Realistic expenses over the long haul rant

[Walt34]

Classic story of the person at Lowes. I had the same conversation with a incredibly positive and lively older person working at a local grocery store.

I worked with a few guys like that at my last job - all were retired law enforcement. Several were millionaires and clearly didn't need the money.

 

[Mulligan]

I worked with a few guys like that at my last job - all were retired law enforcement. Several were millionaires and clearly didn't need the money.

My dad pushing 80 finally after a couple of bad health years, has finally reached his goal of being able to go back to work barbering... 5 days a week, 4 hours a day... And gives the money he makes back to the owner of the shop.. Doesn't want to pay taxes... I must have been adopted. I retired at 45 and certainly do not like to work and if I did I wouldn't do it for fee.


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[BellBarbara]

My husband drives a paid route for Meals on Wheels every other week. I think if he stopped doing that, he would look for something else. He has trouble being idle for too long. Not me!

 

[seraphim]

Too many other things to do besides w@$k. I had always figured I'd find another job to help tide us through early retirement, but it turns out I had overestimated our needs, and have no need to be more frugal. I'm not a social person - I can fake it for short periods of time, but most people, in person, tend to irritate me. Being a Walmart greeter would be a form of purgatory. Probably wouldn't last 4 hours lol.


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[FUEGO]

I have been following the responses and appreciate all who have contributed. Some, like California Man, have described my situation better than I could myself. Others like Fuego and Nords (both of whom I respect from following their posts the last several years) challenge me to look deeper at the cost benefit of my budget. All in all, I like the banter and it certainly has fostered me to do what I feel I do best and that is self evaluation and adjustment to create a better Balance.

I always enjoy seeing others' budgets and seeing where they differ from mine. And I think it's natural to examine whether you have found that right balance between materially providing for yourself and your kids versus retiring early thereby foregoing additional earnings. Who really knows if we made the right choice until life is over?

 

[Lucantes]

The stream of consciousness method of posting is REALLY hard to read. Use real sentences separated by periods if you want folks to take it seriously (please).

Oh goody, the grammer police are here to save us from ourselves!

 

[GTFan]

That's grammar fer ya.

 

[seraphim]

My Grammer's dead - she died of old age...


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[seraphim]

...she wasn't in the police, though.


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[Lucantes]

My Grammer's dead - she died of old age...

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Too many other things to do besides w@$k. I had always figured I'd find another job to help tide us through early retirement, but it turns out I had overestimated our needs, and have no need to be more frugal. I'm not a social person - I can fake it for short periods of time, but most people, in person, tend to irritate me. Being a Walmart greeter would be a form of purgatory. Probably wouldn't last 4 hours lol.


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I confess to certain fantasies of, after FI, taking certain jobs and performing them with complete honesty and candor. Knowing that my employment might be measured in minutes...

 

[Options]

One issue I've run across is the disparity in retirement heatlhcare estimates. Fidelity's latest estimate for a couple's lifetime health expenses is steady from last year at $220K. OTOH, the FIDO calculator on their site provides an estimate of around $8K annually for health costs for an individual. Both contradictory estimates include medical, dental, medicare parts A, B, D premiums, prescription co-pays, dental, etc. A pretty cool new healthcare costs calculator on the AARP website (sorry, can't post link on this IPAD) gives yet another estimate. Polls on this and the BH site indicate people spend around $5K on average for healthcare. So yes, I have to agree with OP it is entirely possible to underestimate (and conversely, overestimate) retirement expenses.