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HERE’S SOMETHING that’ll surprise exactly zero readers: I’m a planner. Even though I haven’t yet fully retired, I’m already worrying about how short the active part of my retirement will be.
For this, I blame my fellow HumbleDollar writers, as well as those who post comments. Many folks who are active on the site are older than me, and they’ve given me a sneak peek at what lies ahead. One thing I’ve learned: At some point between age 75 and 80, I should expect my retirement’s go-go years to become the slow-go years and perhaps even the no-go years.
Let’s be conservative—that’s what we planners do—and assume the active years will be over by age 75. I’m rapidly approaching 61, and have plans to scale back work once I turn 62. At that juncture, I intend to keep HumbleDollar humming along, but with fewer articles posted each week. The upshot: Even if all goes according to plan, I’m looking at just 13 go-go years.
During those 13 years, Elaine and I will work our way through our travel bucket list. When we’re home, I plan to cut myself some slack, no longer bicycling in the early morning hours, but instead starting the day more gently and riding late morning or during the afternoon. I also hope to renew my efforts to become a less horrible tennis player or perhaps—cliché alert—even try my hand at pickleball.
Maybe 13 go-go years will be more than enough. Still, I’ve come to appreciate why so many folks retire early, even when they don’t have enough socked away, because 13 years sure doesn’t sound like much. That’s doubly true when I think about what will follow.
As I mentioned in an article a few years ago, my father—who was struck and killed by a speeding car at age 75—loathed the idea of ending up in a nursing home or, indeed, in any sort of senior housing. I’ve long shared his distaste, but I’m slowly coming to accept that it may be necessary.
Part of the credit goes to my 84-year-old mother, who is also blessed and cursed with the planning gene. As my sister and I have joked, if my mother—upon her demise—could avoid inconveniencing others by burying herself, she’d do just that. Indeed, since my stepfather died in 2012, she first moved closer to two of my siblings, and then moved into a nearby continuing care retirement community, or CCRC. As my always sensible mother likes to say, “This is the right place for me to be.”
I suspect many affluent retirees will, in the years ahead, decide CCRCs are the place to be. It’s an appealing form of risk pooling. You pay somewhat steep monthly fees when you move into independent living, but in return you get a guaranteed spot later on in assisted living and skilled nursing, should that prove necessary.
My four grandparents all died at age 83 or 84. Two had dementia at the end of their life. My father’s parents were smart, downsizing to a small, ground-floor apartment for their retirement years. My mother’s parents were less sensible, remaining until the end in an overly large house on a big piece of property in a remote corner of England. They couldn’t afford to keep up the place, or even heat it properly, and by the end the ceilings were stained black with mold and damp. After my grandmother died in 2000, the buyers of her home did what had become almost a necessity—they demolished the place.
Not surprisingly, both waiting too long to move and dementia weigh heavily on my mind. Indeed, while the go-go years look alarmingly brief, the no-go years could potentially be all too long. That brings me to some numbers from a Wall Street Journal Sunday article I wrote in 2002.
For that article, I asked an actuary to look at the life expectancy for 65-year-olds, but ignore the 10% of seniors who die most quickly and the 10% who live the longest. That left the middle 80%. But even with the extremes removed, the range of potential life expectancies was still shockingly large.
Men age 65, who fall in the middle 80%, might live as little as seven years or as long as 32 years. For 65-year-old women, the range was 10 to 33 years. In other words, most 65-year-olds will make it to 75—when the go-go years might start drawing to a close—but some will have precious little time beyond that, while others could live another two decades. That sort of uncertainty doesn’t exactly make for easy planning.
Still, plan we must. Elaine and I have agreed that—if all goes well—we’ll stay in our current home through at least age 75, and use it as the base from which we’ll enjoy our go-go years. During this period—perhaps as we approach 70—we’ll start visiting continuing care retirement communities outside Philadelphia, with an eye to identifying a favored CCRC.
