Prepare For Retirement

Getting Ready To Retire ? Well, let me tell you, you need to have something to keep you busy, otherwise you will just sit in front of the TV and literally die, mind first, and body second. First question would be how is your health? Are you married or have a live in companion? Do you have friends that have a coffee or a lunch get together regularly? Do you attend church often? Do you have a hobby, hell possibly 2 or 3 hobbies? Even picture or crossword puzzles will help.

   There are a few secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you wither and die. You have to laugh and find some humor every day otherwise you can become depressed.

   You see so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.

   The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we DID NOT DO. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.

    One day while visiting a younger fishing friend, he was mentioning another older friend who was having medical issues, and had to cut down on his activities. I mentioned, "YES, I KNOW".   His response was "How many friends do you have that are as active as you are"?   After thinking a bit, my response was "Very few, as most of my friends have passed a way and I am nearly the Lone Ranger now".

   Now let me explain a bit here, I retired from our business at age 67, when my wife also retired at 65. At that time, "I threw a dart" and it landed on an imaginary age of 85 that I thought I should still be active at. With this, was also figured in our finances and how long they would last us.

I have always been active, carpentering, gardening, repairing my own vehicles, repairing boats and outboard motors, restoring RVs, with hunting and fishing thrown in. As age (Macular Degeneration in my only eye, Heart issues, like stenting 2 major blocked arteries, then just months later a pacemaker, COPD and Arthritis) gained a deeper foothold, hunting was soon a thing of the past, but fishing could still be managed. I have now slid past age 85 and in looking back at my dart throwing scenario, WOW, I am there, so what happens next? I still have the visions of going things as if I was 40 or 50, but my body is now resisting.

I once said, that I would live forever as God put me on this earth to do a certain number of things and I am now so far behind that I will never catch up. He has been good to me and for what reason? The good thing about my situation, I do not wake up in the mornings and wonder what to do for the day. Lots of projects and things to do. And updating this website takes considerable rainy day or early morning time. And very little TV time except a short session of the weather and nightly news.

I seem to be able to still function, but at a greatly reduced speed, and pain meds if needed, but with numerous rest stops in between. And I have a hard time remembering where I put that item in a "safe place so I could easily remember".

My "secret" is that I stay active, and also belong to two fishing organizations and treasurer for a fraternal organization. I also rebuild old small outboard motors and old boats, most of which had to be pulled up out of the grave, and unless you are handy with being a mechanic/fabricator this could get frustrating rapidly. And even if you decided to sell one, in all probability there would be no chance to even recover your costs. But it keeps me busy.

I recently saw a clipping about Clint Eastwood, where he was asked what he intended to do at age 91. His response was "Direct a few more movies", then he added, "to stay young, every morning I open the door BUT DO NOT let that Old man in".

Loss of a Loved One ; This is not restricted to getting old, as even at a young age we will be introduced to death of a friend or relative. However we are probably more resilient then, along with having a life ahead of us, usually school or a job. Loosing a friend or sibling is one thing, but those of us who loose a spouse late in life have a different look on life afterwards.

Then the method/reason for the death will also effect us differently. A sudden death (car wreck or heart attach) is dramatic, but a long term or terminal illness where the patent suffers (especially if it is associated with medical malpractice) can be almost unbearable. However in the long term situation, the caregiver has time to prepare for the inevitable, but NEVER completely, and to be able to accept it without extended grieving.

Yes, there are grievance counselors, but when you know the circumstances you have to deal with, why would you even consider seeing a counselor, (other than to get some happy pills) especially since the ones I have been associated with are some young snot nosed kid, fresh out of Dental College. Yes, they may know the books well, but unless they 'Have Been There-Done That" and have a sprinkling of gray hair, it is hard to believe their "I know how you feel" speech.

Life goes on, we can not crawl in a hole and let the world pass us by. It is hard to see that photo of them on the TV stand every day, BUT, try to remember the good times. The old saying "Time heals All Wounds" is wrong, it only puts a scab over that wound, which may be very thin and easily gets knocked off (revealing the old wound) with the slightest mental return of that relationship. Sometimes memories leak out of my eyelids and run down my cheeks. There is nothing wrong with that, which is part of the healing process which may take a LOOONG time. Just Do Not let it become an obsession and dominate your life. Get involved with SOMETHING. Attend a senior center, rejoin your bowling league, get involved in a church, join a weekly lunch group, do some traveling, go fishing, repair old outboard motors.

You Need a Retirement Income Other Than Social Security; Well, that is easier said than done for some, depending on many things like type of employment you have had, or you changed jobs and did not have enough time to freeze what you had in one. For those who have been self employed, there may well not have been any EXTRA to put in a self funded retirement account.

It also depends greatly on where you live, different parts of the country, big city or small, urban or rural. And your lifestyle will make a major difference also.

