Paul B. Brown co-authored two books on saving for retirement while he was in his 30s and 40s. Now in his 60s, he’s written a piece for the New York Times titled ‘Three Things I Should Have Said about Retirement Planning’.
So what has hindsight taught him?
Firstly, working longer – typically he advised his clients to work until 70 instead of 65 to save more. Given we are all living longer, it seems like sound advice.
“While my math was right, what I now realise is just how hard it is to keep working as you age. My job doesn’t require much more than typing all day long, and I find myself getting fairly tired by day’s end. I can’t imagine I am going to have more energy a decade from now,” he says.
I plan on working as long as possible, but it’s a reminder to consider how health and other issues may affect these plans.
Example two – don’t assume life moves in a “straight line”. Mr Brown assumed that when his children moved out of home, he and his wife would be able to re-direct more money towards their retirement savings.
The reality? They’re now spending the money on home repair.
The reality of retirement planning
“While the children were still in school, we put off every major expense we could … In the process, our home went from shabby chic to simply shabby,” he explains.
So planning for household maintenance is key – even if you plan to sell the family home and move into a retirement village.
Example three – not planning for big one-off expenses, in his case, a huge family wedding.
It’s food for thought. The fact is most retirement planning advice is given by people who are not close to retirement.
Why not take the advice of someone with real-life experience?
