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Old 04-18-2016, 09:54 AM   #241
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Have you seen your spending decline as you age? Here's yet another study discussing declining spending patterns in later years, but I'm curious as to your real life experience.

Here's How the Average American's Spending Changes in Retirement -- The Motley Fool

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Though two of these three categories point toward relatively high costs while transitioning into retirement, the larger picture is still one of reduced costs. When we factor everyone and everything into our equations, spending drops 13% between our pre-retirees and our transitioning retirees. It drops an additional 25% from there once households are well into retirement (75-plus years old).
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Old 04-18-2016, 10:28 AM   #242
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The observation about simplifying life makes a lot of sense. My father's aunt (whatever the official name of that in relation to me??) recently moved into a senior living place, after downsizing from her apt, which was downsized from a house of many years. She could not be happier and is doing well there. In her mid-80's, she says the others there should do more activities.
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Old 04-18-2016, 11:02 AM   #243
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Aww. Am not quite 60, and have already come to this conclusion!

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Originally Posted by imoldernu View Post
" Le temps, c'est l'étoffe dont la vie est faite", "Time is the stuff of which life is made" or loosely translated as "Time is money"...

There comes a point in time, when money is much less important than peace of mind, and when quality of life becomes a function of time.
.
Not the kind of thing that we think of at age 60 or 70, but a philosophical change of heart that comes in the eighties.
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Old 04-18-2016, 12:02 PM   #244
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We retired at 58 and 53 and our spending on travel, entertainment has gone up. Other costs have gone down. WE want to do things while we can and the studies do show that people spend less $ in their 70's mainly because they don't feel like traveling so much. We are driving less then when we worked and I can imagine by our 70's being able to share a car.
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Old 04-18-2016, 01:39 PM   #245
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Have you seen your spending decline as you age? Here's yet another study discussing declining spending patterns in later years, but I'm curious as to your real life experience.

Here's How the Average American's Spending Changes in Retirement -- The Motley Fool
imoldernu, I didn't post that well. This question was directed at you, given your years in retirement. It would be engightening to contrast your real world experience with the claims made in the article.
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Old 04-19-2016, 07:37 PM   #246
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imoldernu, I didn't post that well. This question was directed at you, given your years in retirement. It would be engightening to contrast your real world experience with the claims made in the article.
Maybe not as definitive as the article.
Re: housing... no mortgage so as to the part of our budget being equal to before retirement?.... actually quite a bit lower than the article posits. We bought a fairly new house in 2004, that was built in 2000. 1600 s.f., built specifically with features for the aged. Relatively low price in an upper class (in our town) neighborhood. $143K. Same house in Chicago suburb (Naperville) approximately $300K... (Our town family income $48K... Naperville $108K).
Conclusion? Location kept the price low, and as a newer home, less cost for repairs. Total since moving in.... $185 furnace control, $450 new Water Heater. $65 roof shingle repair. Our taxes... after tax freeze and homestead exemption $2458. The cost and the location were a major part of our later year planning.

Re Social Security... Played a BIG part in our plans, when we began receiving $23K at age 62. Alternative, was to spend taxable assets. Transportation?... Up until age about age 72, was a normal 15K miles/yr. Since then, a steady drop to about 6K mile/yr. Also, since most of our travel in the later years is local and low speed, our 20 year old cars look good, and run well. No major expenses. Actual cost to own over the period we've had the cars... exclusive insurance, registration, fuel and normal oil changes, comes to a total of $1306 per year. That includes purchase price and depreciation.

Re:Medical Expenses... For the two of us... When we retired in 1989, our expenses were about $11k plus additional out of pocket of perhaps $2000 for copays, dental and eyecare. That $13K total today would be approximately $25K, using CPI inflation. In fact, our total medical expenses (using Medicare A.B. and D, plus the out of pocket costs... the actual comes to just about $13K. Part of this could be luck... reasonable health.

Overall, though I'm coming at this from a slightly different perspective, am not sure that the housing and medical cost factors in the article apply to my own situation.