I don’t see much point in conducting our research earlier than that. After all, we could settle on a place that subsequently goes downhill because of bad management. On the other hand, we shouldn’t wait too long. I’ve heard that the waiting lists for CCRCs are growing, and there’s always the risk that physical deterioration—or, my big fear, dementia—mean no CCRC would admit us.
Not much rattles me. I’m unperturbed by stock market crashes and I don’t worry whether tomorrow will come. But I must confess, I look ahead to the no-go years with trepidation. But I’m hoping that, as with so many things, thinking about the future—and planning for it—will ease those fears.
Jonathan Clements is the founder and editor of HumbleDollar. Follow him on Twitter @ClementsMoney and on Facebook, and check out his earlier articles.
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Where I live, near Chapel Hill, NC, waiting lists for CCRCs can be as much as 15 years. Given our aging population, the waiting lists will likely continue to get longer. Our solution was to get on the priority lists of four different CCRCs, though there is one that we favor much more than the others. We got on the lists eight years ago, at ages 61 and 64, so we’ll probably be 76 and 79 by the time we get in. I’m happy to live with stairs for a while longer, but yardwork is getting harder all the time.
Excellent, well thought out article! Very well done. Q: What if one wanted to have a similar plan but the high cost of CCRC’s make it too much of a goal to achieve? (I’m retired – 70 and my wife is working P/T at 67 – her decision)
If you don’t want to risk depleting your assets because of long-term-care costs and then falling back on Medicaid, you might consider a hybrid LTC policy, assuming you can qualify:
https://humbledollar.com/money-guide/hybrid-insurance-policies/
Thanks Jonathan!
Johnathan, you might look into rails-to-trails as you visit various states (I know of one retiree that made it a goal to ride a trail in each of the 50 states). Just did one of the longer ones, Tammany Trace in Louisiana. Lots of good cycling in the NOLA area.
We’re 79 (me) and 78 (Barbara) and we’re in the slo-go years. I retired early and never looked back. Bought a Honda Gold Wing and traveled throughout the U.S. three different times while Barbara was still working. Once she retired, we traveled together in Latin America, Europe, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Our favorite travel is to rent a small house for 2 to 3 months, then use it as a base to explore a larger region. Now, although we’re still living in our own too-large, two-story house, we’re waiting to be accepted for independent living at a CCRC in Virginia. Once accepted, we’ll sell the house and move. We’re looking forward to no maintenance problems, an easily accessible social life, and priority status for memory care, assisted living, or nursing care. We’ll also have an easy probate process. We’re also, in a strange way, looking forward to helping one another as we age.
One thing we don’t do is worry about it. We’ve witnessed too many people pass on to worry about it.
We just saw The Beach Boys in Ardmore, Oklahoma, how fun would it be to follow them around on their tour…
I do not understand, for the life of me, with the fixation on traveling everywhere when you retire. I retired at 48, and couldn’t wait to start teaching golf again ( was an LPGA Professional, but couldn’t make enough to live on so I built Athletic Clubs and did very well ) So I started teaching golf instead of playing it. I think people would get more satisfaction out of a second career or being an active volunteer at something they are passionate about. But traveling to far away places, what is the point? You sight see, stay in a hotel and eat out. I don’t see the excitement. Honestly, people do it because somebody like Johnathan said that’s what the go go years entail. I hope people who read this will give some thought to finding your passion, no mater what it is. You will have more satisfaction with your life than flying to the next location to sightsee and stay in hotels. Honest.
Your post really asks the fundamental question “Why travel?” I still love golf despite my stiff back, and I also love to volunteer (though I always want to do something that uses my skills and I don’t want fixed hours). But I also love to travel – to places that interest me.
For most, post-retirement travel involves some fundamental “wanderlust” that couldn’t be satisfied during working years, plus an appreciation for all the things in the world that are even better seen in real life rather than in photos or videos. The pyramids of Giza can’t really be appreciated in a photo. Same for the Cliffs of Moher in western Ireland. In a way, travel to see famous sites is like an art lover wanting actually to see the famous paintings he or she read about, like Michaelangelo’s David, or to hear Beethoven’s Fifth played in person rather than on a recording. And travel adds a small bit of “newness” and even danger to a life that probably is otherwise fairly predictable and safe.
