Avoiding Retirement Regrets

Yahoo wrote about the biggest regrets that people had about retiring. Sprinkled in there of course were some grim average and median retirement account balances. The first regret was not saving enough. If life circumstances are such that someone can't save like a low income or something involving special care for a child then I wouldn't dwell on that as a regret. Yes, someone in that spot certainly needs to figure something about but I'm not sure there's action there to regret as opposed to a lifetime of bad decisions about spending money and waking up at 60 years old with $50,000 put away. That second scenario would be regretful.

Someone at 60 being a little short of where they should be may lead to regret but that is workable by either saving a little more if possible, working a little longer if possible, figuring out how to spend less or some combo of the three. Maybe people should focus less on hitting their retirement number versus hitting a workable number. Harshness coming but if you think you need $1.1 million to retire at 66 and at 65 and a half you have $900,000, you gotta figure out how to make that work (save more, work longer, spend less, all three).

The second regret listed was taking Social Security early. I'm not big on telling other people when to take it. I plan to wait and have been clear that's for my wife in case I die young. I think my wife should take it as soon as I do, if I can hold out to 70, she would be 64 and 2 months. The better way to think about regrets related to taking Social Security is not being fully informed, not putting in the effort to learn how it works at the most basic level and the nuance of things like working and taking it before your FRA (if you don't know what FRA is, you've got some learning to do). 

Taking Social Security early is fine if it has been well thought out and planned. There is a way to back track if someone realized after the fact the took it too early but that could be expensive. It can also be suspended for a limited time too. 

Retiring with too much debt was on the list. Every other aspect of life is easier when there's no mortgage and no car payments. Not everyone will be able to retire without those payments but my statement is true. If someone has credit card balances at that point from buying stuff and taking trips then that's on them they did that to themselves and that seems like it would cause a lot of regret. Again, I would not beat up a circumstance of having to pay for something very expensive to help family and needing debt to do so. It's not for me to generically say, you shouldn't do that.

I do realize that a lot of people do have debt and that's just how it is but again, every other aspect of life is easier when you don't.

Then the article hit on something we talk about frequently, saying that six in 10 retirees retired sooner than they were planning, implying their hand was forced somehow, but that only 1 in 5 retired early because they were financially able to do so. This part shines a spotlight on how we cultivate our resiliency and optionality. 

Fitness and metabolic health are both low hanging fruit for this part of the discussion. Of course I am going to say to lift weights to build/maintain muscle mass, promote bone density and there are countless metabolic benefits to lifting weights too. A lot of chronic maladies can be prevented or reversed by cutting way back on carbs. Google reversing Type 2 diabetes. Then Google Type 3 diabetes. The body is incredibly forgiving but you have to do the thing. 

Keeping engaged and challenged along with learning new things is a way to stay sharp and maybe take on new skills that can be monetized if you're part of the 6 of 10 a couple of paragraphs up. 

The last regret is also one we talk about which is planning what your actual retirement lifestyle will be. I've said 100 times that waking up on day one of retirement and saying to yourself, "ok, now what am I going to do" is a very bad spot to be in. 

My wife sent me a Facebook reel posted by a doctor whose practice involved seeing older patients and she had several observations that weren't medical in nature but more like observations from engaging with patients all day every day. Have a garden, not so much to eat from although great if you do but have a garden because it requires planning and gives a reason to look to the future. She said lift weights which we've already covered. Don't retire early unless you're retiring to a second career or a hobby that challenges you mentally or volunteer somewhere for the same reason, to which I would add to very actively volunteer, the more you put in, the more you will get out. She closed with the observation that so many people nose dive when they retire to do nothing.

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.