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Thursday, March 9, 2023

Retirement Lies



A while back I blogged about a friend who was still working from his hospital bed. Now he’s retired. Retirement for him involves home hospice, dying from cancer, and sleeping 22 hours a day. 


That’s the sort of thing that never makes it into the retirement brochures. It’s more common than you’d like to admit.


Just about everyone has heard of someone who finally retired and died soon after. Maybe they didn’t quite even make it to retirement age. Sometimes life sucks. 


Whatever you do, don’t think giving up that fancy Starbucks coffee is what’s keeping you from acquiring a nice nest egg. Robbing yourself of a few little pleasures isn’t the problem. The problem is that you aren’t getting paid enough. Enjoy life while you can.


My lovely wife hurt her retirement nest egg by taking a few months off every winter. We starting traveling winters when we were in our early 40s. It might have been done on the cheap, but it was done. We had a blast. Not only that, we were young enough to actually enjoy roughing it sometimes. 


We are at the age where a lot of people just start their retirement adventures. Some are actually in good enough health to do interesting things. Good for them, but you can’t count on it. Not only that, if you haven’t had adventures when you are younger you probably will not start in your 60s. People get set in their ways. 


I’ve friends my age are not so much interesting in going places. They are more interested in living in handicap accessible housing near good hospitals. 


Yeah, I’ll probably die broke. Is that tragic or good planning?


-Sixbears

7 comments:

  1. Nothing tragic in planning to use all your coins while you are around. Especially if you get such good lived experience from it. You can't take it with you.
    Personally, I have no intention of fully retiring. Just slowing down ever more, little bit by little bit. Oh, and enjoying every day I have.

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    1. You have to do what works for you. I hope to leave the house behind for the kids, but you never know. My kids are doing well on their own.

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  2. You and I have similar plans, my kids are all set as well, smarter than I and much more well off. In my 60's I'm still a fairly opposing figure. 80) It's all that fried rice. So, I work on retirement myself. Maybe I'll just go back to the other teaching gig.

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  3. I had a good friend now deceased, who said to his kids, "My retirement plan is for the check to the undertaker to bounce."

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    1. I'll remember that one. Like I say, when the smell gets bad enough they'll bury me.

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