Longevity and Retirement.

[LARS]

Been reflecting on the philosophical side of longevity, and what you can expect in your own future. It has been prompted by the one year anniversary of a friend who passed away at 61 from a rare blood disorder. Never seriously sick a day in his life, excellent shape, who was diagnosed in January, 2015 and was gone by March, 2015.

Clearly nothing one can do, planning or otherwise, about these heavenly bolts of lightening. Just makes me have a little more sense of urgency as my sixth decade nears it end. A feeling that generally hasn't been present having retired in my thirties. Time has been one of the commodities I have had in abundance in relative terms.


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[MasterBlaster]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.

There's nothing like seeing someone you know pass to change that money versus time equation.

We should all take a lesson from such things.

 

[Nemo2]

Even under 'normal' circumstances, aging seems to be like suddenly stepping off a cliff......lately I feel I've aged 10 years in the past 6 months, (a hip problem, that I never experienced before, has surfaced and it's a PITA....I've lived for a number of decades with osteoarthritis in both knees, without the ailment being too much of a restriction....but this is getting on my nerves).

Sunday we're off on vacation.....maybe the sea air will be a panacea. "Onwards & ***** Upwards!"

 

[Senator]

Even under 'normal' circumstances, aging seems to be like suddenly stepping off a cliff......lately I feel I've aged 10 years in the past 6 months...

I think that is the way it works. Exponential degradation of quality of life as you age.

You are healthy, until you are not. Then, it's a reduced lifestyle while you heal, if you are able to, and on to the next issue. Some health issues reduce your quality of life permanently.

I am out in July.

 

[LARS]

I am out in July.

I hope that means you're on vacation and nothing more!



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[walkinwood]

This post got me thinking about the time left. I came out with a positive feeling that I should be more mindful of where and more importantly, with whom, I spend my time and money.
The Tail End - Wait But Why

 

[Options]

It's not so much the time we have in life, but what we do with the time we have. Were I to be diagnosed tomorrow, would I be happy? No, but I would be satisfied with the life I've lived to this point. I read several books on the qualitative aspect of retirement recently which I'm too lazy to dig up. However, one I do remember in particular, entitled "Comfort Zones", did a great job of the various phases we go through as we get older. One very big takeaway for me was that we must attempt to get as much satisfaction at whatever stage we are in life in order to have no regrets later.

OTOH, we often walk among the living dead, as many people are dead while alive. There are many examples, but this one struck me:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/24/the-most-terrifying-part-of-my-drug-addiction-that-my-law-firm-would-find-out/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=27699321&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9s9p1kyvCrZX9J_4vWhiT65tYMbgVmb8MZFzREi-VSoQjjGG6FyjWW__ZIIz-ko7UJesrNQuVih6JeN0SssMf54ZECXg&_hsmi=27699321

A newly released study conducted by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs reports an alarming statistic: Up to 21 percent of licensed, employed lawyers qualify as problem drinkers; for lawyers under age 30, it’s 31.9 percent.

Emphasis added

 

[LARS]

This post got me thinking about the time left. I came out with a positive feeling that I should be more mindful of where and more importantly, with whom, I spend my time and money.
The Tail End - Wait But Why

Like the pizza scale as a measure of life still to be lived...


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[2017ish]

It's not so much the time we have in life, but what we do with the time we have. Were I to be diagnosed tomorrow, would I be happy? No, but I would be satisfied with the life I've lived to this point. I read several books on the qualitative aspect of retirement recently which I'm too lazy to dig up. However, one I do remember in particular, entitled "Comfort Zones", did a great job of the various phases we go through as we get older. One very big takeaway for me was that we must attempt to get as much satisfaction at whatever stage we are in life in order to have no regrets later.

OTOH, we often walk among the living dead, as many people are dead while alive. There are many examples, but this one struck me:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/03/24/the-most-terrifying-part-of-my-drug-addiction-that-my-law-firm-would-find-out/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=27699321&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9s9p1kyvCrZX9J_4vWhiT65tYMbgVmb8MZFzREi-VSoQjjGG6FyjWW__ZIIz-ko7UJesrNQuVih6JeN0SssMf54ZECXg&_hsmi=27699321

A newly released study conducted by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs reports an alarming statistic: Up to 21 percent of licensed, employed lawyers qualify as problem drinkers; for lawyers under age 30, it’s 31.9 percent.

Emphasis added

No shocker generally on those results; it has long been common wisdom within the legal profession that we have more of a problem with booze than most--with litigators likely over-represented even within the profession.

But, on looking at the study, its definition of "problematic drinking" seems a bit overbroad. From my admittedly brief review, it looks like I'd be in the 21% based solely on sharing a 750 ML bottle of red wine with DW nearly every night at dinner. (350 ml of 12-15% alc. wine rounds up to 3 drinks...., giving me the 5 points that is their cutoff) No points from anywhere else on the AUDIT quiz--and the second and third parts of it are really the ones targeted at uncovering problems, rather than potential for problems ....

 

[serie1926]

An interesting article by Scott Burns that speaks to some of the numbers re life expectancy and leaving money behind.

https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/live-long-spend-freely

 

[Midpack]

An interesting article by Scott Burns that speaks to some of the numbers re life expectancy and leaving money behind.

https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/live-long-spend-freely

+1, interesting thanks. I don't look at Burns site often enough, so I would have missed it.

 

[Richard4444]

In the above article, Burns has a link to his 'hedonic tilt' https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/-how-to-spend-more-now-less-later

I was waiting to see SPIAs being part of that concept which would totally eliminate running out of money - I wonder why not?

