I SAW A GRAPH recently generated by some retirement-planning software. It showed the investor enjoying substantial portfolio growth over the course of his 30-year retirement. Forget running out of money. This particular software program says the guy’ll be a 90-year-old multimillionaire.

My curiosity piqued, I used the same software to run numbers for my finances. I ran optimistic and pessimistic assumptions. I entered my monthly expenses and my fixed income. I tried to run out of money,

I’M IN NO HURRY TO retire—but I am making sure I’m prepared. I’m age 56, and I plan to work full-time until 70 and part-time until 75. I’m an English professor, and I enjoy teaching, service and scholarship. I also enjoy having three weeks off at Christmas and two months in the summer.
I received a fairly large inheritance, which has been growing over the years and which will allow me to do some special things in the years to come.

HAVE WE GOT IT ALL wrong? “It” is our relentless, lifelong focus on socking away great wads of money, so we don’t have to worry about earning another penny once we reach our 60s.
In fact, adherents of the FIRE—financial independence-retire early—movement aim to reach this blissful state far earlier, perhaps even in their 30s. This, of course, involves saving voraciously, with all the financial sacrifice that’s entailed. Even retiring in our 60s can seem like a Herculean task,

LARRY BURKETT WAS one of my early financial influences. Burkett, who passed away from cancer in 2003 at age 64, had a daily program called Money Matters on our local Christian radio station. For years, it came on during my commute home from work, and I’d faithfully tune in.
Burkett was a prolific author, publishing more than 70 books. His final book, Wealth to Last, co-authored with Ron Blue,

MY FATHER LEFT US—my mother, sister, brother and me—in 1951, when I was age 10. With the help of her parents, my mother managed to raise us three children until we each got married. I knew I wasn’t as well off as many of my parochial school classmates, but I never felt poor. Still, we didn’t waste a cent, and that became a lifelong habit.
It’s been a long journey since then—service in the Army and Army Reserves,

THE LAST TIME I HAD a job where I was eligible for a pension was 1994. People with pensions seem to count the days till they’re eligible to collect their monthly check. That makes sense: They know there’s gold at the end of their working life. I didn’t have this sort of “golden parachute.” If I didn’t save, I couldn’t retire.
From 1994 on, funding my 401(k) and IRA were my only paths to a comfortable retirement.

SOMEONE POSTED THIS comment on a Facebook retirement-planning group that I follow: “My plan is based on my spouse and I living to 95 and 94 respectively. Our paid house is now worth about 900K. I am comfortable it will appreciate at 5% per year. The plan shows a 75% chance of success. If we sell the house at 85-84 and rent at a retirement community the success goes to 99%. We could cut back on expenses and that 75% chance would improve but why do that if I don’t need to?”

I suppose that,

HOW DID I GET financially to where I am today, 15 years into retirement? It’s a good question—one that’s taken me a lifetime to answer.

I’ve been fortunate in a way that’s nearly impossible for Americans today. I worked for one company for nearly 50 years and I accumulated a traditional pension based on that service. In addition, during my last few years on the job, I was eligible for stock options, restricted stock awards and enhanced bonuses.

DURING MY FINAL NINE years with the Coast Guard, I was involved in decisions regarding search-and-rescue operations. We were almost always working with imperfect information. For three of those nine years, I was responsible for all missions in one section of the Great Lakes and, in my last year, I made the final decision on when to suspend search-and-rescue operations in an even larger area.
To lower risk, we often assumed the worst, and threw copious operational resources at the situation.

I BEGAN MY CAREER at a small startup biotech company, only to realize the place had too much office politics, plus not enough credit was given for new discoveries. That was at odds with what I wanted, which was to be a research scientist focused on the basic principles underlying diseases.
Fortunately, I was offered a tenure-track academic position at a large medical school in Houston. I never looked back. Indeed, I consider myself one of the fortunate few who woke early each and every day to pursue their life’s passion.

WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE, working toward a bachelor’s degree in music education, a friend’s dad told me about Vanguard Group. I’d never heard of Vanguard, and I had no idea what a mutual fund was.
I did some research on the firm and its founder, John Bogle, and read his book Bogle on Mutual Funds. Soon after, at age 19, I opened an IRA at Vanguard and thereafter contributed the maximum allowed every year.

I HAD MY SIGHTS SET on retiring at age 59. Not exactly FIRE—financial independence-retire early—but certainly a bit earlier than my peers, close friends and family. I wanted to seek new challenges after spending more than 25 years in academic research. Our financial plan was solid. My wife and I calculated we’d have more than enough retirement income.
But my plans were upended, first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by two life-threatening health issues.

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’M THINKING ABOUT retirement—again. But this time, it isn’t my retirement, but rather my wife’s. I earn our family’s primary paycheck, so I’m usually the focus of our discussions when we sit down to scrutinize the numbers and comb through the calendar, looking for a date when we should each hang up our physical therapist’s goniometer.
Even though I earn the bigger income, my wife has diligently worked just as long as I have,

LIKE MANY OF MY generation, I grew up in a family that never talked about money. I had some sense that I should save, but no sense of where to save. This made me susceptible to a lot of advice—both good and bad—that shaped my financial journey.
I married a teacher and I became a school-based speech pathologist. I knew we’d never be rich, but we would have a comfortable life. In those early days,