Here Are 27 Reality Checks About Retirement

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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Actually the Yahoo Article is titled 27 Ugly Truths About Retirement. All of these may not apply to everyone and some deserve consideration. Included are
#8 You might regret skipping Roth IRA contributions
#12 Most people will need long term care
#14 Inflation can eat away at your nest egg
#22 & 23 Your adult children could derail your retirement plans & as could your aging parents
#25 You'll have to talk to your children about your end of life care decisions
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/27-ugly-truths-retirement-200001549.html
 

OneEyedDiva said:
Actually the Yahoo Article is titled 27 Ugly Truths About Retirement. All of these may not apply to everyone and some deserve consideration. Included are
#8 You might regret skipping Roth IRA contributions
#12 Most people will need long term care
#14 Inflation can eat away at your nest egg
#22 & 23 Your adult children could derail your retirement plans & as could your aging parents
#25 You'll have to talk to your children about your end of life care decisions
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/27-ugly-truths-retirement-200001549.html
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Thanks for this informative article! So much to think about as we age!
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Actually the Yahoo Article is titled 27 Ugly Truths About Retirement. All of these may not apply to everyone and some deserve consideration. Included are
#8 You might regret skipping Roth IRA contributions
#12 Most people will need long term care
#14 Inflation can eat away at your nest egg
#22 & 23 Your adult children could derail your retirement plans & as could your aging parents
#25 You'll have to talk to your children about your end of life care decisions
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/27-ugly-truths-retirement-200001549.html
Click to expand...
Or you might miss the buzz that you enjoyed at work so much, you went back to the daily grind. That and the fact that you were offered a salary that made you change your ideas of retiring. ££££££££
 
This data is very interesting, too:

Age 90 isn't some wild outlier. The SOA's data suggests that a 65-year-old male today, in average health, has a 35% chance of living to 90; for a woman the odds are 46%. If our two 65-year-olds live together, there is a 50% chance both will still be alive 16 years later, and that one will survive 27 years.Jun 28, 2019
 
Lots of things for young people to consider, but it's already too late for most of us old folks to make significant changes in our retirement resources.

Number 26. You'll Need To Discuss Your Wealth Transfer Plans mixed in amongst all of the doom and gloom made me laugh.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt
 
I dispute #12. Here in Canada, less than 20% of the population end up in long term care. That means that the chances of you living indepently in a home or apartment are pretty good. People who end in long term care are those that live to a ripe old age or are those who have multi health issues. Remember most of us die way before reaching the age of 90. Right now apparently 75% of the people dying from "Covid19" issues are obese or are diabetic.
 
I'm not part of their head down in a hole target audience though, "14. Inflation Can Eat Away at Your Nest Egg", applies since I do have money in the bank even though I didn't make much effort to save a nest egg until my last career decade. Never much interested in money beyond supporting my frugal active adventurous outdoor lifestyle. Before the 2001 Dot Com implosion had several hundred k accrued in stock options that all went underwater.

To that list a huge missing add would be that many retirees have so poorly maintained health and fitness after passing 40 years that by time they reach 65, have far less options on being able to actively enjoy their lives. Something mere money cannot buy.
 
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horseless carriage said:
Or you might miss the buzz that you enjoyed at work so much, you went back to the daily grind. That and the fact that you were offered a salary that made you change your ideas of retiring. ££££££££
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A lot of people do miss working. In that case, going back will enhance the benefits and income received during "retirement".
@palides2021 I'm glad you found the article useful.
@Alligatorob Nothing worse than being old and poor, so I don't advise spending it all now. :sneaky:
@Packerjohn I've seen so many articles over the past few years stating that 65% of us will wind up needing long term care. That's a scary number; I like Canada's stats better. But I wonder if the 65% includes people who need rehabilitation in a facility, in which case it wouldn't necessarily be long term.
@Liberty, You are right. My (non biological) parents..mother lived to be 97, father to 84. One of his brothers (my grand uncle) to age 90 and their sister, who was actually my grandmother...to 85. My great grandfather lived to be 99.
 
