What's the worst piece and the best piece of retirement advice you've ever received?

The best was from an office mate who told me how I could have HR do a retirement draft for me. The draft revealed I could retire a few years earlier than I thought possible. I submitted my notice shortly after getting that draft.

Ironically, my office mate retired because I told him he could keep his present health insurance until age 65. Otherwise he would have waited a few years too.
 

The worse advice came from an insurance agent. When we first retired back in 2001, we didn't know much about supplemental policies, etc., so we went to an insurance agent that specialized in Medicare. She asked us all kinds of questions and one of them was about what medications did we take. At the time, neither one of us took anything. She said, "Well, since you don't have any prescriptions, you don't need to get the Rx part of a plan." We believed her and did just that.

Then, in 2012, my husband fell and shattered his ankle. After his first surgery and I was taking him home, the nurse came in with a Rx for shots to give him to prevent blood clots. It was very expensive and we told her we didn't have Rx coverage. The hospital had to set up a "welfare" account for us so we could get this drug and all the rest of his drugs.

Then, we got a letter from Medicare that we would be having a late fee taken out of our SS to compensate for no Rx plan. We changed plans right after that but that fee continues today.
 
dilettante said:
I've never made up my mind on long term care insurance. Too late now to really be affordable, and I may not even have "long term" to be worried about. That said, I don't feel ready to keel over in a year despite my health issues.
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Me either though I'd rather die than go into a nursing home. Fate worse than death. I've lived a full life and I'll continue to appreciate the good in life for however long I have left but I'm also not afraid of death. Dying becasue it will be painful and/or uncomfortable but not death. I don't believe in hell so what's there to be afraid of dying?

It's rather like before you were born. I just won't exist. I've lived a full life and enjoyed my life over all so I'm also content with the life I've lived. I've had some bad things happen to me but so has everyone. That doesn't make me special. We all also have good things happen to us. The key is being able to appreciate the good and make the most of them while dealing with the bad.

Cue the Blood, Sweat and Tears:

 

Not to leave any money for your children (in my case, my child). I took two pre-retirement seminars given by the state of N.J. for it's employees. They were about a year apart and given by two different presenters. They both said the same thing. I absolutely want to leave something for my son and grandchildren. Not only that, if I spent all my money and wound up needing it for...say...nursing home or at home care, what then?

The best pieces of advice, I gave myself.
~Pay myself first; save and invest a good chunk of my earnings
~Retire debt free
~Continue my savings & investment plan even after reirement
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Not to leave any money for your children (in my case, my child). I took two pre-retirement seminars given by the state of N.J. for it's employees. They were about a year apart and given by two different presenters. They both said the same thing. I absolutely want to leave something for my son and grandchildren. Not only that, if I spent all my money and wound up needing it for...say...nursing home or at home care, what then?

The best pieces of advice, I gave myself.
~Pay myself first; save and invest a good chunk of my earnings
~Retire debt free
~Continue my savings & investment plan even after reirement
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I find this to be very reasonable and well thought out planning.
 
From a supervisor over 40 years ago: keep a large gap between your income and expenses.
From a book: you trade your life energy for money.
I retired as soon as I was eligible for a state pension based on points. Also took SS at 62. I value my life energy.
About bad advice, I don’t listen to it. I quit a club because one of the captains told me 62 was too young to retire, along with other unsolicited advice. None of his &)@! business.
 
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OneEyedDiva said:
Not to leave any money for your children (in my case, my child). I took two pre-retirement seminars given by the state of N.J. for it's employees. They were about a year apart and given by two different presenters. They both said the same thing. I absolutely want to leave something for my son and grandchildren. Not only that, if I spent all my money and wound up needing it for...say...nursing home or at home care, what then?
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My mother and my in-laws left their children nice inheritances, some of which we've already shared with our children. The portion DH & I kept is part of our safety net.

Our parents were depression era children who started their adult lives at zero. Their accumulated assets of some savings plus paid off homes were earned by the sweat of their brows. We treat the gifts they left us with the utmost of respect and gratitude.

