looking for people in their late retirement and their advice

[mypostefan]

Most of the advice of this website is given by people that have not retired yet and are probably 15-20years away (I said most). Some advice is by people that already retired very recently. Since most of the discussions are about ensuring a long, comfortable retirement, I am curious to find out from 4-6 people in their very late stage of retirement. 80 or 90 year old people who have been retired for 25-30 years. I ask because many times I hear advice like this: "You are 23 years old now. If you save that 2000 dollars until your retire, it will grow to 15k. So instead of taking a 7 day European vacation now, flying coach, sleeping in hostels and taking public transportation, you can wait 62 years, fly business, sleep in the finest hotel and be driven around in a limo when you are 85". I know this example is an exaggeration, but it makes my point.

I see people making spreadsheets showing that $X will only last in retirement for 25years at an 6% draw rate. So we sort of agree that the first 10-20 years of retirement are going to be just fine. So I want to ask real people that are 80-90 years old if they think it was worth giving up that European vacation that they wanted when they were 23....Sure I can imagine myself being 85 and I can speculate on how I am going to feel playing golf every day in Maui, but I want to know if people think those "sacrifices" were really worth it. Would really be interested in a post like that from real people in that situation.

[Hatton]

I am not 80.  I am 59 and one of the older posters here I think.  I spent 2 months in Europe at age 25 and I do not think it effected my current net worth at all.  I think the point is to be cognizant when you finish residency and try to avoid traps that will make you work until you are 70-75.

[jfoxcpacfp]

I will be very interested to see if you find any readers who are 80 - 90 who are not lurkers. The demographic of the blog is skewed heavily toward millennials, X/Y, and some of us BBoomers. My broken record advice is to engage in real financial planning so that you will have the financial clarity to make those decisions while you are still young. It will have an incredible effect on your perspective.

[Kamban]

mypostefan wrote:

80 or 90 year old people who have been retired for 25-30 years. I ask because many times I hear advice like this: “You are 23 years old now. If you save that 2000 dollars until your retire, it will grow to 15k. So instead of taking a 7 day European vacation now, flying coach, sleeping in hostels and taking public transportation, you can wait 62 years, fly business, sleep in the finest hotel and be driven around in a limo when you are 85”. I know this example is an exaggeration, but it makes my point.

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A 80 year old means a pre world war II person born in in 1937 or before. The income and retirement plans of those people are quite different from those today. hearing from them will not help much on how you want to save for retirement starting today.

Travel - I have lived and worked in 3 different countries. My advice to you is to travel when you can, within your budget. The early memories of frugal travel are more fun that the later luxurious ones. I traveled by buses and stayed in bed and breakfast places and ate frugal meals to make the vacation last long when I was young. Those were wonderful carefree times that will never come back. I still fly coach and stay in decent but not 5 star hotels but try to live the experience, sometimes as a local traveling by a bus when I can easily afford a private vehicle.

So save 20-25% for retirement and some for kids education,  but do spend a good amount on yourselves. Don't wait until 65 or 75 to start living life.

[VagabondMD]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

I will be very interested to see if you find any readers who are 80 – 90 who are not lurkers. The demographic of the blog is skewed heavily toward millennials, X/Y, and some of us BBoomers. My broken record advice is to engage in real financial planning so that you will have the financial clarity to make those decisions while you are still young. It will have an incredible effect on your perspective.

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Ahem, and some of us are GenXers (barely).

I have enjoyed travel at the lower and higher price points and enjoyed all of it.

Live life while you can. Tomorrow is not promised. Two of my friends in my fellowship class (of six) were dead before age 50.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Vagabond MD wrote:

Ahem, and some of us are GenXers (barely).

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I wouldn't give you short shrift, Vagabond MD! You're smooshed in up there with "X/Y".

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

You'll find plenty of them on the Bogleheads site. I believe Taylor Larimore recently turned 93. You'll also find a number of threads on the topic of delayed gratification. Here's a sampling of related threads.

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Thread 4

Thread 5

Thread 6

Thread 7

Thread 8

Thread 9

Thread 10

 

[Dr.V. Investor]

I am not 80 yo or part of Bboomer.  I would like to share few of my inspirations:

1.  retired at 55yo died 89 yo, left over 1-2 M in assets.  He did not travel much because wife was afraid of flying.  He did buy vacation home for him, his children and  grandkids to enjoy and bought another condo, drove to Florida for the winter.  He eventually sold condo there when his wife died.

2.  did not work after 49yo, she became widowed.  lived frugally, living off ROI and SS.  She did not like traveling.  She paid for all grandkids' college education. She died past 90 yo, she had over a million left over.

3.  another couple 62 and 65 yo. has 6M in portfolio, living expenses 65k a year including trips to different states 4-5x a year and 1-2international trip/year. they did not take international trips with their kids when they were younger because they could not afford it. they only did road trips and occasional trips that required flying.  average income as a journalist and SAHM for most of their life.  When the kids are all in school- wife went back to teaching for a few years.

All of the above never had a "doctor's income".  one can argue that they never had "doctor's debt" as well.

advise?  invest well.  invest in your health, exercise.   have a budget.  if it is within budget, you can enjoy it.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Not very many 90 year olds using the internet at all.

Might consider reading some of Taylor Larimore's posts on the Bogleheads forum.

[mypostefan]

PhysicianOnFIRE, I like the links you've posted. Going through them one by one. All others, thank you for the advice. I have been following the good advice on this site for some years now and I am happy to say that the results are great. Saving 20% of income, doing a little renting on the side, having a high income and no debt (except mortgage) turns out to be pretty great.

[Antares]

I agree with Kamban. I traveled extensively when I was young. (That doesn't read right, because at 58 I still feel young and energetic!) I traveled on the cheap, staying at youth hostels and inexpensive pensions/guest houses/ etc in my 20s. Those trips are enriching still, and really there's nothing superior about more luxurious trips one might afford later. And at that age, you don't need luxury. I used to be happy in a sleeping bag. The memories of traveling early in life are precious. I have no regrets about the money spent, or about the money not spent on something more upscale. I also had the intrepid willingness to go to exotic places that today I might have reservations about. I say do all you can when you are young. Those experiences become a deep and rich part of you.

And when it comes to "sacrifice", I don't see not spending excessively in those terms. Spend on good living, by all means. But I don't regret not spending more. Who eats a dozen cookies and the next day says "I'm so glad I ate those cookies?"

[RocDoc]

mypostefan,

I don't think WCI or most others on this site are saying to wait until age 85 to travel or enjoy life. Most on this site seem to enjoy their lives in the present and take some very good vacations. We are striving to avoid Dumb Doctor Deals (crazy investment schemes, ULI, high ER funds and AUM fees) and Dumb Doctor Expenses like buying too expensive a home or too expensive cars. If you follow WCI's advice to live like a resident until the student loans are gone, have only one house, and go easy on the car expenses, then you can take some good vacations along the way and still be able to save a lot for retirement. Even very high income earners can't save much for retirement if they've bought too much house, or spend too much on cars or have other high recurring expenses.

[RocDoc]

Where are Crixus and Kenny when you need them?

[Hank]

Be nice -- Kenny's advice is usually pretty reasonable.

[RocDoc]

Hank wrote:

Be nice — Kenny’s advice is usually pretty reasonable.

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I enjoy both Crixus and Kenny's comments. They are the two on the site that I know of who are actually retired. There may be others retired that I don't recall.