Packerjohn said:
I dispute #12. Here in Canada, less than 20% of the population end up in long term care. That means that the chances of you living indepently in a home or apartment are pretty good. People who end in long term care are those that live to a ripe old age or are those who have multi health issues. Remember most of us die way before reaching the age of 90. Right now apparently 75% of the people dying from "Covid19" issues are obese or are diabetic.
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Except are you then one on the wrong side of the statistic? My dad was …

he needed care for 5 years impoverishing his 2nd wife .

odds of dying young are minuscule yet many have life insurance when raising a family …

statistics mean little to us humans …we only have to two outcomes.

its us bad stuff happened to or it isn’t.

insurers can tell us how many of us will die each year , but they can’t tell us who
 
Liberty said:
This data is very interesting, too:

Age 90 isn't some wild outlier. The SOA's data suggests that a 65-year-old male today, in average health, has a 35% chance of living to 90; for a woman the odds are 46%. If our two 65-year-olds live together, there is a 50% chance both will still be alive 16 years later, and that one will survive 27 years.Jun 28, 2019
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Yep , people make the mistake of looking at life expectancy from birth which is like 79 …

that does not apply to older ages where the weak and sickly are already gone so life expectancy goes out way more .

it is also increased for couples since you have two horses in the race with one bet and either can outrun the other

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old medic said:
I was offered the opportunity to work 24 hours yesterday for nearly $1300.... thought hard about it for nearly 30 seconds...

Good read Diva
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Thanks Old Medic...glad you think so. And you chose.......? My guess is not to. :unsure: (Cause that's how long it takes me to say Naaaaah, when thinking about getting a PT job).
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Thanks Old Medic...glad you think so. And you chose.......? My guess is not to. :unsure: (Cause that's how long it takes me to say Naaaaah, when thinking about getting a PT job).
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NO.... but for several reasons....
1st is I'm in a window before my pension starts, and working would have cancelled it and I would need to start over... 3-4 months
2nd It was right after the winter storm... worked enough of that BS over the years...
I'm seriously considering going back part time some..... Basically just to add max money into a tIRA and Health Saving Account Tax deferred.
We also plan on rolling max money within our tax bracket from our 401K to a Roth account each year.
 
@OneEyedDiva, thank you for posting this. It's very informative.

I have a detailed budget on an Excel spreadsheet on which I have tried to capture my expenses and income for the next 15 years (God willing I live that long or even longer). There are a few realities for me.

Social Security: Because of my health history, I don't feel comfortable waiting until 70 to draw SS. So I plan on taking it at my full retirement age (which is this year).
Investments: I am extremely risk-adverse when it comes to investing which means my investments earn modest (think 'very little') interest.
Housing: Cost of home ownership and maintenance is more than I anticipated but I love my house so much and feel so blessed to have it that I'm willing to cut out other things
Inflation: That one speaks for itself. It's a budget buster.

I hope to grow gracefully into old age and not be poor. It will take constant vigilance on my part to achieve this.
 
Leann said:
@OneEyedDiva, thank you for posting this. It's very informative.

I have a detailed budget on an Excel spreadsheet on which I have tried to capture my expenses and income for the next 15 years (God willing I live that long or even longer). There are a few realities for me.

Social Security: Because of my health history, I don't feel comfortable waiting until 70 to draw SS. So I plan on taking it at my full retirement age (which is this year).
Investments: I am extremely risk-adverse when it comes to investing which means my investments earn modest (think 'very little') interest.
Housing: Cost of home ownership and maintenance is more than I anticipated but I love my house so much and feel so blessed to have it that I'm willing to cut out other things
Inflation: That one speaks for itself. It's a budget buster.

I hope to grow gracefully into old age and not be poor. It will take constant vigilance on my part to achieve this.
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Leann I'm glad you found the article helpful, so you're welcome of course. Congratulations on having a handle on what's important to you and your how to manage your spending. I'm the somewhat the opposite of risk adverse and guess, but that's because I don't need to touch my investment. I can be considered moderately aggressive leaning more to the aggressive side.

