Worst Retirement Mistakes You Can Make?? or Not?

[HsiaoChu]

At this site that I subscribe to(http://www.topretirements.com) I got this from an email.


The Worst Retirement Planning Mistakes (You Need to Avoid)

I deleted some that people who are on this forum have already addressed.

- Having no interests outside of work

- Not visiting a range of communities, not renting before you buy

- Your retirement plan is" "We'll travel a little bit and I'll work around the house"

- Retiring too soon – without having something to fill the gap (interest-wise and financially-wise)

- Continuing to live in the suburbs when there are compelling reasons in your situation to move elsewhere (financial,
- interests/activities, transportation, social, family, taxes, climate, etc.)

- Assuming your kids will entertain and take care of you as you age

- Retiring too far away from friends and family

- Moving too close to friends and family

- Moving to an area where the politics or religion is not a good fit for you


- Moving to a new town without one or more these supports: an active adult/55+ community, friends or family, an active strategy to meet new friends.

- Moving to an active adult development and find you miss the diversity of having people of all ages and interests around you

- Moving to a gated community and find you miss the normalcy of a traditional
community

Any comments on any of these?

Z

 

[MasterBlaster]

I have read versions of all of these comments before. I would sum your post up as "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".

There is some pretty good advice there though. Most of us will have a plan and then reality may force us to modify things a bit. Many of us will bumble along trying to find our way.

Per the Zelinski book, we need to replace our sense of community, our sense of purpose, and get some structure in retirement. Without some balance in those we may just be adrift in retirement. Your post speaks to some of those issues.

 

[ziggy29]

Underestimating the inflation rate in health insurance?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Underestimating the inflation rate in health insurance?

While inflation rates and medical insurance are certainly important, the thrust of the OP's post was the non-financial aspects of retirement.

You don't get much ink printed on that topic.

 

[HsiaoChu]

Underestimating the inflation rate in health insurance?

Yeah....... I don't have any way to adjust for that. If I were to try to adjust for something like that I would probably never retire, and I would try to stay with my employer health insurance forever.

I think more specifically that one needs to adjust for the costs between the date of retirement and when SS kicks in(which for many of us pays the premiums for health care), or when Medicare kicks in, and then we only need to figure out the much smaller amount for supplemental insurance.

I would have retired last year at age 59.5 if I didn't have to figure out how I was going to deal with health care of $1000 a month, and yes i know that my options on this are incredibly cheap because I can stay on my current employer's policy until I'm 65.

Z

 

[Orchidflower]

- Retiring to an area where the politics or religion is not a good fit for you.

Boy! I made this mistake myself when I moved first to an outlying area of Houston, and it really affected my stay there. Never again....it's more important than you think.
I should have left when within the first months I was asked to a church service on a Saturday night that included a gay priest in rainbow vestments and folks talking in tongues.
It was the talking in tongues that blew me away as I had always heard about it but never seen it in real life, so when the congregants started speaking--as if on cue--I was at a loss for words. In fact, all I could think of was if the spirit had moved them, why did they all start speaking in tongues when the priest did as if on cue? Wierd....and fake to me.
Just not my thang I guess.

Innercity Houston isn't that openly religioius--despite having 3 of the largest churches in the country there--but not the same the closer you come to the country setting just outside innercity.

 

[bbbamI]

Worst Retirement Mistakes You Can Make??

Retiring, joining the spouse/SO (that is already retired) and expecting everything to remain the same.

The household duties shift and there is a lot of 'togetherness'. Discussions should consist of expectations, desires and the need for alone time every once in a while.

It's been a year and we're still workin' on it.

 

[Walt34]

Worst Retirement Mistakes You Can Make??

Retiring, joining the spouse/SO (that is already retired) and expecting everything to remain the same.

The household duties shift and there is a lot of 'togetherness'. Discussions should consist of expectations, desires and the need for alone time every once in a while.

It's been a year and we're still workin' on it.

We ran into that too. After a while it started to feel like we were joined at the hip and had to learn to give each other some space. It's not a bad thing, mind you, we're closer now than ever before retirement. But it is an adjustment.

So if I want to take the boat out or go for a bike ride and she doesn't want to go that's okay. The reverse is also true.

It takes a couple/three years but we found the happy medium.

 

[Free To Canoe]

- Retiring too far away from friends and family
Relatives moved to Las Vegas. Went from never living anywhere else to selling all belongings and moving across the country to Vegas because they visited a couple of times. They had no friends or family there, either. Weird. Believe they are regretting it now.


- Moving too close to friends and family
Seen a few of these.


- Moving to an active adult development and find you miss the diversity of having people of all ages and interests around you

- Moving to a gated community and find you miss the normalcy of a traditional
community

One couple we know did not like how the neighborhood was evolving and bought into a gated retirement community. It seemed nice and I think they knew one person. They sorely missed the activity of the old neighborhood. When we visited, it reminded me of something Nords said "At noon it looked like a neutron bomb had gone off near by".


