A little over a year ago, I produced an NBR special called “America’s Changing Demographics.” It exposed me to some astounding numbers about the aging of America. What really shook me up was that the baby boom generation’s move to senior status would soon turn the U.S. into a giant version of my home state, Florida. (I’m referring to the fact that Florida now has the nation’s highest percentage of residents age 65+, about 17%).
To paraphrase a former GM Chairman, I figured that whatever is good for America is good for NBR. So I suggested that we produce a series aimed at the millions of Americans who would soon be retiring -- and who would also be facing lots of crucial financial decisions. The FINRA Investor Education Foundation* saw this as an area of critical need and graciously agreed to fund the project. Then US News and World Report came on board, adding its expertise and reporting capabilities to our own.
So after a year of planning, we’re ready to go on the air with “Get Your Finances Ready for Retirement.” The 26 segments will be broadcast on two Mondays each month, beginning May 12 (visit the calendar on our retirement website for a complete list of topics and airdates).
We decided to start the series with a subject that might not strike you as a particularly financial one -- deciding on a retirement lifestyle. But when you really think of it, lifestyles and money certainly do go together. (Remember the TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?” It wasn’t called that for nothing. In fact, the only rich person I know who wouldn’t have fit in that show is the man said to be the world’s wealthiest -- Warren Buffett -- who still lives in the same Omaha ranch house that he bought in the 1950s!)
As reporters Connie Hicks and Joe Collum will show in our opening segment, many about-to-be-retirees plan to live retirement in their dream lifestyle. That’s OK -- if you can afford it. But too often, about-to-be retirees set their sights too high, which can lead them to spend their retirement funds too quickly. As a result, one financial planner
recently complained that he and his colleagues now have to spend most of their time being “lifestyle coaches,” telling their clients to hold back on their extravagant lifestyle demands.
So thinking about your retirement lifestyle is a great place to begin the retirement planning process. Just remember that every lifestyle has a price tag -- and when you’re in retirement, you won’t have a paycheck to pay your bills!
*Note: The FINRA Investor Education Foundation is the grant making arm of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Comments
Thanks to Brian Lamm and Rick and Linda Skehan for your comments. They happen to illustrate one of the main points we made in the first part of our series....
The Skehans show how they were able to realize
their dream lifestyle, with careful advance planning. But CFP Meg Green also said that it's important to have a "Plan B" when planning for
retirement, because too often something comes up that no one ever expected...and that's what
Brian Lamm's case shows.
Health care and long term care are certainly a big issues when it comes to retirement finances,
and we'll be dealing with them later in the series.
Jack Kahn
I saw your first installment of the retirement series and believe it will provide a wonderful body of information. I look forward to following the series as it unfolds. I wish to offer a comment on my own situation which I hope may give people something useful to think about.
I retired a couple years ago at age 58. I receive a nice pension, and had carefully planned during my career for this retirement and the lifesyle I anticipated in retirement. However, with all my long-term planning, I now face a huge long-term expense I had never thought about, care of my Mother. My Mother has Alzheimer's and needs 24/7 care. She has no savings and minimal income relative to the cost of her care. As a result, I was faced with the difficult decision of putting her in a no-cost-to-me medicaid facility (she has good health insurance, but there is no coverage for Alzheimer's care) or providing her with care in a private facility. I have chosen to provide her with private care as I believe it provides her with a much higher quality of life. Unfortunately for me, this consumes a major portion of my retirement income.
I am happy to do this for my Mother, a small repayment for what she did for me over the years. However, it certainly has altered my carefully planned retirement lifesyle.
Bottom line, it's so hard to plan for everything.
Brian Lamm
We just watched your report on the Boomer's retirement.
We have now been retired for 7 years taking early retirement from teaching. We are presently 64 and 61 and live in the Florida Keys.
Because we do not have children, we were afforded the luxury of early retirement. However, this did not come without much planning and saving. Today, we own our home in The Keys and go to Connecticut to a family cottage for the summer.
We have a diversified portfolio that has worked well for us and a teacher's pension We feel comfortable with our investments that have grown to over $1,000.000.Because we were not allowed to pay into Social Security as teachers, we will virtually receive nothing. Our biggest expense presently is health insurance which costs us almost $12,000.
We are active biking, swimming, snorkeling,kayaking, etc. so the Keys lifestyle fits us well.