I had a chat with a good friend who is retiring in a few months. Last year, we briefly discussed retirement and talked about my short time as a retiree. Money, health insurance and what I did with all the extra time. He seemed pretty set that he was ready for retirement, but as it’s getting closer, I could hear the worry in his voice. I tried to reassure him that all would be good but I could tell he wasn’t convinced.
I remember the months before I retired. No matter how sure I was ready, I fretted if I was making the right decision. Work was not fun and enjoyable anymore. Since the pandemic, things changed. Not to be political but I think the world will never be the same. It was time to move on.
Every morning before work, as I was having my morning coffee, I would pull out my pocket calculator and go over the numbers. I don’t think the numbers ever changed much but in the back of my mind I just knew I must be missing something. I reviewed what our social security monthly payments would be. I figured our monthly expenses to the penny or so I thought. I applied a conservative rate of return on our retirement savings and not-so-conservative rate of inflation. Every morning, I’d get the same results. We’d be fine!
I studied the 4% rule and 25 times current earnings. But I still worried. Company insurance had always been great, would Medicare be as good? After I passed would there be enough left for my wife? Would we be able to leave a little for the kids and grandkids?
“I guess retiring is like learning to swim – you never really know if you’re ready until you jump in!”
It’s going on three years since I retired and so far so good. The things I worried about before retirement haven’t turned out to be a big deal. Medicare has been good so far. Retirement funds have been up and down but are doing better than anticipated. Inflation is a big concern, but I’m not too worried about it yet. I mean, I lived through the 1970’s when inflation was over 10%, so I think we’ll be able to handle it.
The things I didn’t expect to be a problem have been non-financial.
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I wish I had included my wife more in the retirement process. I failed to consider how much me retiring would affect her and her lifestyle.
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I also realize how much work had become my identity. Since retirement, I’ve had to find a new sense of identity and purpose in life.
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Health and mortality awareness have become really important to me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.
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Lastly, having to create a new social network. I’ve been surprised how little time I spend with my friends I worked with for years.
My friend is much smarter than me and has always been someone I would go to for advice. So when I assured him everything will be ok and not to worry so much, I speak from experience. I know he has crunched the numbers and has developed a plan to make sure he’s ready!
“The only thing worst than retiring to soon may be retiring to late!”
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