Retirement Reality

[Bigdawg]

Moneygrubber, can I gather from your comments that you have zero plan for retirement? Or are you just stirring the pot?

[N02L84ER]

I'm planning to marry a much, much younger spouse and want to insure the spouse has enough money to live on. :-)

[athena53]

I'm planning for a long retirement. Parents are both 85, still independent, mobile and mentally competent. A great-grandmother died at 93, never having had a mammogram, colonoscopy or statins. There are exceptions so I've tried to enjoy life along the way. One uncle, marathon runner, died of a heart attack at 42. His brother was diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer shortly after retiring.

I preferred to err on the side of saving too much, and I hope I did.

[brett]

My father retired at age 59 in 1980-with a reduced pension. His health was poor at the time-lhigh pressure job that he loved. The average retiree lifespan at his employer was just under 70 at that time.

He changed his lifestyle, no pressure etc. He lived until 87, healthy until a year before his death. He credited his turn around to early retirement.

I retired at 59. It is great. A colleague of mine decided to work until 65. He dropped dead at 66.

I do not look at age. I look at how many years of good health to do the things I want to do are left for me. That is valuable time that we choose not to squander on building up more assets to pass on to our children.

[Moneygrubber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigdawg Moneygrubber, can I gather from your comments that you have zero plan for retirement? Or are you just stirring the pot?

Full disclosure, stirring the pot, saved well, retiring at 55 in a few months, adhere to diversification, withdrawal rate strategies and 95 planning, reflecting on what i feel is the absurdity of it all sometimes, when your at the finish line you reflect a bit, maybe i am nuts,,,


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[highlow65]

It does help to know my exact end date but if that happens there will still be plenty left for charity and offspring, I live very well now but am still very cautious by nature and don't expect to change that. I couldn't rest comfortably without a significant margin of error.

[Gumby]

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!

A great life philosophy, unless you don't actually die tomorrow. I can't speak for anyone else, but I prefer to hope for the best and plan for the worst. It is quite possible for me to have a nice life now while still holding a little back, so I don't become destitute prior to my demise. If I leave money on the table, so be it.

[Moneygrubber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett My father retired at age 59 in 1980-with a reduced pension. His health was poor at the time-lhigh pressure job that he loved. The average retiree lifespan at his employer was just under 70 at that time. He changed his lifestyle, no pressure etc. He lived until 87, healthy until a year before his death. He credited his turn around to early retirement. I retired at 59. It is great. A colleague of mine decided to work until 65. He dropped dead at 66. I do not look at age. I look at how many years of good health to do the things I want to do are left for me. That is valuable time that we choose not to squander on building up more assets to pass on to our children.

Cheers!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[Teacher Terry]

As people age they naturally spend less so if they have a pension or good size SS they probably will be okay once the savings are gone. Now if they don't have that it will be another story.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N02L84ER I'm planning to marry a much, much younger spouse and want to insure the spouse has enough money to live on. :-)

I did that. Darned if she didn't die at 48. Nothing is for sure...

[mpeirce]

I'm assuming longevity (my 6th grandfather was the oldest living veteran from the French and Indian War - 95 was pretty darn good back in those days!) and planning accordingly. That means a heft emphasis on stocks for the long term (if I hit 95 I've got over 40 years to go).

If I lose that bet, the kids get to blow spend the money any way they choose.

[traineeinvestor]

I have no idea how long I will live, and would rather not know. What I do know is that I do not want get to my sixties or seventies and be faced with a choice between cutting back on our lifestyle or needing to
w%#k at that age.

I also know I don't want to have to spend a couple of decades fretting about whether I will outlive my money or not.

[rodi]

My financial planning is different than my life planning.

I'm realistic - and have made arrangements for all sorts of scenarios: I die first leaving DH to go on, He dies first, and I have to get by without him, we die together before the kids are of age. I looked at longevity (on his side of things) and earlier death due to cancer (my side of things)... not to mention cognitive decline or physical decline requiring support (memory unit, home health aide, nursing home.)

I tried to come up with a plan for all of this.

But I also tried to come up with a plan that maximizes happiness in the NOW. I retired at age 52... to maximize that happiness in the NOW. We're frontloading our budget a bit to travel NOW, vs when we're frail. I'm not spending out of my means - but I am spending on things that make me happy NOW.