We hope and expect to leave our children nice inheritances, as well. None would squander it, just as we haven't done with what our parents left us.
 
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Guess this might fit into the second part about best retirement advice.

When I married my wife in the 80's, I was seriously considering getting out of the military
and starting a new life/career.
The pay was a lot lower than what the civilian work force was making and I wanted to start a family in a better position.
Growing up in a military family, not sure I wanted to put my new family through all the moves and stress it caused.
She reminded me that we could handle the military life together, to enjoy the time we had together.

She reminded me about how much I enjoyed the military life and that I probably won't be happy after a time,
doing anything else.
She also said I'd be in my early 40's if I retired after 20 years service and there was plenty of time to
start a career after that.

She made a lot of sense and I listened to her, we made it through and built some great memories.
 
I had to think about this question for a while. The only "retirement" advice I was given wasn't actually specific to retirement, just to make sure you didn't run out of money at some point when you're old. And, of course, that meant "building a nest-egg," which I did.

My grandfathers worked until they were well into their 70s and sold their businesses and properties. One was a farmer, the other a gunsmith with about a dozen acres in the Sierra Mountains. They and then their widows lived comfortably on that.

My dad worked until he had a major stroke when he was in his mid-70s. My brother arranged a reverse mortgage on our parent's house, and dad and mom lived comfortably on their equity and their social security benefits.

So, the advice I got boils down to examples.
 
StarSong said:
My mother and my in-laws left their children nice inheritances, some of which we've already shared with our children. The portion DH & I kept is part of our safety net.

Our parents were depression era children who started their adult lives at zero. Their accumulated assets of some savings plus paid off homes were earned by the sweat of their brows. We treat the gifts they left us with the utmost of respect and gratitude.

We hope and expect to leave our children nice inheritances, as well. None would squander it, just as we haven't done with what our parents left us.
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I hear ya Star. I intend to leave an inheritance, with most going to my son, unless I wind up having to be in a nursing home for a few years. That possibility is one of the reasons why I've continued saving and investing aggressively over the years. My son and loved ones said they would never put me in a home, but I said that about my mother and wound up having to do so because my heart condition (since corrected), at that time was often debilitating. But now my insurance covers almost the entire cost of at home care for an unlimited amount of time, so I've told my son to use that option if I ever become severely ill.

My son is a wonderful one...a real gentleman. He's affectionate, devoted and a lot of fun. He often expresses gratitude for how I raised him, the sacrifices I made and even exposing him to culture and great music. Plus he's saving me literally thousands on studio time. 🤓 Why wouldn't I want to leave him a nice cushion? I wonder what kind of children those presenters at the retirement seminars had.
 
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After reading a few retirement books, the worst idea we tried was buying a small rental house in our community. Having to deal with renters who may or may not be consistent with paying their rent, makes you hate being a landlord and dislike people a lot. Stressful, money pit after a few years. Would never do that again. Even my own mom had a rental house for about ten years and she would never do it again.
 
Debrah N. said:
After reading a few retirement books, the worst idea we tried was buying a small rental house in our community. Having to deal with renters who may or may not be consistent with paying their rent, makes you hate being a landlord and dislike people a lot. Stressful, money pit after a few years. Would never do that again. Even my own mom had a rental house for about ten years and she would never do it again.
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Neither would we. Had one for a few years and made money. It wasn’t worth the aggravations.
 
Put the on the. street $$$'s in the Roth account every time ya have Sex.....
Doesn't matter if you married or single....Keep it all yours.

Worst advise Everday!
Live everyday as if it was your last because it is!

When it comes time to retire, look about you. Do you feel good about 9-5, 3-11, 11-7, 3-7 or whatever? Well do you? What if you get it in the nose mid day today . Are you ok with ending it that way. Well are you? You decide, its up to you. I would still be at my job if I was 35 forever. haha!















