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We’re putting it off, we are planning to … when I turn 70. We will be doing that in a few years…
As I read HD I see many people mention plans they have for the future. For people retired, I have a suggestion. The future is now – Carpe diem
I don’t care what assumptions you put into your spreadsheet or what the SS actuarial table says, in retirement the old adage “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today,” applies above all else.
Sure, for financial and perhaps other reasons some plans must be delayed, planned for, but try and keep that to a minimum. Any delays in retirement increase the risk of something not happening as planned.
Those of us in retirement, no matter what age, are not climbing the mountain, we are making our way to base camp.
Delaying Social Security until age 70? Okay, but ask yourself what am I giving up during the next three or four years in an effort to achieve greater financial security that may never happen or be valuable for only a few years?
Connie and I spent the first several years in retirement traveling Europe, Russia, Ukraine, around the US and on cruises – Alaska, Hawaii, South America and we are glad we did. We both got the car of our dreams. We expanded and then remodeled our vacation home.
No, I didn’t retire early, yes, my philosophy of income desirable in retirement helped make all this happen, but it is all relative to each situation. It doesn’t matter how grand a goal may be, what matters is you get to reach it.
And the last several years have demonstrated doing all that was a good idea. Connie’s freak accident with a baseball to her eye has now resulted in her not being able to drive – her dream car sits ideal much of the time. Her mobility issues make travel very difficult. Her cancer treatment means we plan every week around doctor’s visits – two, sometimes three times a week.
We couldn’t make our winter stay in Florida this year and who knows about the future. We have not been to Cape Cod since last September.
I’m not complaining or trying to depress anyone. We remain extremely grateful for what we have and what we have accomplished, but I wouldn’t want to be at this stage of life contemplating what we had planned to do, but were waiting…for what?
I hear you, Dick. I’m glad Doug and I were able to do some traveling during our four years of shared retirement. And after he died, that my teen grandson also enjoyed traveling, most notably that week in Iceland a few years ago that I’ve mentioned.
Totally agree. For that matter, I would say the same pre-retirement, if you can comfortably achieve. Many, many are not fortunate enough to even reach retirement. Incredibly sad…
I hear you!
“We’re putting it off, we are planning to … when I turn 70.” I think I know one person who you are referencing.
Please know that even though I mentioned a few things we have put off until that age we have been blessed with much travel. Since 2017 we have spent two weeks in Italy, Maui and Kauai, and Greece. This weekend we are taking our first winter vacation ever to Barbados, and have already booked a two week vacation to London and Scotland this fall. This bedsides several trips to visit our daughter in Orange County California, and several other trips throughout the US and here in New England (including several trips to the Cape).
Since retirement we do not take vacations during the summer months (which here in NH are only July and August), those are for gardening, exploring the mountains here in NH, and our weekly visits to the ocean which is only 1/2 hour away.
So even though projects like tearing down the deck and replacing with a three season porch won’t occur until we’re 70 we are living a blessed retirement. If we were no longer able to travel I would be sad but we’ve been able to see so much more of this world than many, thus again I would be sad, but still satisfied.
PS: I previously wrote about waiting until 70 to fly first class, and I still can’t bring myself to pay that tab, however I was thinking of not going to Barbados as I couldn’t find good value hotels, but finally I bit the bullet and spent about double what we normally pay.
Totally agree Dick. Good post!
I agree that it is best not to procrastinate. I altered my work schedule in December 2013 and we began traveling regularly because of the new found time. Now, with serious medical limitations and escalating medical problems certain activities and most travel are no longer possible.
Health can turn on a dime. I wrote about a friend’s stroke in my article, Smart Watch. Weeks after his stroke, he is struggling to move his left arm and leg. Once such a thing happens, your grand plans may go up in smoke.
I will be 65 in October. I have been thinking about retirement in last 2-3 years, my biggest problem is I do not know what I want to do. So, I think it is great if there is something in life that you want to do now or in the future. Maybe I should just retire and do nothing.
I would start a list of what makes you happy (i started my list a few years before retiring on my phone during my train commute). Put everything from hobbies to activities on it- be adventurous! Also travel you’d like to do. Surprisingly I forgot about my list after retiring (got too busy), but came across the list a few years ago when cleaning up my phone’s files and was surprised to see that I had completed or implemented many of the items I had put to the list. YMMV
No matter what you do, get a personal trainer and get in the best physical condition possible. Absolutely everything will improve by an order of magnitude.