Rich

 

[Sarah in SC]

Thanks for these, I've followed along with the general idea Burn is suggesting for a while now, but didn't know he called it hedonic tilt. It certainly bears out among the retirees I know, who seem to run out of ways to spend money in their later years, and don't seem to live as long as they think they will.

And I love Wait But Why. That is a particularly good one!

 

[Eagle43]

Jimmy Johnson said it's not the time you have left, but the QTL, quality time left, that really matters. I liked that idea and need to apply it more to my life. I always wanted to live to 100, but what would it matter if the last 20 years were spent in a nursing home, even if you could pay for the nursing home. I think Johnson (Cowboys Coach) retired after considering QTL.

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[kcowan]

I had 2 buddies die of pancreatic cancer, both younger than me. I get birthday reminders of facebook reminding me of them every year. So yes these are wakeup calls that are extremely useful. Another friend (we learned to ski together) developed alzheimers in his late 50s and just died last year.

So we are doing many things (only constrained by an elderly cat at 18 who does not get along well without us). Even our family doctor had a massive heart attack and died 3 years ago and he was one year younger than me.

 

[OrcasIslandBound]

No shocker generally on those results; ... From my admittedly brief review, it looks like I'd be in the 21% based solely on sharing a 750 ML bottle of red wine with DW nearly every night at dinner. (350 ml of 12-15% alc. wine rounds up to 3 drinks...., giving me the 5 points that is their cutoff) ....

My DW and I quit drinking after hitting the above threshold... twice! Once in 2005 (for 7 years) and again in 2013 after I said I need to quit or this will kill me early. The DW was kind enough to quit along side me.

No way am I'm I going to quit a third time. We're non-drinkers now.

 

[Fedup]

My husband used to drink red wine nearly with every meal. Not anymore. He may 1/4 of a glass with red meat and that's it, on very rare occasion. It's ironic when you start having enough money to drink good enough wine, you can't or don't want it any more.


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[OrcasIslandBound]

You're right about the money part. Quitting knocked $200 a month off of our Costco bill.

 

[Nemo2]

I used to be a wine drinker (beer when I was younger) but, when my late wife was dying of cancer, a friend, whose wife also died of it a couple years earlier, said that at the equivalent stage in his wife's situation he was knocking back (at least) two bottles of wine a night...........my immediate thought was that that would be of absolutely no benefit to my wife or me....so I quit right then.

Didn't drink at all for a couple years, met DW, and we'd have a glass each at dinner......but then we gave that up.

We're not 'anti drinkers' (we might have a beer in the summer), but basically we just "don't drink".

 

[LARS]

Many "vices" in my life, but luckily smoking, drinking and drugs have never had any appeal for me...


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[walkinwood]

The quality of time left, for me, also depends on the time left for the people close to me. Make the time NOW to spend with older people who are close to you. They may not be around when you have the time to spare.

 

[LARS]

Reflecting on the thoughtful comments I wanted to add a little more. While this issue can devolve into time versus money, as many have pointed out, I think there is more to it than that: especially for early retirees. It is for me a question of changing my mindset as I age.

Historically, I've never put much credence in the "live for today because you never know about tomorrow" philosophy. Often felt it was an excuse for taking the easy way: much preferring to prepare "for that rainy day". I suspect most, if not all, who frequent this forum felt the same way.

Today, however, while I do not in anyway regret that approach to my life, I do find myself working to transition my thinking more and more to the present over the future. Inevitable I suppose even for the slowest of thinkers like myself...


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[FreeBear]

Historically, I've never put much credence in the "live for today because you never know about tomorrow" philosophy. Often felt it was an excuse for taking the easy way: much preferring to prepare "for that rainy day". I suspect most, if not all, who frequent this forum felt the same way.

Today, however, while I do not in anyway regret that approach to my life, I do find myself working to transition my thinking more and more to the present over the future. Inevitable I suppose even for the slowest of thinkers like myself...

+1

Definitely. I'm by nature a cautious long-term planner and somewhat of a worrier. DW and I ER'd last year in part because quality time has become more important than additional money. We worked for the future long enough to more fully enjoy the now!

Honestly, though, we could accept this only because we also realized that we were FI, well ahead of schedule. One of the many neat things about FI is that it allows, even encourages, options, both in lifestyle as well as ways of thinking.

FB

 

[Options]

No shocker generally on those results; it has long been common wisdom within the legal profession that we have more of a problem with booze than most--with litigators likely over-represented even within the profession.

But, on looking at the study, its definition of "problematic drinking" seems a bit overbroad. From my admittedly brief review, it looks like I'd be in the 21% based solely on sharing a 750 ML bottle of red wine with DW nearly every night at dinner. (350 ml of 12-15% alc. wine rounds up to 3 drinks...., giving me the 5 points that is their cutoff) No points from anywhere else on the AUDIT quiz--and the second and third parts of it are really the ones targeted at uncovering problems, rather than potential for problems ....

My point was that the "life" described by the author of the article to me is like a walking death (alcohol, drugs to avoid the realization that inhumanely long hours doing nothing more than reviewing documents is soul crushing). Too often we worry about death when we haven't maximized our lives while on earth.

Regarding longevity, the book "Comfort Zones" makes the point that in the final chapter of our lives, we should attempt to get the most of all of its stages (the work/retirement transition period, the go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years). One takeaway was that the slow-go years doesn't necessarily mean giving up things, just doing different things (e.g., waltz instead of samba). Another takeaway was the no-go years can be a time of great reflection and gratitude for a life well lived. Or not. As in all things in life, what will you choose?

 

[Chuckanut]

https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/live-long-spend-freely

My parents both lived to their 90's and drank at least a glass of wine a day. To say that one 'drinks' is often misleading as there is 'drinking' (a glass of wine with dinner) and 'DRINKING' (like the characters in Mad Men). That is a huge difference.