How to Make Retirement Less Scary
Many Americans, through no fault of their own, won’t be able to retire when and how they’d like. Even if you’ve saved a lot, whether it’s “enough” depends on some things — like health — that may be beyond your control.
That’s frightening.
It’s easy to get caught up in the math before knowing what you want out of this phase of life.
At first, I had all sorts of harebrained schemes.
RON’S HAREBRAINED SCHEMES
Wrestle my local bagel shop from the grumpy owner who discontinued pumpernickel.
Organize my favorite people to buy one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes and all live nearby.
HOW TO BUILD A MISSION STATEMENT
Most mission statements are terrible.
To write a good one, I knew I’d need to ask myself the really important questions.
Where do I want to live?
What do I want to do?
Who will help me if I need it?
Ron’s Mission Statement
Seek joy by doing things, not having things.
Live in a comfortable home with minimal maintenance and maximum protection from climate change.
Give time to others, to see how much good I can do even as my energy decreases.
Be generous with myself – occasionally and responsibly – by splurging on once-in-a-lifetime experiences with the people I love most.
Have money left over so I’m not a burden to any of them.
Trade-offs
Long-distance travel is already a bit uncomfortable,
and so much of the U.S. brings me joy.
New Orleans over New Zealand doesn’t feel like much of a sacrifice.
Inflation – and the difficulty of getting reservations at so many New York City restaurants – have radicalized me on food costs.
I’ll Cook at home, mostly plants.
I’d love a home big enough to be the consummate host,
but it may be better to have a nice but modest place near our children, if possible.
We can be short-term renters elsewhere.
In Conclusion
This exercise is hard.
You’ll change,
and a spouse, if any, will too.
But any good mission statement is malleable.
You can revisit it whenever you want.
Retirement will probably be easier if we have people to share it with.
Maybe the most important thing we can do now is invest in relationships, even as we try to earn and save what we can.