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DebraMae said:
Nobody gave me advice. I read and researched and did what I could with what I had. I retired debt free with a paid off house and live on SS and a small pension with small savings that I use and add back to as necessary. I retired at 61 and and in the 12 years since then have never regretted it.
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It's very admirable that you did your due diligence regarding retirement and retired debt free. That's the way to go.

@Debrah N. I'm sorry you experienced that. I've always been leery about owning rental property for that very reason. My honorary son, who I had warned about buying a multi unit home and a good friend told me some real horror stories. Owning rental properties is touted as easy income, but that isn't the case for everybody.
 
Live below your means and save as much as you can - pretty standard advice...

We always bought new vehicles, maintained them properly, paid them off soon as possible and then drove them forever. In later years, we just paid Cash unless 0% financing was offered.

I will say that I regret being gone for most of the time while our children were growing up - but I had to work to support the family....so there's that.
It's hard to balance supporting your family vs being home every night.
At least it was for me working the Oilpatch for near to 45 year.
 
A friend has over twenty rental properties and he doesn’t use a management company! Technically, he is retired from 9-5 work and has a government pension BUT, those properties have him on the run at all hours. Not for me. We had two that we sold twenty years ago. Too many headaches. Why does everything break on Sunday night?
 
The dumbest advice was start collecting your Social Security at 62 (even though you'll be locked in at about 75% of your benefit for the rest of your life). The reason was that you'll get back all of what you paid into Social Security all of your life. Which of course is nonsense. Add to that, the people who said that were still working part time. So they were still paying into Social Security. :LOL:🤣😆😂
 
Best advice was from a Fidelity account advisor. If starting to draw on my 401k at 59 1/2 because the way it was set up the funds would be depleted by the time I reached age 74. His advice was to convert the 401k into self directed traditional IRA's. That way I could increase the money tax free & if needed pay taxes on whatever was withdrawn. Turns out there was no need the IRA's built nicely. When I reached 72 1/2 & was forced to begin withdrawl under the mandatory required distribution goverment grab money law the distribution means we live comfortably.

Drawing my Soc. Sec. at 62 gave us the ability to not need to draw on my IRA's. 20 years later I'm still drawing on Soc. Sec. By various media articles explaining the typical payments at different ages my payments are above average so drawing early has been good for us.

The same advice applies to my wife's 401k & Soc. Sec.

Income per month 2 soc. sec. 2 each IRA MRD's & way back when employers provided pension plans we both have that source incoming. So with only high school educations, listening to an educated Fidelity advisor has worked out well for us.

As for bad advice. None
 
While having a 46-year career I told a friend at work that, "I think I will retire in the spring."
He said, "I would if I could." 10 years younger than me he did 10 years later. Haha

So, "enjoy what ya have left as best ya can & don't cross the road like a Squirrel," was most likely the best advice.

I had a lot to do while retired time has passed so, its not like I been sitting around in a rocking chair. We all
are different the choices we can make may be endless or very limited. Our immortal bodies seem to fall apart
differently and luck has a lot to do with our objectives.

What's in your bucket list bubba? Walmart greeters, seem to enjoy their work for a bit. What are all those people doing in there?
Just walking around a lot? I do too! haha
 
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I haven't received any retirement advice of any note. I don't know why. Maybe I am one of those people society deems should or has to work until they die?

Or maybe I'm one of those unfortunate ones our society chooses to have die in the gutter somewhere? There are numerous people who die homeless, in the literal streets, every day in America. One of our local newspapers lists their names every couple of months.

But in my personal life and in my careers, no one discusses retirement with me. I also have in my head this idea that retirement is mostly for men because they have worked oh so much harder than women. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Women, we have to keep working until we're in our 80s, like Martha Stewart, or Jane Fonda.

That is a type of media brainwashing - to learn from media saturation to be more like Martha and Jane, but never aspire to be like the ladies relaxing in Florida in their 80s. I'm all for women working at something they love until they die because then it's not work at all - it's play. But no one has ever talked to me about my retirement. I don't know why.

