Early Retirement Is Overrated

You are a silver fox in a business suit.  You relish your morning routine of standing in line at Starbucks with people who range in age from your peers to newly licensed drivers still in high school.  Rare moments of pandemic doom scrolling notwithstanding, you can’t remember the last time you felt lonely, bored, or financially insecure.  Your grandkids tell you that you don’t act like a grandpa; you play basketball instead of golf, and you show them how to play classic rock songs on the guitar instead of constantly yelling at them to turn their music down.  Meanwhile, the idea of retirement fills you with trepidation.  You hate the idea of leaving your career success behind to sit on your patio and watch yourself fade away.  The good news is that it is entirely your choice when, if ever, you retire.  The even better news is that, as your Hillsborough County estate planning lawyer will tell you, delaying retirement is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and anyone else who stands to benefit from your estate plan.

Rock on With Your Work Ethic

Two of the biggest worries that people have when they plan for retirement are how to make their savings stick around for as long as they do and how to stay socially connected so that they do not feel like they are just sitting around waiting to die.  These are both very legitimate concerns, and fortunately, delaying retirement makes it easier both to maintain your financial stability and your connection to friends and colleagues and, just as importantly, to activities that you find truly meaningful.

You have probably heard about the four percent rule and variations thereof for determining how much money you need to save for retirement.  All of these strategies require you to undertake two very scary tasks, namely guessing when you are going to die and finding a source of financial support that doesn’t require you to be healthy enough to work.  By delaying retirement, you can give your future self (however long your future self ends up sticking around) a financial boost while also continuing to live in the moment.  Every paycheck counts; every month that you continue working is one where you don’t have to live off of your savings, while your retirement savings continue to grow.  Even retiring at age 66 instead of 65 can make a big difference.

Best of all, the fact that you are even having this thought process means that your body is not forcing you to retire.  Many retired people have to put effort into finding ways to maintain their physical and mental fitness.  Dementia thrives on loneliness and social isolation, but an inbox full of work emails does more to prevent memory loss than all the crossword puzzles the New York Times has ever published.

If you are old enough to get work emails, you are old enough to make long-term financial plans.  If you have children, you should have some idea of how much you want to help them financially and how you want to accomplish this.  If you are not ready to set a retirement date yet, though, then don’t.  Just keep enjoying the workplace and your hard-earned career.

Contact an Attorney Today for Help

A Tampa probate lawyer can help you even if you don’t plan to retire anytime soon; you still need an estate plan if you are still working.  Contact David Toback for help today.

Resource:

kiplinger.com/retirement/retirement-planning/602657/the-benefits-of-working-longer

https://www.davidtobacklaw.com/the-4-percent-rule-and-your-estate-plan/