We were fondly reminiscing days after the flat tire fiasco when Dale said, “You want to know what was worse?”
I meant no but said yes.
“We only had 16 miles left in the tank.”
And then we began to laugh, because we both know that would have put me over the edge. I can’t bear a low gas tank. He may as well have said zombies followed us home. So many things to worry about. Gas, zombies, impeachment … there’s no end in sight.
I am a worrier, but I am trying to lighten up. It’s not that retirement and aging aren’t scary, but I say let’s do our best to tame the fear and live joyfully.
Money is the big one, the big “worry bead” as they used to say at work. It’s funny how I fretted about money the whole time I was working, but now I have confidence in our finances and hardly give them a thought. Of course, I only got this far because I spent 35 years worrying we would not have enough money to retire, so I focused on saving and investing.
Saving and investing worked! Sure, there’s always a risk, but mostly I can relax as long as the world doesn’t blow up or one of us does something radically stupid. Living within your means and knowing there’s enough money to get by as long as you don’t go crazy makes for a happy retirement.
Growing up in a family with very little money, I always feared not having enough. It’s like near-empty gas tanks. I can’t take it. My friends would quit jobs because they were too stressful, and I used to say the stress of a job is nothing compared to the stress of living paycheck to paycheck. I endured some miserable jobs, but I never bailed until I knew we had enough to make a clean break.
Maybe there’s no such thing as true financial freedom, but we feel pretty good … reasonably secure. We paid off our mortgage in May, and that also reduces stress.
I know there are lots of fancy formulas that help people decide whether it’s smart to pay off their mortgage. Some financial experts say if your interest rate is low, then it makes more sense to invest your cash. I am not a financial expert. This is how a liberal arts major does retirement math.
Our payment was about $1,000 a month, roughly $12,000 a year. About half of that was property taxes, which we now pay separately. Let’s assume that frees up $6,000 of cash flow, and then I’m not even going to include what we saved in interest, because calculating interest hurts my brain.
I kind of think that’s $6,000 I can spend on fun stuff I didn’t want to sign up for when we had a mortgage. Here’s my annual commitment so far:
| Unlimited golf pass | $2,000 |
| Fitness club membership | $1,020 |
| Massages | $1,500 |
| TOTAL | $4,520 |
I’ve got nothing else on the horizon, so there’s actually a surplus! I ran the math by Dale to see if he thought I was loco, and he said, no, I get it. Makes sense. I’m sure someone could deconstruct my logic. After all, the money is being spent one way or the other.
But the thing is, a mortgage is an unwavering commitment. It doesn’t go away unless you pay it off. Without a mortgage, however, indulgences are optional. There’s much greater flexibility in how you spend your retirement income. If we find ourselves short on cash, I can always back out of my sports memberships and massages. Life is still good.
And then there is the peace of mind in knowing you don’t owe anybody anything. If the shit hits the fan, we could sell this house and downsize in some form or fashion. The proceeds can continue to fund our retirement.
Having had cancer twice, I am all too aware the bubble could burst in a flash. But for now, we are healthy and solvent, and that adds up to less worry and more fun … which is not a bad retirement mantra.
I agree with paying off the mortgage. Doing so increased our monthly cash flow which kept me from stressing each month I had to dip into savings. I haven’t quite made the transition from saving to withdrawing!! My pension is like getting a paycheck so we try to live off that and Tim’s salary. We can make it probably 11 out of 12 months which I think is pretty good. I can live with that!!
It is challenging to pull that money out when you spent so long learning to put it in! I joined my company the year after they got rid of the pension. Timing is everything.
Less worry, more fun is a good message to embrace. My husband and I were pretty good at saving before retirement which is very helpful since I retired 10 years ago.
Wow, 10 years! Congratulations. Sounds like you planned well.
That is exactly how we view/do it! I’m an incredible penny pincher when it comes to what I call our ‘run rate’ items – taxes, insurance, utilities, basic groceries, basic household maintenance items – so that I can be relaxed elsewhere – travel, dining out, entertainment, wine 😊.
We are finally approaching the time period when additional money flows like pensions and social security will begin. In that this will be ‘new’ money, not replacement money for what is already being withdrawn, we are much looking forward to figuring out what to do with it.
Funny — I can also be quite the penny pincher, but I do love my indulgences! I have long-term incentives and a disbursement from some non-qualified plans up until 2021. That’s also the year I’ll probably start Social Security, so that should work out. I hope you have fun figuring out what to do with the money. Our goal is to die broke.
Well, all I can say is ‘that’s really great’. To have your mortgage paid off is wonderful and no real bills( medical or otherwise).
We never really saved at all for retirement. My husband does have a 401k with the company he is on medical leave with so that will help but it’s not much more than $100K ( I think). We still have a mortgage and will have one till one of us dies and then the other will sell. I guess some people do it right and others like us were just too ‘in the moment’ and now it comes back on us. Although, we never really made any money to speak of. I can remember when my daughter was around 5 years old and my grocery budget was around $25 a week. There’s not much we can do at this point though but just do what we can and live on what we are getting in.
Hi Christina! I read your blog, and I think you do a fantastic job with what you have. That’s really all any of us can hope for. And from reading your blog, it seems like you’ve had some pretty amazing “in the moment” experiences. My hat’s off to you.
Back in the 1980’s we were fortunate enough to take part in some financial management seminars specifically for chiropractors.Our advisor showed us how to simplify our practice and our lives: We sold off one clinic (we had bee wokring 6 days a week to manage two clinics in different towns..) and put all our hope life and souls into the one we kept.It grew and flourished.We loved our work.They also taught us how to save, how to simplify our lives in general, and also how to pay off the mortgage in preparation for retirement.We followed all the advice. We never made a killing in the stock market. We’re very conservative, but we did know how to save!!! We did make a few not so great real estate errors (mountain cabins,although over time we did make money on them..) We paid off the house mortgage and now live a simplified yet plentiful life in Arizona.. (we retired at age 59.) The peace of mind of a paid for house is immeasurable!! Learning,early on, to extract maximum fun and pleasure out of a simpler life style has also led to great satisfaction. A “Library date” with my husband, then lunch out with a coupon, is a great day for us! We splurge on travel sometimes but not as often as a lot of retirees.Life is good.
How fortunate you were to get such great advice and then how smart you were to heed it! Congratulations on your simpler life. We’re with you on travel — a little now and then but not as much as many retirees.