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Old 04-19-2016, 08:07 PM   #247
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Thank you! Yes, housing and medical are two cost areas I'm trying to control as much as possible. In the case of medical, through diet/exercise, and careful monitoring of health (though health will always be the wild card in retirement planning as you just never know). I'll control housing costs by moving to a lower COL area (which won't be at all hard moving from the area of Los Angeles that I'm in).

Thank you again for your real life perspective!
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Old 06-05-2016, 08:24 AM   #248
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Sharing one day of my life from 1996 at age 60.

Preface
Living in our retirement park for 7 years, very active, and full of fun. We were still among the younger members of our community. I bought a refurbished 1973 20ft. Starcraft runabout, and kept it in our 53 slip marina, on Lake Griffin.
The lake is about 2 miles across and 8 miles long, but very shallow with an average depth of about 10 feet. The boat was classified as "fiberglas" but not the same fiberglas that we know today. It was simply a glassy fiberglas finish over a wood body.
Now, one more thing. Lake Griffin is well known for a large alligator population. Whether a gator or a log, I hit something hard @ about 40 m.p.h., and it left a thin crack on the bottom... almost unseeable, but 20 inches long and... a very small leak. I patched it with liquid fiberglas, and figured all was good.

The Adventure
DW and I would day-trip, exploring the five connected lakes and 212 miles of shoreline. One day, just across the lake, in a marshy area, we came across a giant alligator, which I named "Bubba". Estimate at about 14+ft. long and round as a barrel. We talked about it one day, while bobbing in our community pool, along with some slightly older ladies (widows). Always willing to share, I invited the five ladies for a gator viewing trip in my boat. The next day, we embarked on our adventure... Just me, and five (somewhat overweight) women.
Bubba lived next to the Methodist Camp, about 2 miles across the lake. Our trip across the lake (see map) was a little slower than usual, because of the added weight in the boat. I noticed that there was a little water coming out of the bilge outlet, but thought nothing of it.
As we neared the camp, I thought the boat seemed a little logy... We did manage to see Bubba, but as I looked at the stern of the boat, (open area below the rear seats), I noticed that there was water... several inches.
"Okay, ladies... we've got to go back". Protestations... wanted to see more.
As I gunned the boat, and started to go back, I realized the boat was porpoising...
Uh-oh... The extra weight cracked my fiberglas patch, and was filling the boat with water... and rapidly. The ladies didn't know this, and had no idea of what was going on. Because that part of the lake was all marsh, no place to beach the boat, except in the gator's home base.
With no word to the ladies, and in a wild inner panic, I decided to go for the nearest dock... across the lake but nowhere near home.
By now the boat was bouncing... nose up and down maybe four feet at a time.
"Slow down, Bob... this isn't fun!"
If they only knew how close they were to sinking, and being eaten by wild gators! But I smiled... "Enjoy the ride!.
As we neared the old, unused dock in an old mobile home park, the water was rising above the floor boards, and my ladyfriends' feet were getting wet. By the time we came alongside the rotting old dock, which was about six feet above the water level (lake was low)... the boat was sinking fast.
"Alright, Everyone... out of the boat, and up on the dock."

Unbelief! "What do you mean?" Two minutes of 'this can't be happening' and now the boat was on the bottom, with two feet of water inside. Five minutes of getting my healthy weight friends, up on the dock. All modesty aside, bum boosts and push and scramble and roll till they were all were on the now swaying dock. Missing boards and very shaky... but all safe. A walk to the nearest mobile home and a call to my buddy to pick up the ladies...
An adventure to tell the families about.