While interacting with others at w*rk who were retiring, I realized that I had not planned enough, especially in the non-financial aspects. Circumstances forced my early retirement a year later. I figured I had plenty of time to resolve these issues once I was not working. And this is what I am doing now that I am ERed.

Free to canoe

 

[W2R]

Your retirement plan is" "We'll travel a little bit and I'll work around the house"

I don't see anything wrong with this at all, unless the retiree is unhappy with it. Seems to me that what the author is REALLY saying, is

Personally I wouldn't be happy working around the house a lot, even if I got to travel a little bit now and then. Besides, there isn't that much to work on around my house and I am unusually unimaginative when it comes to keeping myself occupied.

 

[bbbamI]

We ran into that too. After a while it started to feel like we were joined at the hip and had to learn to give each other some space. It's not a bad thing, mind you, we're closer now than ever before retirement. But it is an adjustment.

So if I want to take the boat out or go for a bike ride and she doesn't want to go that's okay. The reverse is also true.

It takes a couple/three years but we found the happy medium.

Yes...it is an adjustment...

Mmmm, hmmm...we need our space but not too much of it. It's like learning a new dance; a few toes are stepped on before the rhythm takes control.

A couple/three years huh? I thought a year would be enough for us, but it looks as if it will take longer. But hey, we've been together for almost 34 years, what's another year or two in the scheme of things.....

 

[freebird5825]

I'd like to add one...especially for early early retirees.

Mistake: Age should not make a difference when it comes to participating in local group activities, right?

If your age is considerably lower than other retired folks (in my case 48 when I FIREd) in the local community, and all of your age peers are still w*rking, expect to spend a fair amount of time on your own.
Not lonely alone, but more akin to creating/steering your own activity schedule. The self-help program.
In my experience, my younger age precluded me from joining some local "silver" clubs that do local day trips by bus. Being under 55 years old put me squarely in Guest status, i.e. double the cost or worse.
My still w*rking acquaintances of the same age group are not available except for a speedy lunch date.
I'm not lonely. I just have a bit more of a challenge finding a variety of day activities to join up with.

 

[NW-Bound]

- Your retirement plan is" "We'll travel a little bit and I'll work around the house"

I am working part-time, on and off. My problem so far has been "We travel a lot, and I do no work on the houses". Yes, we own two houses, and now an RV. I am in big trouble!

 

[youbet]

We ran into that too. After a while it started to feel like we were joined at the hip and had to learn to give each other some space. It's not a bad thing, mind you, we're closer now than ever before retirement. But it is an adjustment.

So if I want to take the boat out or go for a bike ride and she doesn't want to go that's okay. The reverse is also true.

It takes a couple/three years but we found the happy medium.

DW and I will soon celebrate 40 yrs of marriage. This surprises some friends and relatives as we've always liked to have our separate time and activities. Many assumed we didn't have enough in common to stay together. Actually, the opposite is true. We're a commited team within the immediate and extended family with shared goals and values, enjoy traveling together and a couple of shared hobbies but have always needed time for ourselves. We've taken many separate vacations, belong to different clubs, have some independent hobbies and activities and that lifestyle works for us.

It's a strictly anecdotal observation, but two couples (college buddies and their wives) who have retired in the past few years seem to be suffering from "joined-at-the-hip-itis." I'll ask my friend if he wants to head "up nort" for a few days for some walleye fishing and beer drinking and he'll respond that he's concerned that his DW might not enjoy doing that...... I suggest (as I meant from the beginning) that the gals stay home and do whatever they want and he gasps like a dog wearing a choke collar and his DW has just jerked the leash. This doesn't look like a good thing to me.....

OTOH, my best and most cherished vacations and adventures have been with DW and I assume always will be. And, pre-retirement, we raised a family and now in retirement work in tandem spoiling the grandkids. But, ya gotta have a little time and space and recognize your partner's need for that too.

And that's all I have to say about that......

 

[topretirements]

I really enjoyed reading the discussion and learning about additional problems we didnt bring up - such as health care costs and the problem of 2 people at home all of a sudden. Great stuff. Here is the link to the original "Worst Mistakes" article in case you want to see it in its entirety.

I don't see anything wrong with this at all, unless the retiree is unhappy with it. Seems to me that what the author is REALLY saying, is[

-- Personally I wouldn't be happy working around the house a lot, even if I got to travel a little bit now and then. Besides, there isn't that much to work on around my house and I am unusually unimaginative when it comes to keeping myself occupied.

