despite her wealth and fame, she maintains a friendly, personable quality that makes it seem like we’ve known her all our lives. But Oprah’s talent runs deeper than a charismatic, empathetic personality. Through her struggles, perseverance, and spiritual centering, she has developed a deep well of practical wisdom that encourages people of all ages and walks of life. If you’re in your 60s, Oprah has some good advice for you. After all, she was there not too long ago, just turning 70 this year. Below is a compilation of some of her motivational quotes for this stage of your relationship and financial goals.

24/7 Wall St. Perspectives

• People in their 60s are coming to retirement quickly. This is a time to find new focus, purpose and energy for the Golden Years.
• Oprah is a great example of someone who turned her 60s into the pinnacle of her professional and personal achievements.
• You may still have years to invest your retirement funds. We have a free report with some ideas: Discover the “Next NVIDIA

Oprah’s career

Oprah was born in 1954 to a single mother in rural Mississippi. Oprah was sexually molested by several family members and, at age 14, gave birth to a premature baby that died. He moved to Nashville and got a job in radio while in high school. Her engaging and conversational style gained her recognition and helped her quickly move into television, landing her own television talk show in 1984, which ran until 2011. Oprah has written several books, acted in films and owns her own production company and magazines. As of 2024, she has a net worth of $3 billion, making her the richest African-American woman in the world.

Sailing the 60s

Life expectancy is quite long these days, so someone in their 60s may still have decades of active years ahead of them. And the economy being what it is, retiring to a life of leisure just isn’t in the cards for a lot of people, who will supplement their Social Security by working as long as their health allows. Although at this age many people are sharp and energetic—indeed, at the top of their game—our youth-oriented society tends to reject them.

One of the challenges of this time in life is to provide for the physical needs of our families in a way that uses our talents and experience and gives us a sense of making a meaningful contribution. But we need to deepen and widen our network of relationships because we keenly experience the void that can arise when our children have flown the nest and perhaps we have lost a partner to health problems or divorce. The advice of a consummate mentor like Oprah can give us the shot in the arm we need to take active control of the direction our lives are headed.

1. Gratitude

• “Be thankful for what you have; you will end up having more. If you focus on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”

Oprah’s comments about gratitude may remind us to be grateful for our physical possessions, but they apply to many other areas as well. Do you work your way through an endless “to do” list each day to feel meaningful? How about starting a “done” list and enjoying what you’ve accomplished? How would your relationship with your significant other change if you focused on their positive attributes and what they bring to the relationship, rather than what you wish would change about them?

2. Struggle

• “Where there is no struggle, there is no power.”

Physical fitness is an obvious area where we understand that struggle leads to strength. But the same is true for other parts of our lives. How many people look back on the early days of their marriage, for example, with fond memories of a small apartment and simple pleasures? What struggles are you going through at this stage in your life? Can you imagine how they build your strength and endurance?

3. Love over fear

• “I believe that every event in life that happens is an opportunity to choose love over fear.”

People regularly sacrifice their lives for those they love. That may mean putting themselves in harm’s way to save someone else. But it can also mean, on a daily basis, choosing to put your loved one’s needs before your own. And that can make relationships scary, especially if that love and sacrifice isn’t reciprocated. Even so, choosing to love rather than live in fear can open us up to a richer and deeper life experience.

4. You make yourself

• “Don’t let people make you who they think you are.”

At any age, the people around us have expectations about who we are and who we should be. However, it is impossible to satisfy all these conflicting expectations, and it never will. One nice thing about getting older is that we often develop more confidence to do our own thing, regardless of what people think. Perhaps if we begin to express ourselves more authentically, we will find that others will adapt and undoubtedly love us even more.

5. The past is powerless

• “Whatever happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now.”

Raised in rural poverty in Mississippi, Oprah endured sexual abuse, racism and betrayal during her rise to the top. Instead of letting those experiences make her bitter, she learned that she was strong enough to pick herself up and keep chasing her dreams. Her past only had the power over her that it allowed her to have. Instead of letting it get the better of her, she channeled it to help others and help herself.

6. Perspective

• “Let go. Fall. The world looks different from earth.”

Oprah is great at encouraging people who make mistakes. If you never make a mistake, that’s a pretty good indication that you’re not trying anything new and difficult. You’re not growing and improving, you’re just stagnant. But when you take a risk and fall, you get a different perspective. You learned what not to do. But you also learned that the fall didn’t kill you. You can get back up, try again, and again, and again. . . until you can do it without falling.

7. Heaven

• “My idea of ​​heaven is a great baked potato and someone to share it with.”

Well, obviously, we’re going to take the baked potato from this quote in a more general, metaphorical sense. . . although hopefully heaven will have endless carb-free potatoes! But here Oprah comes to the idea of ​​just being content with the simple things in life, like a “comfort food” and a “comfort person.” If you can share this insight, it doesn’t matter if you have millions of dollars in your bank account or just enough to get by. Life can be fulfilling if you can enjoy the basics and surround yourself with caring people.

8. Your energy

• “You are responsible for the energy you create for yourself and you are responsible for the energy you bring to others.”

The term “energy” can mean many things to many people. Some people believe that we actually emit and receive energy that can attract or repel people and abundant life. Others may just notice that other people can pick up on our moods (or “energy”) that we bring and be influenced by them. Either way, wouldn’t you rather be the kind of person that others are happy to see coming because you bring life instead of draining it?

9. Mistakes

• “Every stumble is not a fall and every fall is not a failure.”

We all know that no one is perfect. Sometimes, however, we act as if us they should be perfect, even if no one else is. We can beat ourselves up over missteps and allow what could have been a minor setback into a major demotivation that causes us to give up on some of our most important goals and dreams. How about instead just acknowledging that bumps are a natural and inevitable part of covering the territory between where you are and where you want to be?

10. Do good

• “If you want to feel good, you have to go out and do something good.”

The Bible teaches that it is “more blessed to give than to receive,” and some of the most generous people in the world have found this to be true. Oprah was noted for giving cars and other expensive gifts to members of her audience and continues to support philanthropic causes to this day. But you don’t need a billion dollars to share what you have, whether it’s money, time, or your talents. At any income level, stinginess makes you feel poor; generosity makes you feel rich.

The post This Is Oprah Winfrey’s Best Advice For Boomers appeared first on 24/7 Wall St.