I should have spent more time in the office!
Yesterday, I read about a woman, an empty nest in the
Midwest, who made the mistake of investing in an exclusive
four-bedroom house that now has negative equity;
which means you owe more than it’s worth.
Unlike many Californians, who are backwards
hundred thousand, half a million or more, this
The distraught lady regrets her extravagance because
you will have to sell at a cash loss of $5,000.
I read this, and although my sympathy is with all
people who predicted their purchases based on a perception
Real estate prices only go up, I thought, “Damn, she’s
sweating only five thousand dollars?”
But $5,000 is an important part of your retirement.
money.
How can it be?
Like my recently retired employer in the
financial industry, which received twelve million
payment in dollars, not everyone has
six and seven figure cushions to fall back on
when your other investments fail?
In a word: no.
And Social Security, that system that so many predict
fail one day, won’t that agency make up for the
deficit?
When you reach AARP age 50 or older, the Social
The Security Administration sends you annual forms
recap your accumulated contributions to the fund.
Based on these numbers, the notice tells you how
you’ll get little if you retire at age 62 or later.
It is shocking
A baby boomer, who started paying into Social Security
when he was in his teens, and contributing
each year thereafter, you could retire at age 62 and get the
large sum of $986 per month. That could be enough to
pay your utilities and insurance.
How are you going to crack the rest of the nut?
The simple answer is by working until you drop.
Investment firms spend millions to advertise the
concept that we should save a lot for retirement,
starting early, and even if we’re late for the game,
we can catch up and still accumulate a nest egg in
time.
Simple math suggests that this is partly true.
“Save early” is good advice, but catching up so you can
you can have a life of leisure on the golf course or
padding, it just doesn’t seem feasible.
The other day I received a proxy statement from the Auto
Club that wants to increase mandatory retirement
age of its Board of Directors to 73 or 76. My
initial reaction was to dismiss this appeal for my
support.
I am reconsidering, appreciating the fact that these
older people may need the additional income.
In much of the wildly optimistic, goofy,
literature, you still see the once funny saying that
on your deathbed, the last words you will utter are NOT
be:
“I wish I had spent more time in the office!”
Tell that to the grieving Midwestern homeowner.
mentioned above, and millions of his
contemporaries, who are faced with the prospect of
fighting to stay or to get back in
Workplace.
Somehow I’m feeling that not staying employed for long
enough is precisely what many will lament.