Ok, this evening, I have some free time and have had a nice single malt scotch after dinner and thought I would pontificate a bit further on this subject.
So far, from what I have read from the stated thoughts and opinions of the gray hair set here, we old farts have the following philosophical and practical advice for the younger generation of XOutpost bloggers for preparation for one's senior years and ultimately for retirement. So for anyone who wants to listen and seriously consider it, capsulated from previous posts here, as well as new ones, is the start of a list of points that I (and probably most of us), believe are of the most importance. Please feel free to add your own to this probably endless list:
1.
Prepare - Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
2.
Start Early - Start one's financial planning for retirement as early as you possibly can.
3.
Health - Do what you can to stay as healthy as you can to enjoy your later years.
4.
Insurance - Understand what health care insurance options may be available to you in later years.
5.
Passion - Determine what you are passionate about and pursue that as your work/job.
6.
Life’s Roller Coaster - Recognize that satisfaction with one's job, spouse and life circumstances will have its "peaks and valleys" and that is perfectly normal. How you deal with the valleys will determine your future happiness.
7.
Education - Understand that education is vital to one's success and ability to understand the world, as much as possible. Also, education is not just formal schooling but also life experiences learned by doing and watching others. This leads to wisdom and hopefully not too much cynicism
8.
Don’t Wait - Do not wait for retirement to enjoy your life as much as you can afford to do so.
9.
Travel - Travel extensively, as much as you possibly can afford to do so. It is a huge diversified and beautiful world out there and this type of experience will make you less susceptible to becoming provincial in your thinking and more accepting of our inherent differences.
10.
Experiment - Do some things that you may not necessarily be comfortable doing, Challenge yourself to explore new horizons, cultures and food. You may not like everything you see and do, but you will be able to say you at least tried it and formed your opinion based on actual experience and not someone else's opinion. Drive a Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Audi and others... You just may decide that they are as good, if not better in some ways than a BMW, (then again, maybe not....)
11.
Analysis – Tabulate all of your known current and anticipated expenses, create a spreadsheet to itemize all of these costs for each year for the next 30-40 years, assuming a rate of inflation that is realistic, (3-4% per year?). Do the same for your current and anticipated income. Once completed, this should frighten the hell out of you. Hopefully it will illustrate for you the probable disparity between income and expenses and therefore motivate you to save more money for unforeseen expenses and for use in upcoming years, sacrificing the immediate gratification of purchasing consumer goods in order to allow you to have some financial security in the future.
12.
Someone Special – Many of us on XPost are probably Type A / Self-Starters that have many interests and hobbies, (i.e. BMW’s….). As much as we can satisfy ourselves with these interests, my experience is that life is just more fun and rewarding when you can share you interests, discoveries and joys with someone else. Someone special, a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, family members, friends….
As we grow older, we want to share our life experiences with that one special person, including the memories of those experiences. As we start to slow down, that special person hopefully will be there with you , through thick and thin, sitting in the passenger seat of that nice little M3 convertible as we drive through our lives together.
13. (Add you own points…..)
14. _______________
Now for the really challenging stuff:
Student Loan Debt - We all know the importance of getting a solid education and learning skills that will lead to go job prospects, whether or not you work for yourself of for others. This education may consist of college, post graduate and/or technical/vocational training. It will have a financial cost that you may have to borrow money to afford. Those loans from banks and financial institutions will become your student loan debt, hopefully at relatively low interest rates. It will take you many years to pay off those loans.
Back in the 70’s my parents were able to afford to pay for me to attend a 4-year private liberal arts college where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. I then went on to graduate school, which I had to pay for myself. I did this with the assistance of fellowships, scholarships, two jobs in the university, serving as a graduate teaching assistant and finally, taking out multiple low-interest student loans totaling $26,000. It took me approx. 8 years after graduation to pay off the last of those loans.
I shudder at the thought of how long it will take today’s college and graduate students to pay off their student loans in the range of $50,000 - $125,000. I hope that the evolving nature of higher education, that will incorporate various forms of "distance learning" such as taking free or low cost courses online, via Corsera, Kahn Academy and other offerings, will help bring the cost of education down to a more affordable level.
Yet, even with these advanced technological tools, the onus is on the student to focus at an earlier stage and age to be more conscious of studying something that will accomplish two key goals for them: a subject that they are passionate about and will lead to their securing a job post graduation that will pay a decent salary/income for them. Money is not the ultimate goal but it sure does make achieving them just that much easier…. My generation had the luxury of being able to go to college without a clear idea of what we ultimately wanted to do with our lives. I think that current and future generations may not really be able to afford that option. Yet, I think, as do many others, that the expense will ultimately be worth it for you, both financially and intellectually leading to a more rewarding life.
Ok, that’s all for now…
Let's hear the thoughts of everyone else
AVB-AMG
