Life After Work - Will I Be "OK"?

      Last week I drove 1,172 miles from St. Petersburg to our place at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.   The 18-hour drive over 2 full days gave me plenty of time to catch up on my podcasts and reflect on life in general.   It sure seems like there are plenty of things going on in the world to reflect on these days.   And few of those things are good.   But one of the things that I continually noticed throughout the trip was just how nice everyone was.   At each of the many convenience stores and fast-food restaurants I popped into, I was greeted with big smile and a “how may I help you?”   And it wasn’t one of those “I have a service job, so I have to be nice” smiles.   These were genuine, “I’m glad you’re here” smiles.   The front desk staff at the Hampton Inn and Suites where I spent the night couldn’t have been more helpful and engaging.   The patrons that I shared a bar stool with at the Outback next to the hotel – ...

  Two weeks ago I talked about how money might not be able to buy you happiness, but it can buy you time – time to do all of the things you didn’t previously have time to do.   In fact, that is one of the things I’m enjoying most about retirement thus far.   I have more time to do things.   Not just the big things, but the small daily tasks as well.   When I was working, I always tried to accomplish errands as efficiently as possible.   Not only did I bundle the errands together, but I would think about the most efficient route to get from point A to point B.   For each stop, I would even consider the side of the road it was on.   After all, right hand turns are much faster than left hand turns.   Now, I don’t worry about any of that.   It’s no longer a big deal if I make more than one trip to the grocery store on the same day.   While it’s great to have extra time, I also worry about having too much time on my hands.   What ...

  Dr. Joe Caughlin, the Director of MIT’s Age Lab has come up with 3 simple questions that retirees should ask themselves to better understand the quality of their life as they age: Let’s face it, as we age, many tasks that we once deemed simple become much harder – maybe even unsafe.   After reading last year how many older people get hurt falling off a ladder, my son told me I should never get on a ladder again.   I laughed at the time, but he has a point.   People over 60 account for 35% of all serious ladder injuries.   But it’s not just about changing light bulbs.   Even cleaning and maintaining a home becomes more challenging – especially if your home has multiple levels. My wife and I moved into a new condo complex this past week.   The current plan is that this will be our forever home.   In fact, the light bulb question is a big part of why we selected this particular home.   We knew we wanted a single level that would require ...

      As much as we’d like it to, money can’t buy happiness.   Yet, we save over our entire working career so that we will be “OK” in retirement.   In fact, it takes a lot of money to be “OK” in retirement.   A recent Northwestern Mutual survey found that American’s “magic number” to retire is $1.26 million ( https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-study-2025 ).   That’s a lot of money.   Yet, the average retirement savings are only about $330,000.   No wonder this same survey also found that 1 in 2 Americans worry that they will outlive their savings.   If money can’t buy happiness, what can it buy?   It can buy us options and time.   During my last 10 working years, I diligently contributed to my Health Savings Account (HSA).   Since I’ve been fortunate to be relatively healthy over those years, I was able to cover my out-of-pocket health expenses without tapping those HSA funds, thereby allow...