Different strokes for different folks ….. golf pun.Worked to make enough money for us to travel as much as possible to places I’ve never been to.
(hit enter too soon) Along with traveling to far off places i also try and play a round to two while there. Great way to meet the locals and enjoy their countries.
There is a very good point. Here is a different perspective. https://humbledollar.com/2023/10/seeing-it-for-myself/
Thanks for the link, Dick. Missed it the first time because of my move. I, too, visited Yalta, and later Potsdam, but the most (tragically) evocative historic sights were Auschwitz, the Killing Fields in Cambodia and the tunnels in Sarajevo. A fly-by of Everest, traveling the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan, seeing the glaciers in Patagonia and the falls at Iguazu showed me the magnificence of our planet, and buildings, museums and festivals everywhere the brilliance and imagination of (some of) its inhabitants. I am so glad I went.
It isn’t an either-or choice. You can travel part of the time and spend part of the time at home pursuing your passions. Or you can combine the two. I plan to spend a month or more in different locations editing this site and immersing myself in local culture. That’s not something you can do when you — or your partner — is confined 50 weeks a year to a cubicle.
For some people traveling is their passion. There is a very big world out there, full of people as well scenery and sights. Have you no interest in it, or them? And why do you assume that travelers fly everywhere? I once traveled from north-west Scotland to Saigon with all forward progress by train. Nor did I generally stay in hotels, preferring B&Bs (not AirBnB) and pensions. I find travel infinitely more interesting than hitting a ball into a hole (or over a net, for that matter), but I’m not going to sneer at you if you want to stay home and play golf.
I’m following the Warren Buffet plan. He’s 93 and still working. I’m only 71, but also still working and have no plans to retire. Maybe it helps that I don’t like to travel and generally enjoy my work. Also, I waited until 70 to start collecting Social Security, so now it’s like getting a double salary. It’s my form of FIRE: Financially Independent, Retire Eventually!
Your timetable seems very much like what we have experienced (as we are 73/76). We retired at age 63, with my wife retiring three years before me. However, since my mother passed away at 47 and my father at 69, I knew not to wait for “retirement” to enjoy life. Even as I was working those three “extra” years after my wife retired, I got permission to scale back my work (getting rid of my management role, working part-time, working from home two days per week, and being able to take three-week vacations). Even before I retired, we had visited 20 countries that were on our travel bucket list. Unfortunately, my wife had two bouts of cancer with their attending chemo aftermath (involving ICU stays and other complications). However, that situation only slowed her down for two years and she bounced back with the same vigor as before. That was seven years ago (still cancer free). Since retiring 13 years earlier, we have written off another 27 more countries completing our original travel bucket list and creating a new one. This year alone, we spent a month in Hawaii, a week at a ski resort, a three-week cruise from NYC then nine stops around Iceland, a three-week trip around the British Isles ending up in Bergen,Norway, and a three week trip doing our annual fall foliage drive through New England.
On the British Isles cruise, we both caught Covid (for the first time) and had to quarantine for five days before being allowed to continue our excursions. Luckily for us (fully vaccinated), Covid felt like a mild cold even at our age. Previously, catching Covid on a cruise was a bit frightening (would we have to disembark and get stranded, for example). We were in a cabin suite that was double the size of a balcony unit (more like a one bedroom with a living room) so we had a bit more room than most. Our room stewards took real good care of us and let us know that we could order off of any menu (including all the speciality restaurants at no additional cost) and not just the room service menu. This was a big change from a couple of years earlier. Once the quarantine was over, we took it easy but still managed to do the remaining planned excursions that often averaged over 10K steps (according to our fitness watches).