What stirred your blood when you were young before life got in the way? If you’re near the water, take sailing lessons. Beginner’s classes are generally a two-day affair. It has become the love of my life after one of my children forced me into it 5 years ago.
Great advice
Just retire and it will fall into place. However, if you are really torn, making a decision you may not be ready to retire. When you are, you will know it.
Thank you, Dick. This was encouraging to me. We are still hoping to take a big trip this year. We haven’t booked anything yet b/c the bad news keeps coming. We still don’t know how much the bond will be that Spouse has to pay for guardianship for their mom. We did find out we will have to pay it every year of the guardianship. Spouse’s dad died a few weeks ago so we will be going for the services soon. Thankful for our emergency fund.
Hoping to book something in March. So far this retirement thing is not great for us, but we are thankful we had the time for the end of Spouse’s brother’s life. I can’t imagine working with all we are going through. It would be even worse. Chris
OMG Chris. The hits seem to be just continuing for you and your wife. I hope you do get some time away.
I was in charge of caring for my twin brother for a 5 years before he died from dementia at 59, then over the next 18 months both my parents died. A few years later it was taking my mother in law into our home for the last year of her life.
All this taught us that we needed some time away for my spouse and I, if only for an overnight to go to a concert, or a few days away but only a few hours from home. These breaks are very important, so hopefully you have some family to provide some respite.
I’d go further and suggest doing more bucket list activities before retiring. To be honest, I’m uncomfortable with the accepted HD division of savings and spending times. My husband and I didn’t retire until we were both 72. We actually continued to work because we enjoyed doing so. But we also went to all the places on traditional bucket lists well before we quit the workforce. Viking didn’t take us most places. Instead, we got guidebooks and designed our own adventures. We took a US troop train into Berlin while Germany was divided, drove from Heidelberg to Krakow during a major flood in Central Europe, got mugged in Beijing but went to the Great Wall the next day, etc.
Being active during our working lives did not compromise our retirement. We did have jobs with good pensions and also saved. We’ve also benefited from a good stock market run. I have over 200,000 frequent flyer miles; last night I was checking out business class tickets to distant places. My one problem is my husband wants to take our dog!
I was similar—I traveled extensively long-haul for leisure and adventure before having kids, then scaled back to European destinations during the childrearing years. I’ve traveled so much that I’ve pretty much satisfied my wanderlust. Nowadays, a decent hotel with a good pool beside a nice beach within a four-hour flight is good enough for me.
That’s a good idea, but not possible for many people. Not for me for sure. I didn’t have the time or money.
Many people would consider buying house on Cape Cod many years before they retired being able to seize the day while they were still working.
Indeed! To force ourselves not to work all the time, my wife and I bought a vacation house within two hours of our main house that made each weekend a getaway weekend (even on those occasions we brought work along). The change of scene from urban to woods and lake was constantly restorative for over two decades. Now our new main house is in the southernmost USA, and the old weekend vacation house has become our getaway home to escape the brutal heat and humidity down here in the summer. So, I agree it’s good to combine working with carpe diem, if that’s possible. We also managed about fifteen European trips during those decades, self-planned and guided; especially to Italy, our favorite (some seven times).Ciao!
I know, but we could only do it because we rented in the summer and were able to take advantage of considerable tax benefits.
We didn’t have a lot of time or money either. But I’ve always been a fan of grabbing opportunities to do new things. We took our kids to Disney World, but drove during the summer in a car with no air conditioning, and stayed in a lower cost motel off the Disney property, (I doubt we’d go today), Likewise, we took the family to Cape Cod for a week. We had an efficiency room for the 5 of us and I cooked all our meals. We swam at the National Seashore beaches, I think we had as good a time as people spending the big bucks.
My parents took us to Europe in 1981. We had a Renault 18 station wagon borrowed from my dad’s workplace, filled to the brim with six of us plus all our camping gear.
I remember driving south on the Autoroute du Soleil, temperature around 104F, all our windows open, and wondering why every other car had their windows closed. We had no idea they were driving air conditioned cars – we’d never heard of such a thing!
Fun fact, when we got back home a month later and unloaded the car, the suspension was pretty shot. The car was still riding a few inches lower than when we got it 🙂
Can’t argue with that. I can certainly relate to Cape Cod and the car without AC. Our first trip there in 1976 six of us (children 6 years to 9 mo) stayed in a motel room. Family still talks about that stay.
Oops, sorry Dick—I just posted something similar to the forum. I wish I’d seen your post first; I would’ve held off on mine.
Great minds think alike or maybe it’s that darn stone.