Retirement Fears
 

I am getting ready to retire in 2012. What was your biggest fear about retirement. Did it come to pass?

I'm not retired yet but probably within 2-3 months, I'm only 57 and my wife is 50. Of course my biggest fear is running out of money or a major medical problem. I used to worry about what I would do to keep busy but not anymore since I bought a home in The Villages!

We were really excited. Don't remember any fears.

What fears???....... Couldn't wait to get here.

WEll said DG

I was afraid I would die before I got here.

Unless you have a pension and employeer provided health insurance I think money is a big question mark that does not have an answer for most. You can not control your life expency and probably have no idea if you will hit major medical excpenses. You can offset part of this worry with annuities (be careful on fees and consider the effects of inflation) and health/long term care insurance.
You might want to postpone your social security until you are 70, spouce should probably take now. It is cheaper to postpone SS than buy an annuity. SS has a number of options on how to take so study this area.
In general the retired set tends to keep saving money in retirement. Probably since you don't know what the future holds. Thus figuring out how much money you can/should spend each month is the bigest problem you have where you can make informed decisions. I am thinking you might spend too little.

Biggest fear/s lets see....
 

Not retired yet...biggest fear??? That by the time I retire the building will be done in TV and the cost to buy a home will be beyond our reach and /or that the government will screw up the economy so much ...that we will never be able to retire. My husband is 56.

My fear is also dying or my husband dying before we are able to sell our house and move down. Will know more before March.. Almost sick over thinking about not getting to TV! We both are healthy now but one never knows.!

"Fears":

- Will we be able to make our savings last the rest of our lifetimes? (Nobody knows how long they'll live so that part will never be resolved) No pension for me, no company-paid health coverage for either of us after Sandy retires....and her pension will probably only cover the cost of her healthcare coverage.
- Will our collective health hold out? (Again, a somewhat moot question, other than the fact that we can try to do the right things to remain healthy)
- What will SS and Medicare look like when we get there? (we're in our mid/late 50s).
- What will happen with the general economy and inflation over the course of the rest of our lifetimes?

There are sooooo many things to get hung up on if you let yourself go down that path. Many of these kinds of things are beyond our control. We're committed to doing the best we can with the things we CAN control:

- Maintain a reasonably healthy lifestyle
- Continue to save and invest wisely, as best we can
- Manage our spending
- Maintain "a low overhead operation" - zero debt is the ideal situation.

For us, it's a balance between a couple of somewhat conflicting philosophies: "Enjoy life to its fullest while you're here and able" and "Always save for tomorrow".

:)

Bill

Well said, Bill.

As for the healthy lifestyle, my wife and I go regularly to the gym in addition to eating healthy foods. No fast foods and no prepared foods, insofar as possible (less expensive too.)

We continue to live well below our means so that any excess funds can be invested wisely. Credit cards, which seem to be a necessity these days, are paid off monthly. When we went into retirement, we had no debt and that has continued. If you don't have any monthly payment, it is easier to economize.

We hope to maintain this lifestyle until we move to TV in 2011.

My biggest fear is running out of money. We have saved all of our lives. It's scary to start drawing it down, not knowing how long we will live. My hubby's biggest fear is working his whole life and never getting to enjoy the retirement we've saved all of our lives for.

Our thoughts exactly.

PTurner.... You're right on the money, so to speak. Finding the balance between spending and the unknown of health issues is a tough decision. It's really hard to decide when enough is enough ...

I think I've had enough and have enough, but stay tuned ????? Sometimes your company can make it very hard to walk away...

Bill,

I agree with you completely. One thing I would add is that expenses will most likely decrease as we move into our later years baring any medical issues. I also agree with PTurner that it is scary to start drawing on a 401K after I've programed myself to save, save, save all my life. There comes a time when you need to take the leap. Everyone needs to find that happy medium where you are young enough to still enjoy the first 15-20 years of retirement but old enough to have your savings last. Very tough decision. I think we'll be OK because I'll enter retirement with zero dept and I'll always have a reverse mortgage in my back pocket if needed. I'm still scared to death (no pun intended) to see how my plan works out but I choose to "live" now and deal with shortcomings later. What can anyone to to guarantee a safe retirement unless you're a multi-millionaire, even then people tend to live up to or beyond their means.