Interesting thread, as it could apply to so many of us approaching retirement age. Like the OP, i am trying to figure this all out, having just turned 60. As I read through the posts, I could relate to most of them, as they were relevant and well intentioned.
My brother retired from an executive position when he turned 56, and has spent his retired life traveling the world. He has a condo in Atlanta, no wife (divorced with no kids), and can fly out of town any time he finds a trip that interests him. He is in Africa now. He told me years ago not to wait too late, that as he travels he sees many that do not have the mobility to do very much on the shore excursions, which is sad. I have told him often he is not the norm: gold plated retirement package with health insurance for life, plus no spouse/kids.
I have a veterinarian that has worked for our practice during the hurricane season for the last 3 years, and every year in November they head south in their sailboat. First year they went to Florida and the keys, last year they went to the Bahamas, this year back to the Abacos in the Bahamas. He works at West Marine while they are here, and they house sit for an older couple that go back to Canada in the summers due to the heat. Otherwise they would live on their boat while they were here. I will admit, having them around is a bad influence on me!
As to financial planners, I never quite trust them. In our town, the young ones seem to have the nicest cars, live in big houses, have places at the beach, and belong to the nicest club in town. Living large....it makes me wonder how much money do they make for the client, and how much do they make off the client? I think everyone should ask to see a full accounting from their broker as to the fees they were charged for the year, and how much the broker made. Uncomfortable to do, but information you really need.
As I have approached retirement age, I also struggle with the question of how much is enough. I went to a financial CE event hosted by a pharmaceutical company recently for some of their top accounts, and the speaker raised an interesting question: why do you think you will pay less taxes down the road? Do you want to make less money? And why do you think you will be in a lower tax bracket, given that with the national debt it is almost assured the government will ultimately have to raise taxes. As soon as a democrat gets the chance, it will happen for sure. This was relevant to the fact that most of our retirement investments are tax deferred, meaning we don't know how much they will be worth when we need them because we don't know how much tax we will have to pay on them. As you can see, the future is far from clear for most of us.
After the last crash in 2007, a young couple in our church who were hurt financially pretty badly by the real estate market collapse decided they were getting out. Their kids were in college and doing well, parents healthy, so they sold everything and moved to Costa Rica. They settled in a small town on the Pacific coast and he runs a scooter rental business and she does something as well. The come back to the states at least once a year for several weeks (probably for doctors visits and such?), then back to their ex-pat existence. My wife thought they were out of their minds, but I admired them for their courage to do something bold like that. If they choose to come back, I am sure they will still be young enough to find jobs. But money goes a lot farther down there than here, except for buying US beer!
So, as I was at Trawler Fest last month attending one of the talks, the room was filled with couples mostly our age (around 60), and they all seemed to share the same dream: to go cruising. After taking a few months off from being in the clinic this summer (thanks to my doctor from the sailboat!) I found that I didn't miss it too much. I enjoyed not having to get up at the break of dawn to get to the clinic. And by taking my wife to Trawler Fest, I think she was able to see several boats that were nice enough that she wouldn't mind spending time on them. The big question is will she/I/both of us get bored and decide cruising isn't what we thought it would be. For those reasons, I hope to get a boat after selling off some real estate holdings, and keep it in a marina at the beach and start by taking weekend or week long excursions on the boat. Both to get experience handling it and to learn everything we need to know before heading off somewhere.
Now, the search begins for a boat that checks all the boxes while I am still working for another 2 years. I have decided it will take that long to plan my exit from my practice, and divest myself of real estate.
As to leaving a large inheritance, a friend posted something a year or so ago that was supposedly attributed to the Pope, I think. It more or less said that we should not worry about leaving a lot of wealth to our kids, as there is great value in working for what we have in life. I though about that, and I don't know if he thought we should spend it on ourselves or leave it to the church or some other institution, but I have decided that I want to enjoy my later years. Now, I don't want to go crazy and end up destitute, but the object is not to leave as much as possible to my son. I put him through college and graduate school, so he is going to be fine. In fact, like many of his age he probably has had it far, far easier than I ever had it. I think he should enjoy the opportunity to work hard, buy a house, pay for his kids education and all that, just like I did. There is great satisfaction in all that, I think. And having things handed to you never seems to be appreciated as much.
Well, this went on for far too long. If anyone read all of it, I hope it resonates with you. How much is enough? Depends on the lifestyle you wish to live. It will vary for each of us. I think calculating a budget that is reasonable would be the start for me.
Cheers to all,
Mark
