(Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash)
This is part 2 of my articles on potential "retirement mistakes" people might make in Boise, Idaho. Here is a link to the first article: https://www.newsbreak.com/n/0Z1rReKS?s=influencer. I live in Boise, and have for the past 27+ years. Many of the locals have lived here their entire life, and many are new transplants, as I once was. What we all have (or will have) in common is the desire to have a pleasant retirement. Having talked with many retirees and those planning to retire, I distilled their "mistakes" into the following.
Remember: Don't Make These Mistakes
(photo by Anelala Najera on Unsplash)
Say, “Now we will start traveling,” even though they had not done much traveling before
I think you know that I love to travel. If you didn’t already know that, now you do. My enjoyment of travel may have been initiated by being raised in a military family where we moved every two years up until I was in junior high school. My dad retired from the Navy, and so that was the end of the moving as part of our family. I traveled all over the world while I was working, and my wife and our family have also enjoyed travel as part of our vacations in the US, to Europe, the Caribbean, and to Mexico. I've also spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia and Australasia, so travel is not new to us, and it is something that we will continue to do in our retirement.
But Boise is our home
My wife and I know people who have not traveled a whole lot – a big trip for them might be to the neighboring state. Don’t take me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to vacation in Mexico, in Aruba, or in Paris, France. What I do call “wrong” is when these people retire and then say they are going to go to those places and do the things that we have done after going back to the same place several times. Why do I say that? Because these people have not traveled much before, they really don’t know that they are going to like it, and they may be very disappointed if it does not meet their expectations. Just like the retirees in the first article who buy the RV when they retire, these new retiree travelers do not have the experience to know “how” to travel.
They might not even have a passport, meaning that international travel will be delayed until they get one. Whether it is the lack of a passport or something else that disappoints them, they will soon realize that travel is not the panacea that they thought it was going to be. That is a real shame because travel can be a very rewarding experience. But it is like cooking, gardening, or even reading – you just cannot start doing it one day and enjoy it immediately. It takes practice, and you should get your practice long before you retire if you want to be able to take full advantage of all the benefits of travel.
(photo by Chris Brignola on Unsplash)
Travel “on the cheap”
I love to save money just as much as the next person does. One of the travel mistakes that I have seen – I have even done it myself, but I am getting “better” – is to try to spend as little money as possible while on vacation. Again, there is nothing wrong with saving money, but a key part of travel is to enjoy the local settings, the food, and the activities that are special to that area. And you cannot do those things by just sitting in your room and reading a book that you brought with you. (My wife will shoot me for saying that because she loves to read, and she always has several books with her; no matter where we go.)
There are ways you can travel well without spending your life savings. While it is not essential to spend a lot of money to have a good time when you travel, you don’t want to return home disappointed because you were afraid to spend money for a once-in-a-lifetime experience (such as a helicopter ride into the volcanoes in Hawaii). You have to be the judge and set your own budget when you travel. All I recommend is that you do spend enough money so you can honestly say to yourself that you really did enjoy where you went and what you did.
(Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash)
Switch to conservative investments immediately
I am not going to spend too much time here, because this is one of the numerous reasons why you must work with an experienced financial consultant. All I will say is that I have seen retirees change their entire investment strategy when they retired because they were taught by their parents that they should only have “conservative” investments in retirement. There is certainly nothing wrong with Certificates of Deposit or other “risk-avoidance” investments, but your financial consultant will explain to you why these have their own forms of risk. I am not suggesting any particular person or firm, but there are plenty to look at in Boise (or wherever you live).
Think they have to do only “old folks’ activities”
I am a “card carrying” member of AARP, and I joined just as soon as I turned 50. But belonging to AARP does not mean that I am only going to do things that “retired people” do. Personally, I don’t see that there is any distinction between what a person does before retirement versus after retirement. Just because you are entering retirement does not mean that you are entering a retirement home. I have seen people in their 70s surfing some pretty good waves. There was even a very well-known gentleman in Idaho who was still snow skiing at age 85 – and he was not just going down the bunny slopes either.
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These people might be exceptions, but I wouldn’t say that they are exceptional, either. They were just continuing to do the activities that they had done for many, many years. They were not going to let “retirement” slow them down and keep them from doing the things that they truly enjoyed. If you have never surfed, it is highly unlikely that you are going to take it up on your next trip to Hawaii. And I don’t expect that you will get your SCUBA certification just because you are planning to visit the Great Barrier Reef on your 4-week trip to Australia.
