Managing Retirement

 

In 2015, my wife and I retired.  She was 62 and I was 67.  During the last three years of my career, I set aside enough money to pay for an individual health insurance policy until she could apply for Medicare.  We both applied for Social Security and because she had taken early retirement, her monthly allocation was less than had she waited.

However, because females typically live longer than males and if she lived to 90, she would receive more social security at 62 than at 67.  

In 2015, our combined social security checks paid all our monthly expenses but in 2024 that is not the case, and we have to remove money from our savings each month.

This is what our government refers to as inflation and while prices will come down a little, they will never go back to the level they were in 2015 thanks to the present administration.

For people that are considered wealthy, inflation is not really a problem but for those who are not wealthy, it is a huge problem.

Bear in mind 80-90% of the population earn less than $100,000 each year.  Depending upon one's geographical location, that is a lot of money or that is not much money at all.  For example, it costs more to live up north than in the south.

Being retired has all sorts of advantages but one limitation is MONEY.  When someone works, the idea is to make more than you need to live so that you can either save your money, pay off previous debt, or buy things that you may or may not need.  But when retired, your income is FIXED and the only way that you can do or have more is to draw down savings.

This is exactly why, retired folks continue to work part-time.

While our social security income is FIXED, we have managed to save enough money so that we can pretty much do whatever we want until we pass away.  Of course, doing whatever we want is misleading...  since doing whatever is relative to our lifestyle which is not like other people.

For instance,

• we don't want a big house and yard
• we don't want to own luxury cars
• we don't need new clothes/shoes each year
• we don't need a lot of jewelry
• we don't need to fly first class
• we don't need to eat out all the time
• we don't need to spend a lot for a motel room

One of our neighbors owns a pickup truck, a jeep, and three cars - all of which they are making payments own.  They have a home mortgage as well, along with two motor homes - one of which they are trying to sell.  They will die before they pay off all their debt.  That is a different lifestyle than what my wife and I experience.  It is not good or bad, we are just different.

When I was working, I liked what I was doing and I liked the people with whom I worked, but I did not like my supervisors.  Out of a career that lasted 45 years and included 8-10 jobs, I only had one supervisor that I liked, trusted, and respected.  So, when it came time for me to retire, I jumped at the opportunity and have never looked back.