Denouement
It doesn't stop there. How to recover a sunken boat, with the engine under water? We had heard of a similar case, where a small barge had to be brought in, to retrieve a sunken boat. Cost... $1,000 at the time, a small fortune.... 'specially for frugal us. No way!. My buddy, "Dick" and I puszzled it out. We went to Walmart, and bought three small bilge pumps, and two marine batteries. An hour of hooking them up, and two hours of pumping, and the boat was almost empty.
The moment of truth... try to start the 351 Ford Interceptor Engine...
Success!... first try...
Now the most exciting part of the whole trip. Boat still leaking. The plan... to go across the two mile run back to our marina. Me at the wheel, and Dick in the stern, managing three bilge hose over the side. We looked like a fire boat. Full speed ahead. Started off fine... for the first mile. then, as the water gained on us, the boat began porpoising... "Whump, whump, whump!". The last hundred yards were the worst. My slip was on the inside of an "F" shaped marina, and we had to slow. The slips had sling lifts, to raise the boat out of the water to avoid the choppy waves on a shallow lake. As we neared the slip, I realized the sling was up too high to allow the boat to float in. Jumped out and turned on the lowering switch... Just in time. Actually, not quite... as we only got 3/4 of the way in, but just enough to hold the boat, and avoid that thousand dollar barge fee to lift it from the bottom.
END

Posting here, as I want to keep the memory, and to link it for my kids, who have never heard the story.
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Old 06-05-2016, 09:24 AM   #249
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Awesome Story Sir Imoldernu!

Love your style of story telling....EXCELLENT!!
For a while i was scared that the boat will capsize and the alligator would have a nice healthy lunch. So glad that it had a happy ending.

As always thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
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Old 06-05-2016, 09:41 AM   #250
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Awesome Story Sir Imoldernu!

Love your style of story telling....EXCELLENT!!
For a while i was scared that the boat will capsize and the alligator would have a nice healthy lunch. So glad that it had a happy ending.

As always thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom.
+1
That was a great yarn!
Consider putting a link in the "Mistakes....." thread!
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Old 06-05-2016, 10:23 AM   #251
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Wow, Imoldernu, make my bad run in the woods story kind of insignificant!

I'll bet those heavyweight ladies didn't ever get in a boat with you again!
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Old 06-05-2016, 11:04 AM   #252
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Good story. Those gators would have had a feast if the boat had sunk in their backyard.
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Old 06-05-2016, 02:45 PM   #253
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.............I'll bet those heavyweight ladies didn't ever get in a boat with you again!
I think this belongs in the "Why do people care if I'm fat" thread.
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Old 08-11-2016, 05:40 PM   #254
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I may have mentioned some of my neighbors who still live alone in a Villa (regular home) in our CCRC. In particular, my next door neighbor, who is 90, is still mentally alert, but failing in strength and general health. She is mentally independent, but needs help. While her "children" aged 65+, try to help, it's becoming a struggle.

So it's coming down to reality... What to do? Wanna stay home, wanna be independent, brain works, body doesn't.

Move to a CCRC apartment?. Only works for full ability to live without any help at all. Sadly, even in the case of a fall, it's 911 emergency, and employees are not legally allowed to give aid.

Assisted living?... Yeah, maybe, but giving up the home. Assisted living is good for help with medications, help with showering, and some housekeeping. No Nursing or MD. care. This is a good alternative, but the annual rate is now commonly more than $50K.

Nursing home?... Most residents in bed. Little social interaction. Frustration.

Home health care or companion care. This is often advertised as a less costly alternative to leaving the home.

Today I visited our local Home Care corporation. While the options are wide, with respect to the type of care/companionship/housework/shopping etc.... there is no medical authority for medications, diagnosis or treatment. The minimum and usual cost is three hours at $22 per hour. The cost is the same for any of the functions, including companionship. This works for many, for extended periods, beyond recovery from a medical procedure or for the aid-family vacation... the cost can be expensive.
$528 per day.
$3700 per week.
$193,00 per year.
.................................................. .........................
My purpose in posting here is to share my initial thoughts about what we may be facing in the future. It's stuff we don't like to think about, but almost a necessity for a couple who is/are aging. None of this is an either /or decision, but a decision that often comes on without warning.