Sure my kids might inherit some when I kick it - but if my financial plan works out (vs reality life expectations) I won't run out of money till after I'm 90 and DH is 100. And our back up is our home equity... which is significant. If I'm 90 I don't need/want a two story house - so selling won't be a problem.

Moneygrubber - you seem to be suggesting that accounting for longevity in the financial plan is a bad thing. I think there are plenty of people who find the balance between planning for longevity but still grabbing happiness now.

[Moneygrubber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi My financial planning is different than my life planning. I'm realistic - and have made arrangements for all sorts of scenarios: I die first leaving DH to go on, He dies first, and I have to get by without him, we die together before the kids are of age. I looked at longevity (on his side of things) and earlier death due to cancer (my side of things)... not to mention cognitive decline or physical decline requiring support (memory unit, home health aide, nursing home.) I tried to come up with a plan for all of this. But I also tried to come up with a plan that maximizes happiness in the NOW. I retired at age 52... to maximize that happiness in the NOW. We're frontloading our budget a bit to travel NOW, vs when we're frail. I'm not spending out of my means - but I am spending on things that make me happy NOW. Sure my kids might inherit some when I kick it - but if my financial plan works out (vs reality life expectations) I won't run out of money till after I'm 90 and DH is 100. And our back up is our home equity... which is significant. If I'm 90 I don't need/want a two story house - so selling won't be a problem. Moneygrubber - you seem to be suggesting that accounting for longevity in the financial plan is a bad thing. I think there are plenty of people who find the balance between planning for longevity but still grabbing happiness now.

Planning for it is fine, but folks talk about it like its a sure thing.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[Fedup]

One sure thing I will live till 100, at least that's in my spreadsheet, and husband till 110.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[Davis65]

Great discussion topic, moneygrubber.

We moved my mother into a nice retirement home at 85 - two rooms, balcony where she sat out every day during the summer, fridge and microwave. The last resident didn't leave in a box - he moved down the hall to a pokey single room with no balcony because he is running low on money. He's still in a nice place, but he's disappointed.

If I don't get the full 95 years than my plan affords me, I will write a strongly-worded letter to whoever is in charge of these things.

[Moneygrubber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davis65 Great discussion topic, moneygrubber. We moved my mother into a nice retirement home at 85 - two rooms, balcony where she sat out every day during the summer, fridge and microwave. The last resident didn't leave in a box - he moved down the hall to a pokey single room with no balcony because he is running low on money. He's still in a nice place, but he's disappointed. If I don't get the full 95 years than my plan affords me, I will write a strongly-worded letter to whoever is in charge of these things.

Lol..


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[Beachgrl]

I recently posted asking people working in the construction trades to post their pension options they chose and why, and in that post I mentioned a conversation with a fellow union carpenter wife who's husband recently retired and she tells me she was told by the people they sat down with to discuss the pension options that men don't live very long after retirement (sorry that's a run on sentence). That was a real eye opener and downer for me (I suspect dh knows this quite well being on the job for 20+ years already). I am 40 and dh is 48 and we are planning on BOTH of us retiring when he turns 55 or therabouts.

Yes, to the OP in my mind it is a plan that we control, or at least it had been until I got slapped with a reality check after my conversation with that woman. Of course I realize that life turns on a dime. I live in NYC, born and raised. Just watch the news here for 5 minutes and you can just decide to crawl into a hole and never come out.

But interesting thread nonetheless.

[taykinitezy]

...the question of one's own life longevity is the only one I would like to know the answer for practical reasons but I wouldn't want to know for sanity reasons.....in regard to earlier comments...DW has an uncle who turns 90 in 2 months...lucky enough to retire with full Ford Motor Co. pension at 62....wife and 3 kids are now all deceased....comments from him during a recent visit...."I guess I'm really getting a full payout on my pension" (28 years and counting)......."I never thought I would outlive all my kids"......life can certainly be bittersweet.

[MRG]

If you plan you have to have an end date.

Both my parents lived into their 90s. DF would joke Metlife had paid out more years on his pension than he'd worked there.