I don’t know how many more go-go years we might have. We plan each year as if it is the last. Hence, I don’t have any issues going first-class or getting the suite on the cruise ship. Next year, we have already booked a house for a month in Hawaii (Kailua beach) and have pre-paid for a river cruisetour, starting in Paris, then to Koblenz, then cruising down the Rhine to Basel, then by bus to Zurick, Zermatt, and Geneva. With the pre- and post-excursions, this is roughly a four week trip. One advantage of treating each year as the “last” go-go year is that there is less fear in spending.
Good for you. Assuming you have around 500K per year in disposable income. Obviously you like to brag ( we fly first class) Don’t break your arm patting yourself on your back. Curious, how much do you give away to charities every year?
I didn’t find them bragging just stating they’re not worrying about spending
You can disagree with others about how to spend money. But on this site, at least, please don’t be obnoxious.
Mind providing your approximate annual travel expense the last 3- 5 years?
I love the “evening” and so will you, sweetheart! Wonderful, loving children and grand children, good friends and fortunate enough to be able to do a 5K in 45 minutes. Your old Mum
I’m not sure I agree with all this “planning” — beyond trying to have enough money to deal with the curveballs life hits us with. At whatever age, the future is not guaranteed. We all really only have today. Too much focus on “the end” is likely to lead to serious depression. And there’s no way to guarantee anything– even with a CCRC. I know of one person in Assisted Living who became an alcoholic and chain smoker after his wife entered Memory Care. He was a true addict and violated repeated warnings about the drinking and smoking. The CCRC threw him out.
I always say “cheat death live today”
Jonathan I can understand your desire to cut back on work while you’re healthy so you can enjoy life more while you can. Would love to hear about your travel as well…
I think we all know about maintaining mental acuity and social relationships but I firmly believe another leg on the table of healthy aging is maintaining and improving muscle mass. At age 72, I hit the gym hard doing heavy weight lifting and on alternate days hiking as briskly as I can up a local 2000’ hill. I’m in better shape than I was in my 40’s. Vigorous exercise is not only good for muscles and bones but has an impact on joint stability, balance, and the brain. I think too many folks ‘allow’ themselves to age and fossilize in place. Fight it!
Thank you for the dose of realism, but I’m prescribing Tennyson and a daily multivitamin with extra iron: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses
Chronological age is not the same as biological age. I began to notice more incidental physical issues when I hit 70, but years later, I’m still very active. (I won’t show off or bore you with what I do.) But I still see my biological age as somewhere in the mid-60s.
When I was your age, I looked at my relatives and said I probably have about 30 years left. (Their “use by” dates all seemed to end when they hit 91 or 92.) I concluded that the first 15 will be easy. But the second 15 may be a challenge.
So my resolution was to extend the first 15 to 20 or more good years. It made me revise my living habits, and above all, exercise and be more active generally. I call it Newton’s First Law of Retirement – A body at rest will tend to remain at rest, eventually permanently. A body in motion will tend to remain in motion and will be able to outrun death a lot longer. Having lots of money available in retirement is good, but if you can’t use it for some fun, it loses a lot of its utility.
Amen
Great article. Many thanks to Stephen for putting us on to Peter Attia’s book OUTLIVE. I have already started reading it and it looks like it will be a good read.
I am 78.I liv in a CCRC and love it. I have an apartment, but access to a heated swimming pool, a game room, movie night, a dining room, etc. These spaces are far larger than any house I owned. I just got back from South Africa and have plans to visit Alaska again, and Australia. I volunteer at several places including an elementary school. My point is — I have not slowed down yet.
Mick Jagger turned 80 in July this year and he’s on tour with The Rolling Stones, still unable to get any satisfaction apparently. 🙂 Don’t anybody tell him he’s in his Go Slo years.
James Michener’s last book, Recessional, was released when he was 87, so he was still writing well into his mid-80s. Heck, he didn’t even get started until he was 40. (I discovered this last book while researching for this comment – I missed this one. It’s about life in a fictional retirement home. Going to have to pick that one up).
Keep on keeping on, one foot in front of the other, and do it until there is no tomorrow.
