Retirement Planning While Retired Requires WORKING!
It requires saving as much as possible and spending as little as possible, and doing both of these as soon as possible,”
Mr. Lyman said*.
*https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/business/millennials-retirement.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
My friend Ginger, a Master Teacher always asks the “bestest” questions my kids use to say. She is retired, her hubby is retired; most of my friends as they come of age especially with a savings account or what you used to call a good government job are doing well if married & retired.
If they haven’t moved SOUTH somewhere or downsized or bought a whole lot of new stuff or have a dependent adult child or grandbabies or serious health challenges and under insured; they seem to be doing all right as far as I know if they chat about their finances with me. Some people are shy or just shady.
If you have your health, and haven’t been sidelined by COVID long or short; you can begin to see the possibilities and actually assess how well things are going, unless your retirement plan requires you going back to WORK. Even millennials will have to rethink retiring and consider other options then having a pension, skyrocketing annual housing costs and relying on Social Security alone.
“Social Security has faced tougher obstacles in the past. When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the program into existence in 1935, it had no budget, no staff and no facilities. Its initial funds were supplied by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and its office was bare until Frances Perkins, Mr. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, donated a red leather desk chair.
The objective of Social Security, Mr. Roosevelt said, was to provide “some safeguard” against “the hazards and vicissitudes of life.” It was never intended to replace pensions, retirement savings, disability or life insurance but rather to supplement those plans and hedge against poverty.”
I am the young one in our circle, and I retired October 31, 2018. My personal Halloween Trick and Treat. So this is my official anniversary in the midst of the Medicare madness of OPEN SEASON OCTOBER. I will be exactly 4 years into my retirement. I will be 69 in January closing out my sixth decade and I am now looking earnestly for work in my golden years.
Being a boomer may be my best asset. It’s not a question of what’s gone wrong. There were just so many unexpected surprises. When I try to make suggestions about what I am willing to do or even try to go to work and earn additional income , I don’t get the positive reinforcement I’d hoped for. I want to learn to be a bagel or bread baker, catering, Lyft Driver, health coach, teacher, consultant, or even nursing part time; everyone freaks out and says sit down and why I don’t want to…
Social security and my retirement leave me well below my means and wants. In spite of the historic COLA increase, inflation and housing costs, the lottery and cohabitation even with the most generous are no match for grandkids and CASH APP on being able to save for the extended rainy day.
It’s not so much that my dear friend Ginger doesn’t approve of me going back to work, it’s just that she is forcing me to explain (to myself) WHY and how I found myself at this place before disrupting my retirement. I know I am not the only one in this predicament, but clearly going back to work is not a desired option when your dream job is not yet clearly visible on the horizon.
In the not-yet-post-pandemic years, not only have things changed, but the world of work and job shopping has also changed since I first entered the workforce well over 5o years ago. You have to revise what you think are your assets, create a resume that doesn’t inflate but posts well for the algorithms for Indeed and Linked In and the like.
By now, I thought, I would have a paid for house, a paid for car and enough to pay my bills with a little left over to save or travel and spoil the grandbabies. I have to revise my expectations and not just my budget. I am comfortable but want to do better and prosper and be unconcerned about necessities. I want a better financial outlook and relationship with money and not feel the sting of age discrimination and what I see as the constant senior scam and condescending gaslighting.
Let’s suffice to say a lot of things I didn’t plan for happened and they all cost money. Many of us don’t think we will live a long time and make choices that have serious financial consequences we aren’t aware of at the time. I also feel grateful that my health rallied quickly after one of those brushes we like to call the wakeup call when you realize the body is single issue unit. Even with health insurance, and good nutrition, costs for dental, relocating and other sanity related issues can eat up a large portion of your budget quickly and unexpectedly. It’s not too late to plan for your retirement while in your retirement, it’s just a bit harder with less time from month to month expenses with living on less and less.
I am feeling well and better than ever and I didn’t really think my last day of work would be my last day of work, I was so relieved that I didn’t have to return and was assured that there were other options out there for me. I still thought myself employable with something to contribute. Plus, I had a license to practice nursing and in some states nurse-midwifery and a graduate degree that should be good for something.
I have been quite busy in the interim four years. I have been extremely productive, creative, building and trying new things that are just not possible when you have money and responsibilities but no time.
The twist is when you have loads of time, creativity and you don’t know the meaning of the word boredom, but your purse does not expand accordingly when you are trying to manage debt and can’t live on your savings when there are no earnings to speak of. I wanted the artist’s life, NO boss or employer ever for me. I want to be an entrepreneur! Take risks but not with the money I didn’t have.
Hobbies, passions, and volunteering your time, talent and treasure don’t always yield funds but there are the other well-hidden benefits of being in service to others. I do know how to have fun enjoying myself as a lifelong learner and traveler. I can keep my own company quite well.
So many lives have been lost while I have been hibernating, I do feel lucky most days to be alive and to have survived my stint with a hearty mutant CORONAvirus quickly slowed down by my capable immune system.
As an optimist who is intuitive about my own health when I have the good sense to pay attention; I see at least twenty years ahead and just need more money coming in. I must go to work because I’m in about $50,000 PLUS worth of debt and would like to earn that in the coming year instead of creating more debt and living on credit cards when the month is too long or predictable emergencies arise.
Revamp…recoup and regroup… Taxes and medical and YIKES dental bills and mounting interest rates are the lion share of the madness. Tax folks: both federal and state are so nasty and threaten to garnishee my meager allotment and seem unimpressed that I think it’s not fair and I have paid enough and more than my share. The passive income stream has been damned up!
I want a paid for house, and a paid for car and good food and a garden and a few goats. I dream about the life on the road in my Airstream visiting the grandkids and museums and natural wonders, but I am flexible. Not asking much! I just don’t want to have to live with one of my kids or to be “kept” or be a burden to anyone. I am a very good cook and can pay my own way and tend to be good company if I get enough sleep.
My savings have dwindled, and I just want to work at something that’s not soul-sucking. I want to enjoy myself with energy left over to write a few more poems; finish three books in progress, travel and have playtime and learn new things from new and interesting people of all ages and backgrounds. I am certain to be a candidate for one of the emerging centenarian studies. https://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian/overview/. My mind and spirit need stimulation for the next quantum leap.
I generally play well with others when it’s my choice.
AGAIN.. Not asking much! A liberal artist willing to work, start a new business and would be grateful to increase my income by $5000K a month without incurring any additional debt!
If you know anyone or have any suggestions; send them my way. I have always wanted to do something new I’ve never done. Like going back to work after retiring for the first time.
NOTES
CRUSHING DEBT
Social security
