Transcription
Yo, boomers, I gotta tell you, I've been watching a lot of YouTube and specifically something I've found in my algorithm every day, all day, and that is retirement videos. And I have to admit, the titles get me, the pictures get me, and I've gotten to know a lot of those people that talk about retirement and what to do and how to live your best life. You know, they talk about protecting your nest egg, building your retirement buckets, um, you know, how discussing withdrawal strategies and how to make the money last. And every now and then I click on one thing and maybe this one has some for me. Maybe this is find a video that talks to somebody like me. But usually within a minute or two, I got to remember this advice is for people trying to protect money, not for people like me who got into retirement without much of it.
Because if your retirement looks like my retirement, social security, a job still, an old car, even though it's a Maserati, a surprise vet bill, uh, and trying to hold on to your independence, then a lot of this advice just doesn't fit. And that's not bitterness. I'm not angry, but it's just reality. You know, I've talked about the point of my channel is is making the best the way life has turned out. The question here isn't how we optimize portfolios. Question is, how do I make the best of this life and the way it's turned out? You know, protect my peace, make ends meet, and stay independent.
I've been talking to some people about this and thinking about it and I have six things that matter a whole lot more than solutions that would be miracles to us. You know, I I want to say that when retirement doesn't look the way all the experts talk about or assumed it would that you know the priorities change and the first priority in my mind that changes I got to stop looking for a miracle solution. It's it's you know I I don't have time left to plan. It's here. The time that I have to survive is today. So you know a lot of retirement content is built around the idea that there's you know some kind of smart move uh a new system a strategy that's going to make everything fall into place. But you know again for me and most of you there's no fixes like that at this time in life. There's no bucket strategy that's magically going to make things better and that makes up for the years of financial mistakes and life events that put you back put me back. There's no perfect withdrawal plan when there's nothing to withdraw ply. What helps is just getting honest and being honest. You know, what is my real income? What are my real bills? What can I afford? What can I not afford? Or what kinds of things can I, you know, I can happily live without? Can I make changes? And what do I need to protect? You know, that's that's the reality. That's real advice.
Number two, it's prioritize stable over cheap. Cheap isn't always the win people think it is. You know, always taking the less expensive option. Man, that can be applied to all kinds of things. You know, I was thinking about this. Sometimes the cheapest place to live isn't the safest. Sometimes the cheapest car is the one that keeps breaking down. Sometimes the cheapest choice costs you more because it adds stress. Uh risk and disruption. You know, at this stage in life, stability is something I crave and I'm com I it comforts me is if I know things are stable. So, I want stable housing. You know, I want stable transportation, stable routines, and stable bills as much as possible. One unstable part of life can throw everything off.
There has to be a focus on income, not just frugality of where can I cut and save and where can I just focus maybe on increasing or producing some side income. Now, again, don't get me wrong. I think being frugal matters especially no matter with or without money and with or without investments living simply there's something to be said about that especially I think in terms of being happy that's my opinion but some retirement advice acts like you know if you just cut enough coupons you know stop buying Starbucks coffees and I agree to a point with that but you know squeeze every little thing out of your budget everything will be fine and you know that only goes so far at some point income matters more, especially now in my 60s.
The fourth thing I've thought about in terms of what retirement looks like more than just my investment or our investments that aren't there is to protect and not lose independence. It's a big one, maybe the biggest one for me. You know, retirement advice is often focused on maximizing money, the growth of your money that you have left. The real goal I feel is protecting independence. You know, can I stay in my home or where I live? Can I afford to stay in my home? Can I get where I need to go? You know, the day is coming for everyone where you are no longer going to be able to drive. You know, can you pay the bills on time with money left over every month? Can I continue to make my own decisions? I've saw that in both my mom and dad where we had to say, "No, we're going to have to step in and make this decision for them. How long can I keep living life on my terms as long as possible?" And that changes the conversation because sometimes the right decision is not the one that looks best on paper. Sometimes it's the one that helps you stay independent, capable, you know, and on steady ground.
When I talk about making the best of the way life has turned out, it's now building a life, you know, that actually works for me now in reality. So, this might even trump the interruption being ready for things because a good retirement life is not just one that looks smart to financial experts, but it's it's really looks like I can actually live. What can I afford? How much is it going to cost to keep it up? Does it give me and provide me peace of mind? Does it allow me to breathe a little? You know, enjoy social activities? Does it help me to continue to enjoy life even if it didn't turn out the way I hoped or imagined? Because at the end of the day, that's the goal for me. Not winning a math contest with my money, not pretending everything turned out perfectly, just making the best of the way things have turned out and building a life that's honest, steady, and still finding worth living every day.
So, that's my retirement content reality check. I'm not against good advice. I enjoy watching the videos on YouTube. I'm not against investing. I'm not against people who prepared better than I did. But I do think a whole lot of retirement content skips right past the reality a lot of people are living. And if that's you like me, you know, if retirement is more about stability, adding income, simplicity, and independence more than portfolios and bucket strategies, then you're not failing retirement. I I feel like I just have a different one to deal with. And how I deal with it, I'm living a different one, but it's a real one. And maybe it's time more people start talking about that. So yeah, I'm not protecting wealth. I'm really just trying to protect my life in enhancements and peace. It's not about managing abundance for me. It's about managing the reality of where things are at today.
As you've noticed, I did a voice over this particular video and the scenes were shot illustrating really how I waste a lot of time every day and you can see it. Anyway, I guess it's just occurred to me what you saw is just examples of keeping it real.