If working around the house combined with some other outside activities like travel is your thing and it makes you happy - go for it. My thinking on this point was more from the viewpoint that I believe people are generally happier when they have a purpose in life and stay busy with it. You usually get the best purpose with a plan. As long as what you are doing is part of the plan, great. But if you don't know where you are going, you risk floundering and your personal happiness, IMHO.

thanks for the great food for thought!

 

[Meadbh]

As someone who has moved countries (more than once) I have seen quite a few instances of people like me who returned to their countries of birth after retirement. From what I have observed, this can be a really bad move if they have been away for several decades. Their old friends have moved on, rose coloured glasses can't hide the fact that things are not the way they were, expectations are often not met, and they often just don't belong.

 

[Khan]

Thinking you owe anything to anyone.

 

[Texas Proud]

- Retiring to an area where the politics or religion is not a good fit for you.

Boy! I made this mistake myself when I moved first to an outlying area of Houston, and it really affected my stay there. Never again....it's more important than you think.
I should have left when within the first months I was asked to a church service on a Saturday night that included a gay priest in rainbow vestments and folks talking in tongues.
It was the talking in tongues that blew me away as I had always heard about it but never seen it in real life, so when the congregants started speaking--as if on cue--I was at a loss for words. In fact, all I could think of was if the spirit had moved them, why did they all start speaking in tongues when the priest did as if on cue? Wierd....and fake to me.
Just not my thang I guess.

Innercity Houston isn't that openly religioius--despite having 3 of the largest churches in the country there--but not the same the closer you come to the country setting just outside innercity.

What outlying are was this Most of the people around here are very straight Right Wing Christians... my voting precinct wanted to vote in that you could not get a divorce PERIOD... because it was against the bible...

 

[audreyh1]

What outlying are was this Most of the people around here are very straight Right Wing Christians... my voting precinct wanted to vote in that you could not get a divorce PERIOD... because it was against the bible...

OMG!!!!! Not going to share your county are you?

Of course, DH was raised in the famous low population TX county & town where the FDLS built that temple. There was a reason his county was targeted.

Audrey

 

[chinaco]

Good considerations. I have thought about most of them. Regarding the mistakes around where to live... If a couple is making a big change... renting first seems to be the sensible approach. Especially if they are moving to a place where there may be big cultural or social differences.

 

[Kroeran]

one of the interesting aspects of Florida is that in most communities, everyone is new, so you don't have the problem of being the "new outsiders"

for northerners, snowbirding seems to be the pattern a lot of people fall into....you get to escape winter and experience that novelty, but in the summer you go back to your old life, warts and all

part of the issue is deciding if you are going to try to continue to feed the "productivity impulse", or going to transform into something different, possibly higher

my pet theory is that with the new freedom, you more or less get to do what old money has done all along, which is return to feeding the "primal impulses" (ie. fishing, gardening, grandchildren etc), but as well return to the creative impulses set aside in young adulthood, or develop these if that is not an aspect of life you have been engaged in, replacing your one dimensional focus on work and security and discipline (brain left hemisphere things) with a more balanced approach.

I personally think much psychological pathology is caused by neglected and grouchy R-complexes and right hemispheres. People underestimate the reality of this. Look up alien hand syndrome, and you will start to understand how divided our brains truely are.

 

[SarahW]

What outlying are was this Most of the people around here are very straight Right Wing Christians... my voting precinct wanted to vote in that you could not get a divorce PERIOD... because it was against the bible...

Try not to panic. There are just as many heathens in the Houston area as any other place.

 

[Orchidflower]

What outlying are was this Most of the people around here are very straight Right Wing Christians... my voting precinct wanted to vote in that you could not get a divorce PERIOD... because it was against the bible...

I worked innercity and lived in Bellaire, which is in the middle of Houston and 7 minutes to start-drive-and park my car to the main shopping area which is the Galleria, and around there I just did not run into religious nuts. Quite a few Yankees live innercity, so that might have done it..or else I might just have been lucky to avoid them. Bellaire and West University are a different mentality I think.

PLUS, during the last 7 years I was in Houston, the city had the prestigious honor of having more strip clubs (still carries that title) of any city in America AND more spas than any city in America I think (and we ain't talking about Elizabeth Arden's Red Door either, kids); so, unless all the strippers and hookers were ultra-religious.....altho they probably did yell out "oh, God" out alot while "working" I would assume. (Sorry..just cannot get away from that sarcasm.)

I would choose to live with the heathens no matter where I lived, anyway. Your area sounds so...not me, TexasProud. Bless you if you can hack it. I couldn't.

 

[haha]

, unless all the strippers and hookers were ultra-religious.....
altho they probably did yell "oh, God" out alot.

Feeling frisky tonight Orchid?

Ha

 

[Orchidflower]

Feeling frisky tonight Orchid?

Ha

No, but I do feel mighty sarcastic as you can tell....