What do they call it, the Instagram effect? For all we know. Mick Jagger may sleep for days after a concert.
Thanks for posting. In many ways, your comment highlights one theme of my article — which is that it’s hard to know how long retirement will last. For every comment like yours, there’s one that isn’t posted — because the poor soul isn’t around to do so.
Thanks for the perspective. Wishing your go-go years to be extended to the max. I’m 45 right now and have been targeting to retire at 57. I don’t “love” my job but I like it. This makes me think about retiring early though if I can afford it. Major concern I have is the health insurance before being eligible for medicare. Need to do more research on potential costs and availability in my area.
ACA makes it very affordable for many. It depends a lot on which state you live in, too. Here in over-taxed California, for instance, a benefit of living here is getting highly subsidized healthcare (as long as you don’t show too much income).
I’ve been buying health insurance on my own since I was 51, first in NY and now in PA, and I’ve found it both easy to obtain and reasonably priced.
Thank you. That’s good to know.
Good article Jonathan. I am a planner too, but there are unpredictable variables that may impact the best plans.
I am 79 years old and still in Go phase, although slower than 10 years ago. DW is regrettably in the No Go phase which impacts our travel and other activities.
I would characterize my 70s when a lot of issues, aches and pains showed up. I am on first name basis with physical therapists. Fortunately, nothing has been super serious, but these things have impacted my life. Based upon friends and acquaintances, my experience is common at this age.
I think we need to be flexible and adaptable as we age, so that we can enjoy life in every phase.
Best wishes to you in your age journey.
I appreciate this essay’s theme. I’ve realized I am someone who really likes to research and plan—basically, I’m trying to impose some sense of control over my decisions and life. Up until now (age 63), guiding myself through working and saving money for retirement gave me this sense of control. But the ambiguities of aging (and retirement) flummox my planning abilities. Questions of health, longevity, the financial future (both mine and the U.S.), married or widowed, where and how to live… too many unknowns for my type of person. So, while continuing to plan, I’m also going to work harder to embrace the clichés of “carpe diem” and “go with the flow.” At least I can comfort myself by knowing I’m in good company on HumbleDollar.
We’re a bit older than you (63), still working, but with rapidly firming plans to wrap things up at 65. We’re trying to sneak in some early go-go years, though, working some bucket list trips in during my summers off and/or sabbatical quarters. It’s easier to get our minds around splurgier travels when we’re both working and have more disposable income than we will in a couple years.
We see things similarly to you—go-go years until 75 or so, looking into CCRCs between 65-70. Watching my in-laws struggle with the lack of a plan as her Alzheimer’s progresses has given us a real wake-up call. And my husband’s grandfather lived to be 102 and just passed in 2016!
Planning is always worthwhile, but so is flexibility. When I was planning trips I often ended up implementing Plan C or even Plan E, and I was still ready to change on the road. You never know what will show up – I had sixteen good go-go years after I retired at 53, but then was grounded by rheumatoid arthritis. Now that the RA has gone back into remission I’m 76, and I just don’t have the same enthusiasm for getting on a plane or a train as I did at 66.
If you think a CCRC may be in your future I would urge you to at least check out the length of the wait lists in your area. In mine you shouldn’t wait past mid or even early 60s to sign up if you want a good non-profit, while my friend in Florida tells me his CCRC has no wait list. My CCRC just opened a new building that will nearly double its population, and its wait list has only grown. (Deposits are usually refundable, so you can sign up for more than one.)
While some non-profits in my area are expanding, brand new CCRCs tend to be for-profit, and I would avoid them.
Cathy, have you written about the main differences between nonprofit and for-profit CCRCs before? I’m curious about what you’ve learned.
I touched on that in my article on choosing a CCRC: “a good for-profit might too easily be taken over by a bad one”. There is also the consideration that a for-profit is run for the benefit of the owners/shareholders, not primarily for the residents. I haven’t done a survey, but I suspect that there are fewer for-profits promising to keep you if you run out of money, and that promise, plus the benevolent fund backing it, was very important to me when I make my choice.
