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November 9, 2004 08:49 PM

How to Avoid Living Like a Poor Student at Age 70


Excerpt: There is a great Chinese proverb: no money, no life. It applies in spades to older people. In a free society we all make our own reality, and (as I am fond of saying) we can make a reality where we are secure or a reality where we are in terror.


I am going to make this really simple. It is fine to have no money when you're young. It is not fine to have no money when you're old. It is even fun to be poor when you're in college or right out of it. But to be retired and in your 70's and not know how you are going to pay your bills - that is terrifying. In fact, it's a grotesque nightmare.

What is life like if you are old, weak, tired, not in great health, lonely and have no money? You are miserable, and you are in fear and you are gaunt on the inside.

Unfortunately, this is not just a paranoid fantasy about my own life. This is going to be the reality of millions, maybe tens of millions of baby boomers unless they get their backsides into gear and make some serious changes in their lives.

You can look at it anecdotally, or you can look at it statistically. Anecdotally: If you are a woman in your mid-50's living on a salary of $150,000 a year, and if you wish to maintain your living standard when you retire at age 65, you will need about $200,000 a year to live on, assuming inflation raises prices by 3 percent a year. If you assume you will get about $15,000 a year from Social Security, you will need about another $185,000 a year. To have that much income with today's interest rates, you will probably need about $4.6 million in the bank. Do you have it?

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Retirees Don't Have to Be So Frugal: A Case for Withdrawing Up to 6% a Year (November 17, 2004)
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What Social Security Might Look Like (November 09, 2004)
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Read all 23 posts in the same category of Retirement:

Bush Says Social Security Plan Would Reassure Markets - Dec 17, 2004
Are You Ready To Retire? - Dec 13, 2004
Last-Minute Retirement Planning - Dec 12, 2004
Small Change Adds Up To Big Savings - Dec 09, 2004
Bush To Borrow To Fix Social Security - Dec 07, 2004
Moving Smoothly Into Retirement - Dec 07, 2004
Get Healthy, Get Wealthy - Dec 06, 2004
Five Books to Retire By - Dec 05, 2004
Tax Policy Promotes Early Retirement - Dec 02, 2004
Fidelity Analyzes Pension Performance - Dec 02, 2004
Social Security COLA Increase Looks Puny - Dec 02, 2004
No More IRA Leniency - Nov 29, 2004
To Yield A Good Retirement, Get Real, And Work It Out - Nov 28, 2004
Social Security Reforms On The Way? - Nov 26, 2004
Some New Ways To Preserve Your Retirement - Nov 23, 2004
Living Trust Offers: How to Make Sure They're Trust-Worthy - Nov 22, 2004
How to Forecast a Lifespan - Nov 21, 2004
Be Happy, And Put Retirement Fears to Rest - Nov 21, 2004
Seven Ways to Stop Saying 'Oops!' - Nov 21, 2004
Retirees Don't Have to Be So Frugal: A Case for Withdrawing Up to 6% a Year - Nov 17, 2004
What Social Security Might Look Like - Nov 09, 2004
Are You Retirement Ready -- Or Not? - Nov 03, 2004