The New Retirement. Jan Cullinane
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ability to choose to retire is tangled in thorny financial choices and more than a little crystal ball gazing.
How much longer will you be able to work from a health perspective and in an ageist workplace culture that resists retaining older workers? How will you pay for healthcare after you leave your employer's plan? Importantly, how will you create a life in this chapter that balances your budget and allows you to embrace new challenges and meaningful experiences?
For many people, the decades that lie ahead, should they step out of the workforce in their 60s or are not financially prepared, are a daunting prospect.
For nearly two decades, I have been concerned, speaking, and writing about the looming elder poverty crisis in this country. That crunch is evolving as Baby Boomers retire and are faced with longevity without the savings to support the years ahead, including surging medical costs, particularly at the end of life. My mother died recently on the cusp of turning 92, and I can assure you, her annual living and healthcare costs in her last few years were staggering.
Experts at Fidelity have estimated that about 15% of the average retiree's annual expenses will be used for healthcare-related expenses, including Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.
According to the Fidelity Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate, an average retired couple age 65 may need approximately $300,000 saved (after tax) to cover healthcare expenses in retirement.
Clearly, that figure comes with provisions that depend on when you step out of the workforce and your health, luck, and so on.
But a successful retirement involves far more than whether you will outlive your money or whether you have saved adequately. To me, work in some fashion engages the mind and provides a social connection and network that is vital to healthy aging.
This doesn't necessarily mean full-blown work scenarios. Part-time, seasonal, contract or consulting positions, a side entrepreneurial gig, can all serve as a financial safety net.
That income is the fourth leg of the retirement stool along with retirement savings, personal savings, and Social Security. Meantime, work can also provide future retirees the ability to delay tapping Social Security retirement benefits.
Social Security's rules essentially give you an 8% bigger benefit for each year you postpone claiming benefits after your full retirement age (currently 66 to 67), until age 70. Put another way, if you're now 66 and wait until 70 to start claiming, you'll see 32% larger benefits than if you filed at your full retirement age.
Jan Cullinane's enlightening new book highlights the significance of a holistic approach to retirement. I'm pleased she includes vital advice on the role working longer can play.
“For some, a long and (hopefully) rewarding job/career, followed by non-working years is the retirement goal,” Cullinane writes. “For others, retirement is more of a process, perhaps involving several forays into and out of alternative projects, pastimes, and careers/jobs.
Many people hope to do a ‘phased transition’ to retirement and combine more leisure time with work, and some insist they will never retire. Some want to retire by age 55. Others want to be part of the FIRE movement – financial independence, retire early – where the goal is to live on your own terms by the time you're in your 30s or 40s”.
The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life is a persuasive reminder that retirement is vastly different today than in previous generations and will continue to mutate. But it can be a time of great adventure and purpose if you carefully prepare the foundation for a period of life that may outlast your primary working career.
Different flavors of ice cream is a metaphor for how we all seek different things in the next chapter of our lives.
Cullinane shows us that it is possible to step away from a career and create our own bespoke retirement chapter. She provides solid resources and actionable steps for those nearing retirement as well as those decades away to begin to plan intentionally and embrace the rich possibilities ahead.
For me, the new story of retirement for those who have saved adequately is that it will be in fact a sequence of shifts over time as one calibrates and re-jiggers the puzzle of our next phase from a practical and a deeply personal perspective that centers on that cosmic question we all grapple with: What ultimately matters in a life well led?
As my friend Ken Dychtwald, psychologist, gerontologist, and founder and chief executive of Age Wave, a consulting and research company, told me: “During this transitional period, some people feel unsettled, anxious, or bored, but eventually they realize that ‘I can be fresh. I can be new.’”
A 2021 study by Age Wave, Edward Jones, and the Harris Poll found that most retirees say that all four pillars – health, family, purpose, and finances – are crucial to optimal well-being in retirement, which is common-sense to me. And retirees, when compared with younger Americans, are far more likely to say that “having a sense of purpose” in life is essential to achieve peak well-being.
One of the big takeaways from the report: being useful makes retirees feel youthful. I like that notion. (And it's far cheaper than Botox.)
It plays into my concept that, if you're financially secure, this should be a time of life of engaging in the world, moving to something new, certainly not fading away, or, ahem, retiring, in the timeworn sense of the word.
The new retirement movement needs books like Jan's because, as a respected retirement specialist, her advice is realistic and honest. It resonates. She understands the demographic reality of longevity and shows us the positive pathways to create financial security and a future of opportunity and joy.
Acknowledgments
“… some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” I came across this Warren Buffett quote while writing this book, and it resonated with me. Although a book will often have just one name on the cover, it's truly the work of many talented, dedicated, smart, and generous people. And, I'd like to thank them.
I appreciate the anecdotes and comments contributed by friends, acquaintances, and people who have retired or are planning to retire who willingly shared their experiences, thoughts, stories, challenges, and wisdom. And thanks to the CPAs, CFPs, and other experts who shared their technical knowledge.
The people at Wiley are phenomenal. A huge thank-you to Senior Acquisitions Editor Kevin Harreld, Senior Managing Editor Susan Cerra, Assistant Editor Samantha Enders, Editorial Assistant Samantha Wu, and Wiley Creative Services. They are dedicated, enthusiastic, and provide prompt and excellent advice. Much appreciation to Kerry Hannon, who wrote the Foreword to the book, and who is a great source of wisdom.
Finally, endless thanks to my agent, Linda Konner. I was told she's the best, and is she ever!
Introduction
If you're reading this, congratulations and welcome! Congrats for recognizing the importance of thinking about and planning for retirement in a holistic way, and welcome to the book that's going to help you in your journey.
You may be considering this book for a number of reasons:
You may be one of the 10,000 people who will reach the age of 65 every day until 2030, when all Boomers will be at least 65.
You may be among the approximately 12 million households in which the primary wage earner says he/she “aspires to retire” by the age of 55.
You may be among those who left a primary career (by choice or not) and are technically “retired” but looking for more information about health, wealth, relocation, and second careers.
You may have a YOLO (you only live once) approach and want to live life to its fullest.
You may be a digital nomad, wanting