My Communicator | Winter 2021

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Winter 2021

RETIREMENT READY

A Slight Change in Plans COVID-19 has caused some Delaware County residents to reshape their retirement As he began to see his retirement on the horizon, Rex Welker eased up on the gas and planned to cruise across the finish line at his own pace. The longtime photographer—whose career includes a stint at The Delaware Gazette—was spending the bulk of his work time doing individual and team sports pictures for Delaware City Schools and the YMCA, along with pictures for St. Mary's. He'd already told the city schools that the 2019-20 school year would be his last, and he had a general retirement date—"Probably sometime in 2021," he said— etched out in his mind. Then COVID happened. In the early weeks of the pandemic, students were sent home from school and the YMCA closed. All sports photography came to a halt, and suddenly, Welker was faced with getting to retirement more quickly than planned. "Essentially, I've had no business. I didn't even get all of the last school year's pictures done," Welker said. "I decided after the YMCA closed and had no real immediate plans for reopening that I'd tell them I was going to retire." Welker is among the Delaware County residents—and others across the state and the country—who have had to rethink, recreate, or revamp their retirement plans due to the

coronavirus. A study conducted by Edward Jones, "The Four Pillars of the New Retirement," states nearly 68 million adults in the U.S. and Canada have had to alter their retirement schedule as a result of COVID-19. The study also states 20 million Americans and two million Canadians stopped making retirement savings contributions during the pandemic. Read more about the four pillars of retirement on page 12. The 63-year-old Welker said while he hoped to be able to work a bit longer, he and his wife, a retired schoolteacher, shouldn't be too impacted by the need to advance his original retirement date. "I applied for Social Security for January 1," he said. "I've been putting into it since I was 15, and I'm fortunate that I've always put money in an IRA, which will pay for my health insurance." Putting retirement on hold While there are many in Welker's situation whose retirement is coming ahead of schedule due to work stoppages, there are others who, for one reason or another, have had to put retirement plans on hold. Delaware County resident Andy Kastle is a manufacturer's representative in the food service industry who had plans to retire this past June.

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