Life After Work - Will I Be "OK"?

    Last week we lost 3 people from the entertainment world.   Ozzy Osbourne died at the age of 76, Hulk Hogan died of an apparent heart attack at age 71 and Malcom-Jamal Warner who played Theo Huxtable on the Cosby Show drowned at the age of 54.   What strikes me as a recent retiree about these 3 deaths is that they all died at a relatively early age – although one could certainly argue that it’s a miracle that the “Prince of Darkness” made it until age 76.   Estimating how long I expect to live plays a huge role in my retirement planning.   I would make a lot of different decisions if I only expect to live until 71 like Hulk Hogan or 76 like Ozzy than if I expect to live until the age of 90 or 100.   This is especially true regarding my decision as to when I should claim Social Security – the primary topic of last week’s blog.   ( https://retirementmoats.blogspot.com/2025/07/why-i-havent-started-collecting-social.html ).   I received ...

  As you age, conversation topics with your friends definitely change.   For example, even a few short years ago, I was never asked about my plans for taking Social Security.   But now that I’m 65 and enrolled in Medicare, this has become a pretty common topic.   “Have I filed?” (No, I have not), “When do I plan to?” (No earlier than age 68) and “Am I worried about the health of the Social Security system?” (No, not really) have become common questions as of late.   I don’t find this a bit surprising.   Even if you have diligently saved for retirement, Social Security will be an important part of most people’s retirement income plan.   Approximately 50 million retirees receive social security payments every month.   For about 25% of all retirees, Social Security represents 90% of their retirement income.   About half of all retirees count on Social Security to provide at least 50% of their retirement income.   The numbers indicate that m...

    My first day of retirement coincided with the birth of my grandson C.J.   Since he was 3 weeks pre-mature, he spent the first 2 weeks of his young life in Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).   He came home yesterday to meet his older sister.   Can my 3 rd week of retirement start off any better?   Kind of puts things into perspective.   We all worry about many things that don’t really matter in the long run.   But seeing such a little baby finally come home to his loving family is a huge reminder of what is really important in life. Last week’s blog was all about retirement income planning.   While I naturally think that is an extremely important topic, I don’t want this blog to only be a financial blog.   After all, retirement is about more than money – or so everyone tells me.   Given that I’m only 2 weeks into retirement, it would be presumptuous of me to portray that I have this retire...