The key is to enjoy life when you are retired – and that usually means to enjoy doing the things that have already brought you enjoyment in your life. I like to play shuffleboard; it is a lot of fun on a cruise ship when you have to figure out if the puck is going to curve left or right depending on the rolling of the ship. But I am not going to take up shuffleboard just because I am retiring and I think that is what retired people do. Some people have said that you are only as old as you think you are. If you subscribe to that theory – and it is a good one to believe in – do the things that you want to do because you enjoy doing them. Maybe you are the oldest one in the badminton tournament or in the sandcastle building contest – who cares? If you are doing something that you enjoy, do like that famous commercial says, and “Just do it.”
(photo by Kendal on Unsplash)
Want to use the benefits from insurance policies because “I paid for it”
I'm thinking of my own mom here; she passed away nine years ago at the age of 94. But ....
When she turned 90, we celebrated it with a great birthday party at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas, NV. We chose going to Las Vegas because it was a “neutral site” and it allowed many people to attend rather than if we had held it where one of the sons lived (I am in Boise, Idaho, and my brothers are in California). We held the party at the Hard Rock Café because she had a blast at the Hard Rock Café in Copenhagen, Denmark, a few years’ earlier.
For a while, about once a week she would bring up the fact that she had been paying for years for her Long Term Care insurance. “Maybe I will just move into a home and let the insurance pay for it,” is how the discussion typically would begin. Her thinking was that she deserved to receive the benefits because she had been paying the premiums. So we had to go through the process again that she must meet certain requirements in order to receive the benefits – such as inability to feed herself, dress herself, etc. Even though she was 90 and lived alone in her condominium unit, she was able to take care of herself. Thus, she did not qualify to receive those benefits.
She and others in her situation have two choices – continue to pay the premiums for when you will need the assistance, or stop paying for the insurance policy. I am not going to make any recommendations at all on that decision. That is something that you would want to discuss with your family and possibly with your attorney and other trusted advisors. So whether it is your long term care policy or insurance that provides some other coverage, don’t feel that the insurance company “owes you” something, and that you must get it. Even if you have not already received any benefits from an insurance policy, you have received something from it – peace of mind that you do have benefits in case you have to use it.
(photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash)
Don’t question doctors who keep adding prescriptions to their list of medicines without removing any
The pharmaceutical companies provide a wonderful service by researching and developing drugs that can help us in so many ways, and I applaud them for that. I do have a concern, however, when a doctor prescribes a medicine for someone and possibly has not even asked to review the list of medications that the person is already taking. I am not an MD, and I have not taken any pharmacy courses. But it is hard for me to believe that there is not some interaction that occurs when a person is taking many prescriptions.
Maybe your doctor does know every medication you are taking, and he or she is able to determine that there is no problem in your continuing to take each one of them. I am sure that some doctors do, and they are doing you a huge favor when they do. But you owe it to yourself and to your family to ask your doctor, “Do I need to keep taking every one of these medications? Do you know if there is any interaction between them?” Listen to your doctor’s answer, or even the tone of his or her voice. Remember, it is your body and your life – make sure you are comfortable with the answer you are hearing. If you are not comfortable with the answer you are hearing from your doctor, I recommend that you consult with your family and your other trusted advisors to consider using the services of another doctor. Sorry, doctors, but your patients deserve the very best that you (or perhaps another doctor) have to offer.
Make drastic changes to their lifestyle
Similar to the retirees mentioned above who switch to all conservative investments, these retirees start doing different things and doing things completely differently because they are now “retired.” Oh what a mistake!
I don’t know how many times I have already said it, but I am going to say it again. You don’t have to change the things you do – your lifestyle – just because you are entering the retirement phase of your life. Sure, you might do some things a little differently– you might stop going down the double black diamond ski slopes, but you are not going to give up skiing completely. Your adventure vacations might begin to change from vigorous hiking to easier trails, but you are not going to stop going on vacations where you can walk and see the natural sights.
Enjoy your retirement; just don’t make such major changes that might even get you to start thinking if you made a mistake by retiring. That is never a mistake. Remember, retirement is an essential phase of your life – ENJOY RETIREMENT AND ENJOY LIFE!
And enjoy living in Boise or where ever you are!
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