Maybe give a book a read:
OUTLIVE The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD
He talks about healthspan/lifespan and being able to enjoy life in your last decade.
Thanks just bought
At age 71 my body is more and more in the shop for repairs, albeit minor ones so far. While I contemplate the end of my go-go years I keep coming back to a line in a Jimmy Buffett song; “Id rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead”.
In my Father’s Living Trust was a statement that said, “I do not want to be placed in, live in, or die in a nursing home.” He lived to 95 and died at home, in peace, never having lived in a nursing home. In my eulogy comments I said that very few people get to live on their own terms and die on their own terms. For the most part, he did. A life well lived.
A life well lived…if the burden of care wasn’t on his children
It sounds like it all worked out well for him and for your family, but there are a lot of other family/health scenarios in which that kind of blanket statement would be a cruel burden on your loved ones.
So true. As I’ve mentioned in previous comments, my sister recently passed her 10th anniversary as our mom’s full time caregiver. Mom turned 104 this week. Home care services for a person who isn’t going to get better but who also doesn’t have a terminal diagnosis (“old age” doesn’t count) are very difficult to access, especially with so few good people willing to do this kind of work.
As I posted on another article recently, I believe the best present parents can give their children is a move to a CCRC while still in reasonable health. I, too, don’t want to die in a nursing home, but my solution includes a DNR and a one way ticket to Switzerland.
The above statement might be true, but unfair. As I venture to guess that majority of people, even those that were vigilant savers such as my self do not have the funds to cover the exorbitant costs of a a CCRC.These are primarily for the very wealthy.
I don’t have the figures for 2024 to hand, but FYI, the 2023 non-refundable entry fee for a one bedroom apartment in Independent Living in the existing building at my CCRC is $154,000 (partially refundable entry fees are higher), with monthly fees of $3,364 for one person. A second person is $1,268 in all units, and a number of couples move to a one-bedroom. Of course, the fees for my two bedroom with den in the new building are considerably higher and I was fortunate that my entry fee was frozen when building started three years ago. My monthly fee this year is $4,699. I suppose you might call my fees exorbitant, but a one-bedroom surely is not. Fees include all facilities (pool, gym, art rooms etc. etc.), water and electricity, maintenance, weekly cleaning and an allowance for meals.
I am definitely not “very wealthy” and I just moved to a CCRC. There are certainly CCRCs in my area that are more expensive than the one I chose, and possibly in HCOL areas they are all more expensive. However, I suspect that in home care would be more expensive still, and it has to be arranged and monitored by someone. Are you signing up to do that for your parents and parents-in-law? Or to provide the care yourself?
The topic no one wants to think about: how to plan for our own mortality. It’s important to have our affairs in order. Rachael and I just lost a friend in her early fifties who didn’t have a will. That really makes things messy.
It’s vitally important to stay physically active and mentally engaged as we get older. To nourish interests and friendships. To be diligent about going to our checkups and being our own best advocates, health-wise.
Beyond that, it’s a matter of making sure we have enough assets stashed away to cover our medical expenses in our final years. Not fun to think about, but avoidance is not a strategy.
In the end, time, not money, is our greatest asset. I’d rather run out of money than run out of time. Which is why I’m determined to wring every last drop of enjoyment from my final years as I can.
Thanks for another great article, Jonathan. Really made me think.
Jonathan, I’m no expert, but after 25 years of working closely with old and aging people, I’ve noticed that those who are happy seem to be happy no matter their circumstances. By contrast, the rest of us seem to find a reason to be discontent despite our good health and relative wealth. Even so, I hope we are both on the extreme end of many go-go years.
Well Jonathan, that sufficiently depressed me and you know why 😎.
Hey, if we are lucky we get older and even still more fortunate, we are well aware of that fact.
Age is just a number as the ad says, I have no intention of assigning one to make sure I no-go.
I didn’t retire early and I don’t think I missed a thing by doing so. In fact, not retiring early was one reason we are as comfortable in all ways in retirement.
