A Blogger Looks At 59

The first paragraph to A Blogger Looks At 58, last year.

"The title to this post is a play on words from the Jimmy Buffett song A Pirate Looks At 40. This is an ongoing series that started when I was 40 with the intention of sort of updating the post at milestone birthdays. The point is to track how my views on various things might evolve or change dramatically and to hold myself accountable for any lifestyle opinions/advice I might write about."

And the other posts in the series going back to 2006 when I turned 40.

• A Blogger Looks At 40
• A Blogger Looks At 50
• A Blogger Looks At 55
• A Blogger Looks At 56
• A Blogger Looks At 57

These have been fun posts over the years. 

The starting point this year is a rough article from the NY Times about Gen-X being obsoleted out of the work force for various reasons. It's long been a real issue for people in their mid-50's to have their hand forced at work and if the Times is correct, Gen-X is not immune. We've looked at this issue quite a few times in the context of long range, I don't know whether to call it financial planning or life planning.

My framework is to think about optionality. At 59, I'm quite a few years beyond starting to reap the benefits of having done favors for my 50 year old, and beyond, self related to living below our means for financial optionality and staying very curious about health matters to expand into understanding the importance of diet in addition to exercise. 

As I think the Times article is pointing out, we can't always see what changes to the industry we each work in might be coming and if we've made any effort to learn more and add to our skillsets, our fields could still evolve around what we've spent time on and leave us behind anyway. Can AI take your job? Be honest with yourself, can AI take your job? Could some sort of robot replace your dentist for example? Yes, even if something like that is a little ways down the road. 

I've told the story about our firm pretty much getting shut down over the course of several months in early 2023 and that I feel fortunate that we had an easy time landing somewhere but it was a path to possibly having my hand forced as noted above. 

I'm a few years beyond the point where I could retire if I had to or wanted to but big fixes or big needed purchases would be uncomfortable which is something I've been saying for a few years in this series. My attitude toward wanting to retire isn't changing, I don't plan to but it might be difficult to attract clients when I am 80 and if somehow the new firm gets in trouble, what then? I realize that last one is the same behavior as worrying about another internet bubble, the bigger point is something happening beyond my control that can't reasonably be predicted, a personal black swan. 

I'm very friendly with the guy who does our taxes and he teased me about being only 6 months away from penalty free IRA withdrawals. I've talked about getting closer to that milestone. If your hand is forced, can you hold out until at least 59 1/12 to avoid the penalty is the question I've asked before. If you can make to 59 1/2, then can you holdout until 62 until Social Security. Remember the context here is that things have really gone sideways. Then beyond 62, can you last until whatever age you want to take Social Security? 

Part of this conversation is whether there are any other income streams. We have our vacation rental income which goes a long way toward covering our regular monthly expenses. If somehow I was out of work, health insurance through the market place would be very cheap which is important to remember in case you ever need that. 

I am still a health enthusiast....or health nut, that's ok. I saw a quote attributed to Donald Trump that the US can no longer produce enough antibiotics to meet our need. I have no idea if that is true or not but I look at it in the same manner I look at a lot of things. Without knowing whether it's true, what if it is? Being sick or otherwise infirm, waiting for someone or something to fix the problem for me is a situation I am very motivated to avoid. I realize there are elements on this beyond our control, but what are the things we can control? We can control inputs and the inputs of lifting weights, cutting carbs/processed foods and (next level) skipping breakfast will prevent/solve countless health problems. 

The outcome here is insulin sensitivity versus insulin resistance, being lean with muscle mass (the odds of getting "too big" from lifting are less than microscopic), no visceral fat and endurance to do a lot. One big difference in my routine over the last year is that I started taking creatine after quite a while learning about it. It has the effect of retaining water in the muscles, increasing the surface space which is what can make you a little stronger. It might be contraindicated with blood pressure medication but there is a good chance that lifting weights and cutting carbs will solve hypertension. A little apple cider vinegar can help with hypertension too. There is no downside to less sugar, more exercise and a tablespoon of ACV mixed into a drink. I take ACV in eight ounces of water a protein powder. 

A final note, turning 59 wasn't difficult. I've only had one difficult birthday, at 25, and I think a big part of it was that I was doing work I did not want to do, cold calling people all day as a stock broker. It was still an important part of my life, paying my dues on the path to where I wanted to end up. The various milestone birthdays like 40 and 50 weren't difficult so hopefully 60 won't be difficult either. 

The information, analysis and opinions expressed herein reflect our judgment and opinions as of the date of writing and are subject to change at any time without notice. They are not intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation.