Life After Work - Will I Be "OK"?

    Cliffhanger Hole #2 The media frequently talks about how little many people have saved for retirement.   This often leads to headlines such as “ ( Addressing the Nation's Retirement Crisis ).” Since I tend to be curious about such things, over the years I’ve asked numerous financial advisors if any of their clients are likely to experience such a crisis.   Every one of them has given me the same answer – “No.”   Granted that a financial advisor’s practice is going to be naturally skewed to those with relatively high amount of savings.   Still, it seems likely to me that at least some of their clients run the risk of running out of money.   When I asked this follow up question, I almost always got the same answer.   When uncertainty begins to creep into their retirement plan, their clients had demonstrated an amazing ability and willingness to reduce their spending.   Retirees understand that they don’t know how long they will live, what...

      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...

    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...