I mean someone has to work at Walmart, right? Maybe people look at me and see a Walmart employee in her 80s? That's not my dream, but maybe its their assumption?
 
Blaze Duskdreamer said:
Worst is AARP's life reimagined garabage. Those ads set my teeth on edge with their false impression that we can all retire to be jet setters or some damned thing as healthy, able-bodied and energetic as a 20 yo which is the exception, not the rule, for us seniors. And often feature a change in career. That's not retirement. That's a career change. That series of ads/commericals made me cancel my AARP membership. I am so not missing them. They really aren't good for much. That would be my retirement advice. Don't join AARP. They will take your money and not do anything for you.

Best is to hang in there and not give up. Your disability will be automatically denied. They force everyone to appeal that. This is disheartening but honest advice. I don't think this is right. People who can't work after often decades of working (I worked close to four before becoming too disabled to work and I'm not alone) are often literally dying awaiting their hearing. Ooh, they make it retroactive when they finally grant it. That's so not helpful. I fortunately had two things: a daughter living with me and a State pension.

Without those two things, I'd have starved for being able to pay the rent and nothing else. Without daughter, I'd have got HEAP and food stamps but HEAP you have to go to some central office and they only hand out so many and if you aren't one of the first hundred or however many it is they grant in line, you can forget about it. I was too ill to work. I couldn't jump those hurdles.

My last year of work, I used up all my leave for either being too sick to go into work or unable to get over snow and ice to the bus stop to get there until my daugther took to driving me to work and picking me up from it which limited her available hours in the retail work she did. I was given a warning that I was about to be formally disciplined for using the tons of leave that I had accumulated because I rarely took time off in all the previous years and only did when they maxed out.

I took my birthday off every year but it's in late February and when New York State went to President's Day instead of two holidays of Lincoln and Washington, they gave us a floating holiday to take when we wanted so I'd take it for my birthday. In a 38 year career, I have never worked on my birthday. But I'm definitely not a time abuser so I still resent, 13 years later, being treated like that.

But I kept being told to hang in there and not give up. The denial was automatic, they do it to everyone and I was sure to get granted the disability on appeal at the hearing. I did though I would not have made it without daughter (and grandson but he was a kid at the time) and my State pension.

I don't know how anyone makes it on Social Security alone. If I lost either pension, I'd be lost. I raised a child alone on a secretary's wage without child support or welfare. There was nothing left over to save.

That's the other worst advice. Get an IRA or other reitirement account. That's good advice for those that have extra to do so with but it isn't for those of us who don't. In a related note, I never heard of long-time care insurance until I was too ill and disabled to buy that. No one's selling me either that or life insurance. The risk is too high.
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Yes, I agree that AARP magazine has a lot of advice/articles that are directed at the well-off. I ignore those. You can also write to them and tell them they are full of doo-doo. They do take their mission pretty seriously. Now they run ads almost every month about their initiatives to defeat Senior Poverty, so I'll bet others like you complained to them about the "life reimagined" series and the articles about fabulous hiking vacations.

I appreciate their discounts, which I don't use often but use when I can, and their articles about cyber security. No other media outlet is warning people about cyber-crime as much as AARP magazine does. No one. Not even the NY Times.

Compared to other subscriptions, at $16 a year, it's a bargain. I don't evangelize for them - I just think they do a good job at reporting on matters pragmatic.
 
I took the early retirement from SSA , for a widow's benefit, based on what my financial advisor and also my tax person told me to do.
I am encouraged here by many, like me, who had no debts or mortgage when I retired.

However I continued to do volunteer work every day and about 15 years ago my doctor told me to really retire and take it easy. I loved my volunteer job however, and didn't take her advice and am glad I didn't.

I do not use credit cards either. BTW- I had AARP Road and Tow for many years, but they have switched to Allstate Road and Toe and the annual price went up. Still if you live where I live, there is always a chance you might need them.

My battery went dead a few years ago in my Jeep and they paid for the jump charge from a local gas station, and I followed the gas station owner down the hill, to get a new battery.
 

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