With a history of health issues, it's understandable that you wouldn't want to wait that long. I hope you will live a good, long life. During the decades I suffered with atrial fibrillation (from age 28 to 69), I honestly didn't think I'd live this long and certainly never expected to outlive my husband. Since your investments earn very little interest, it may be hard to keep pace with inflation. You are wise to make the cuts necessary to balance your budget.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Leann I'm glad you found the article helpful, so you're welcome of course. Congratulations on having a handle on what's important to you and your how to manage your spending. I'm the somewhat the opposite of risk adverse and guess, but that's because I don't need to touch my investment. I can be considered moderately aggressive leaning more to the aggressive side.

With a history of health issues, it's understandable that you wouldn't want to wait that long. I hope you will live a good, long life. During the decades I suffered with atrial fibrillation (from age 28 to 69), I honestly didn't think I'd live this long and certainly never expected to outlive my husband. Since your investments earn very little interest, it may be hard to keep pace with inflation. You are wise to make the cuts necessary to balance your budget.
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Thanks so much. I wish I could be a little more aggressive with my investments but I'm walking a fine line. I probably invested too much in renovating my house which means I depleted some accounts much faster than I had planned and I have some health issues that could wind up costing more in the future if additional treatments and meds are needed. So, with what I have left in my investments, I have to be careful which makes me risk adverse. And, as you mention, inflation is difficult to keep pace with.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Actually the Yahoo Article is titled 27 Ugly Truths About Retirement. All of these may not apply to everyone and some deserve consideration. Included are
#8 You might regret skipping Roth IRA contributions
#12 Most people will need long term care
#14 Inflation can eat away at your nest egg
#22 & 23 Your adult children could derail your retirement plans & as could your aging parents
#25 You'll have to talk to your children about your end of life care decisions
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/27-ugly-truths-retirement-200001549.html
Click to expand...

#12 Most people will need long term care

If you have assets you want to protect LTC insurance is a good thing, in my opinion.
 
Leann said:
Thanks so much. I wish I could be a little more aggressive with my investments but I'm walking a fine line. I probably invested too much in renovating my house which means I depleted some accounts much faster than I had planned and I have some health issues that could wind up costing more in the future if additional treatments and meds are needed. So, with what I have left in my investments, I have to be careful which makes me risk adverse. And, as you mention, inflation is difficult to keep pace with.
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I think everyone has to do what allows them to be able to sleep at night when it comes to investing and risk. Under your circumstances, I can understand you not wanting to take on too much risk.
 
I hate the stock market. Almost 6 months of retirement and everything looks good, and the stock market takes a big dump. I am careful with my money, but after watching the stock market, I am eating beans and rice and rice and beans. The IRA I have is a mutual fund and there is nearly nothing I can do with it. The only option would be to take it out of the stock market. Can't do that now until it recovers my lost money which could be a long time. My financial guy had to talk me off the ledge. He calmed me down, but to save my sanity I don't look at it as often now. I could survive without the money in the market, but it would be more difficult. :mad:
 
chrislind2 said:
I hate the stock market. Almost 6 months of retirement and everything looks good, and the stock market takes a big dump. I am careful with my money, but after watching the stock market, I am eating beans and rice and rice and beans. The IRA I have is a mutual fund and there is nearly nothing I can do with it. The only option would be to take it out of the stock market. Can't do that now until it recovers my lost money which could be a long time. My financial guy had to talk me off the ledge. He calmed me down, but to save my sanity I don't look at it as often now. I could survive without the money in the market, but it would be more difficult. :mad:
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No one knows how long to recover ..2008 was almost recovered in a year ….2000 adjusted for inflation was 12 years ….

but so what .,,even at 65 there is money that won’t be used to eat for 20-30 years …that is the money that goes in to equities .

a 60/40 portfolio has more then a decade in bonds and cash.

are you saying all your retirement money is in equities late in the game ? That is not a market issue if that is the case it’s a poor planning issue …

I suggest you read kitces article on the red zone…

if one is a few year out from retirement then 100% equities is likely not a good idea

https://www.kitces.com/blog/managing-portfolio-size-effect-with-bond-tent-in-retirement-red-zone/
 

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