Retirement Is Not an Endless Summer Vacation
It has been a long time since you have had to think about the back-to-school routine, but you see it happening around you. For you, summer ends when it is cool enough that you can tolerate a Metro ride with your suit jacket on, but for everyone else, there is a bigger seismic shift between August and September. You see the back-to-school sale advertisements everywhere, and there are fewer and fewer children at the restaurants in downtown D.C. at lunchtime. Those kids who were gleefully stuffing their faces with chili fries at Ben’s Chili Bowl last week but are now at home, scrambling to finish their summer assignments, wish that summer vacation would last forever. At least, they think that is what they wish. The beauty of summer vacation is that it has a predetermined endpoint. Retirement, by contrast, contains much more uncertainty, so planning for it is different from planning a vacation. If you have successfully planned vacations but are stumped about planning for retirement, contact a Washington, D.C. estate planning lawyer.
8,000 Days of Summer?
The average retirement lasts 8,000 days, which is just over 21 years, according to Joseph Coughlin of the Forbes website. You probably have big plans for things you want to do in retirement, from travel destinations you want to visit to home renovations you want to make to unfinished projects from your younger days that you want to revisit, such as writing a fictionalized account of your experiences as a dot com entrepreneur in the 1990s. This might be enough to fill a summer, or maybe even a whole year, but then the summer vacation boredom sets in, but unlike the summer vacation blues, there is no reset button.
Imagine your worst summer vacation as a kid. Your parents were at work every day, your friends were out of town, and you were too young to drive, so you were stuck at home, lonely. Now imagine your worst summer as a parent. Summer childcare expenses pushed your finances past their breaking point, your credit cards were maxed out, and your children and in-laws still expected you to entertain them after a long day at work, even though you were sick. Imagine both of those scenarios, the lonely and bored one and the stressed out and broke one, and you have an idea of how retirement will be if you plan for it like you would a summer vacation.
Plan for a New Normal, Not a Bucket List of Peak Experiences
When you plan for retirement, think about the boring things first. Do you have long-term care insurance? You should. Can you afford to continue living in your house, and does it require any renovations to accommodate your decline in mobility? Do you have family members nearby, or will you need to rely on paid caregivers? How much will your monthly income be from Social Security and retirement accounts? Once you get through the unpleasant parts of planning for retirement, you are free to go back to daydreaming about the fun parts.
Contact Tobin O’Connor Ewing About Retirement Planning
A Washington, D.C. small business attorney can help you get through the less fun parts of planning for retirement. Contact Tobin, O’Connor, and Ewing in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.
Source:
forbes.com/sites/josephcoughlin/2024/07/31/why-your-endless-summer-retirement-dream-is-a-fantasy/