Yeah, we slow down, we eat less too I’ve found, but that doesn’t mean we become plants soaking up the sun all day.
Attitude is the key. I see it every day in our 55+ community. It’s what keeps people going and others in a funk all the time- even those with disabilities.
I’ll tell you what will send to a therapists coach though – if I can’t write for HumbleDollar as often, so stop worrying about CCRC and just keep writing which as you know, you can do from anywhere, even lying down if that suits you.
Great article Jonathan. As tough, or uncertain, as planning is, it beats the heck out of not planning, My wife and I, and my brothers and their wives, had to deal with the challenges of aging and infirm parents who didn’t, or couldn’t, plan. I maintain that a well-organized, and well-communicated, estate plan is a gift we give to our children. I think we also need to be flexible to the idea that our circumstances and wishes may change, and we need to adapt. We are certainly doing that!
Jonathan,
My mother in law whom I have written about before is a few months from turning 102, and like your mother doesn’t like to inconvenience anyone; and has a great sense of humor. A few years back when we were discussing end of life issues she stated, “I don’t know who to call when I die”. My brother in law responded,”Ma, we’ll take care of that”.
Would you please elaborate on your cycling activity?
During the warmer months — March through October — I try to cycle 20 miles every day. I bought a home in Philadelphia that’s close to the Schuylkill River Trail, which means I can knock off the 20 miles without any threat from cars. (Pedestrians and baby strollers are another matter.) During the winter months, I use a bike set up on a trainer in the basement, and aim for 40 minutes each day, though I occasionally go longer. I also take an afternoon walk, and try to spend a little time stretching and lifting most days.
Would you also share what type of bike you like to ride? I’m a few years older than you and want to get back into riding now that I have a decent area to ride on paved streets. My doctor mentioned a new type that you can ride on gravel roads, but I won’t be doing that.
I have a road bike with standard geometry. It was built by a 20-something from all carbon parts, and I bought it 11 years ago through Craigslist for $1,100. It’s light as a feather and so much fun to ride. With all the bike buying that happened early in the pandemic, you might find a decent selection of barely used bikes on Craigslist. If you’re worried about being too hunched over, consider a frame with so-called relaxed geometry, which can be a little easier on the back. I’ve thought that, as I get a little older, I might swap to a hybrid bike with wider tires and flat handlebars, but I’m not there yet.
Thanks Jonathan! Riding 20 miles a day is a great achievement and having a bike that is lightweight can really make a difference.
Glad to see you are lifting Jonathan … sarcopinia is rarely mentioned but can be very detrimental to your health
Oh oh, I think I’m in trouble…I didn’t retire until I was 75 but had a very physically active job teaching apprentices so I think that has helped, but I also think making sure you are physically active all you life, helps when you get into your 70s. Anyway, we are off on another holiday next week. Love your articles and your other contributors. Different perspective to Australians.
Trepidation or not; the Good Lord keeps the record. Just breath in the moment, cherish, enjoy, and keep going forward –
“Breathe in, breathe out, move on”
Jonathan posting this from Frankfort, Germany airport returning home after a 3 week jaunt. At 64 I say if you can’t do 20000 steps on a trip daily then go-go years won’t last long. And of course your “pickleball” comment rings true too as I had knee surgery 7 weeks ago. Physical and mental health greater than financial health necessary as age 75 seems like a good “resting” target.
My wife and I both had total knee replacements in 2023. My wife’s physical therapist told here they are seeing a steady stream of “pickle ball” injuries. I think some folks see it as an easy, low-impact activity and start playing without any pre-training or stretching.
I hope to get into some regular pickle ball in the coming year. Maybe some doubles tennis too!
A few months ago, my mother broke her wrist playing pickle ball. She just had the cast taken off and — thank goodness — seems to be making a good recovery.
I just want to be the guy at the nursing home who yells, “Squirt gun fight!” Sure, I’m going to fade, but hopefully old age only gets hard won ground from me.