I'll begin a new thread for discussion. Missing link - Companion Care... for further discussion of another alternative.
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Old 08-11-2016, 05:50 PM   #255
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There was a guy on CNBC the other day with a startup that seemed to mimic Uber or Angie's List but for in-home caregivers. Seemed like it could be an option for some. The outfit was expanding from CA to TX with plans to go nationwide.


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Old 08-11-2016, 06:13 PM   #256
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I had good experience with in home care. It's not usually needed 24/7. If you need it 24/7, you probably need a nursing home.

A typical would be arrive at 8 to get out of bed, dressed and in front of the TV. Breakfast and house clean followed by lunch and leave at one. Back at supper time (5), clean up put to bed at nine. Nine hours a day.

Patient wears one button medic alert around neck or on wrist.
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Old 08-11-2016, 07:44 PM   #257
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I had good experience with in home care. It's not usually needed 24/7. If you need it 24/7, you probably need a nursing home.

A typical would be arrive at 8 to get out of bed, dressed and in front of the TV. Breakfast and house clean followed by lunch and leave at one. Back at supper time (5), clean up put to bed at nine. Nine hours a day.

Patient wears one button medic alert around neck or on wrist.
+1 Yes, I have seen this work for several of my friends who have been coordinating in-home care for their parents. Also, my sister-in-law works as an RN/Geriatric Care Manager for an agency in FL that provides in-home care. She describes this as an approach that does reduce costs for families, allowing the savings to last longer.
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Old 12-24-2016, 11:50 AM   #258
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checking in

Though it's been some time since my last "official visit" I have signed on as a guest to touch base from time to time, to more or less keep up with the subjects I'm interested in.

For those who may still remember my meanderings, season's greetings, and kudo's for staying the course. The forum becomes part of life, and provides a great place to trade and learn... a community that widens our circumscribed lives.

Anyway, an update:
DW and I are well into our 81st year of life, and beginning our 28th year of happy retirement. Health is okay, and we don't dwell on the infirmities that do accompany "old" age, considering the alternatives. Just checked our life expectancy (when we were born) and see were were only supposed to live to age 61, so we beat the plan by 20 years already.

Still living in our Liberty Village home in Peru and still have our lake place at Woodhaven (my "man cave"), and our Florida home in Lake Griffin Harbor, though we'll sell as soon as our kids find a permanent home in FL. They're using our place as a base while they decide. I'll go back for a week or so in January to set plans to sell.

BTW... absolutely no regrets about moving to our LV CCRC home. Carefree living, and every amenity imaginable within 3 miles.

I haven't gone to any of the financial threads, as our die is cast, and we no longer even think about money. Nice part about this is that despite our plans to "spend down" our total net worth has not changed since the beginning of our complete retirement back in 1989. Most of this good fortune has come from our expenses staying below our interests and needs. Many posts ago, on this thread, I listed what we "don't spend money on", and this hasn't changed.

Poking around the recent Social Security thread caused me to calculate how much we have received (today's dollar) since taking SS @ age 62....
DW at 1/2 of mine, the total to date is $785+K. Not an insignificant amount, considering our frugal lifestyle, and definitely the right move for us, while we were getting good returns on our savings.

That said, we were the "lucky ones", the "silent generation", when, despite the wars, it was a time of stability and gentility, and... a much slower pace.

All in all, maybe what we did by taking ER way back when, is not applicable today, but we are eternally grateful for the many years of living in a country where this was possible. I dearly hope my children and grandchildren will have the same opportunity.
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Old 12-24-2016, 11:59 AM   #259
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A Merry Christmas to you too.
And thanks for the inspirational thread.
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Old 12-24-2016, 11:59 AM   #260
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That said, we were the "lucky ones", the "silent generation", when, despite the wars, it was a time of stability and gentility, and... a much slower pace.
Amen. Our next door neighbor, German born, in his late 70s, perhaps early 80s, said to me some time back "We (our age group collectively, born just before or during WWII but too young to participate in it) lived in the best possible times"......I suspect he was right.

Merry Christmas all.
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