For a married couple in decent health, who have no other retirement, have their home and vehicles paid for and are both on Social Security, if you are not extravagant, you should be able to get by rather well. BUT what if one becomes sick, and accrues medical bills, then ultimately passes away? The surviving spouse will be hit with reality rather quickly, even before the shock wears off of funeral planning and expenses (been there-done that twice in 3 years).

A widow will usually be hardest hit, because the husbands Social Security will usually be more than hers. Her income has now been drastically reduced because she is it now. OK, possibly even she can claim widow's disability benefits and get her new payment raised, but what if there is a mortgage and vehicle payments or payment on that new roof? What if the survivor is old enough to not be employable (even part time) either because of age or medical disabilities? Times can get tough.

Owning a home now becomes a drain on finances. Fire insurance, property taxes (even with a senior/low income discount), heating / air conditioning expenses, lights, water and sewer, yard maintenance, and all the little things that make a home a home can really add to that drain. There will always be times when you will begin to think that you are jinxed, as the toilet needs a new repair kit, the micro-wave dies, or the washing machine starts to leak water to name a few. And auto repairs now are not cheap for anything.

And what if the surviving person is unable to work at a part-time job (age, physical or medical disability) ? Things can become trying for the older generation. The one thing that I have seen more than others is that medications are the first to NOT be refilled. Even the heating source can get turned off because of lack of funds. Eating habits can get reduced to Spam, Cup-O-Soup, Top Ramen, beans and rice. Travel is only for the most needed trips (many to the doctors), because of cost of fuel. And some vehicle repairs get pushed to the back dark corner. If you own your home, repairs get put off other than emergency type ones. Recreation also succumbs to a minimal amount if any at all. Possibly even a walk with your cane around the block is your looked for outing outing for the day.

You will need to create a budget. Credit cards are a great thing, BUT can very easily get out of hand and their unpaid balance interest is unreal, where cash in the hand will make life easier in some ways, but many times short in others. Birthday and Christmas gifts may be impossible to see into fruitation.

For you rural homeowners, there is always something popping up that leaks, wears out, or just plain dies. That old Micro-Wave died, and you realize that it now is possibly the one most important thing that you really need. Your laundry drier heating element burned out. The hot water heater needs to be drained of sediment and the heating element checked. That garage door opener that you bought 20 years ago, finally wore the drive gears out.

Those of you who have a shop, (wood or metal) those now expensive fluorescent light fixture ballasts finally died. Your saw blades have worn to the point that they can not be re-sharpened. The welder needs the tanks refilled and more rod. That 12 MM wrench has ran off with the younger10 MM wrench again.

If you have a yard or orchard, and your age/physical condition makes it only possible to work even an hour at a time, and you can not afford to hire help, you work yourself to where you are physically a wreck and you seem to be loosing ground.

Then if you have pets, you always need food and flea meds, and those vet bills can be EXPENSIVE.

Most of us need a vehicle to get around with, these need a oil change oftener than the tires which need being replaced over time. These all create a hard to estimate drain on the checkbook. Here your auto insurance will probably be near the top to be eliminated, even though it is illegal to drive without even liability insurance, but even that alone is expensive, so to survive, it gets dropped. Then there are things that will be hard to budget for even if you had the money.

If you belong to a organization, dues need to be paid. Or if you have any recreation, be it hiking, bowling, fishing or many other sports, even if you have a well stocked supply, the cost of just getting there can add up. Even that monthly get together with old friends for lunch may get to where you begin to cancel out, after looking your wallet or Social Security pay day.

By then usually most of your friends are in the same boat as you are, (or have passed a way). You may really hesitate to relate your medical condition to your family or neighbors because you do not want them to worry or to be a bother or a burden on them.

In my own personal experience, I found there needs to be a supplement of at least $500 a month over Social Security to pay all the monthly bills, and I have everything paid for, like the house, furniture, vehicle, boat etc. A small savings can become quickly depleted especially if emergencies pop up. And lately with the inflation rate soring, it seems that the most expensive vehicle ou there is the grocery cart. And bill collectors may become someone you try to avoid.

Senior centers may well be a welcome opportunity for you to explore. You may have never asked for help before, but now are considering visiting the local food bank.

You may get to where you will need to consider cutting something out. You have already lowered the heat thermostat in the spare rooms of the house. You have also stopped looking at the Yard Sale adds and started getting together your own sale. What will be your next cost saving endeavor? Stop your computer internet services, your bowling league, maybe even sell your boat??

At some point, it may be it's time to consider selling the home and moving into a small apartment, or even a assisted living community.

And you begin to really look at the items that you have kept for years that had belonged to your parents or grandparents. Which of my kids OR Grandkids would you consider to be the best guardian and to cherish that item?

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Originated 12-01-2019, Last updated 01-15-2023
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