Community Matters The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
November 2016
The surprising secrets of some successful retirees If you’re in your 40s, 50s or early 60s, odds are you’d like to know what it takes to have a happy and successful retirement.To find out, a few authors — such as Wes Moss (“You Can Retire Sooner ThanYou Think”) and Bob Lowry (“Living a Satisfying Retirement”) — have surveyed retirees. And now Marc Diana, the Los-Angelesbased CEO of the new personal-finance site MoneyTips.com, has surveyed 510 retirees to learn the magic elixir. He published the findings in the free e-book, “The Retiree Next Door: Successful Seniors’ Surprising Secrets” (you can download it at the MoneyTips site). I spoke with Diana, a serial entrepreneur who also founded Savings.com, to find out what those surprising secrets were and what pre-retirees should do now if they want to join the club. I confess that the results did, indeed, surprise me. Here are the highlights from my conversation with Diana:
Stitched together by friendship Volunteer Lisa Moses shared her artistic talents with residents in our Memory Care this summer. Lisa not only got residents involved in the process of creating this beautiful piece, she also gave them a meaningful, purposeful activity. This finished piece is hanging on the hall of Memory Support. It is a great reminder that our residents of The Glen have plenty to teach us. Thanks, Lisa, for once again sharing your talents!
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What made you decide to do this survey? Diana:We did a survey of boomers four months ago and found that half of boomers were not satisfied with their finances and a third had no plan.We thought that was a recipe for disaster for a large body of Americans, so we said: ‘Let’s reach some successful retirees and see how they are doing and how did they get there so we can help boomers approaching retirement.’ What did the successful retirees have in common? They’re living within their means and they had a savings plan for retirement. About a quarter of them calculated how much they’d need to retire
when they were in their 40s; another 21 percent did it in their 50s.
than a $100,000 a year; 23 percent are in the 25 to 50 grand bucket.
And how much were they saving each year before they retired?
The key is that two-thirds of them have been on some kind of monthly budget and stuck to it.
Nearly 60 percent saved between 6 and 20 percent a year.
Community Matters is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Heights by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at: PresbyterianManors.org. James “Jamie” Kneen, executive director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Loretta Cutler, health care lifestyle coordinator, lcutler@pmma.org. Telephone: 314-909-6010 Address: 505 Couch Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
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Community Matters November 2016
What surprised you in the survey results? 44 percent said they were comfortably retired with less than $500,000 in assets. That surprised me quite a bit. I’m in my 40s and that wouldn’t cut it for me. What does this tell you? It hits on one of the ingredients in the root of what I uncovered through the survey, which is that successful does not mean ‘I’ve got gobs of money and houses all over the place and cars.’ People who came to terms with what they wanted out of life and managed to figure how to budget and live within that were happily retired. Are the successful retirees frugal? No.They’ve been prudent, not frugal. Only 35 percent call themselves frugal; the rest said they spend enough to live comfortably. And 67 percent live on less
Did they use financial advisers to plan for retirement? About 62 percent consulted advisers, at least some of the time, through their career to make investment decisions. Was having a financial adviser useful for them? Without a doubt. Engaging an adviser made them more likely to have a budget and to live within it. What investment mistakes did the successful retirees regret making? One big mistake they made was getting into the stock market too late or getting out of it too late.They tried to rifle-shot the market. And the other mistake they made was making bad real estate bets. What keeps them up at night? The fear of outliving their savings and incurring substantial health care costs. RETIREES, continued on page 3 Like us on Facebook
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And 25 percent are concerned about maintaining their standard of living.They worry that something might happen — like inflation or their lifespan increasing.
and in the public sector.They generally weren’t the self-employed ‘Millionaire Next Door’ types.What does that tell you?
What are they doing to minimize the risk of running out of money?
That’s interesting because of what comes with being at those forms of employment.Things like matching retirement plan contributions are great because they push you into a style of saving.You lower your risk of not having a comfortable retirement by the sheer nature of working there.
More than half don’t have a car that’s newer than two years old. A lot own their homes outright. And they’re cutting back on extras, like travel and memberships. I noticed that most of the successful retirees worked for large companies
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Based on what the successful retirees said, what should people nearing retirement be doing so they can have successful retirements? Number one: have an annual or monthly budget and stick to it. Number two: have a plan to retire. Number three: be disciplined as an investor. It’s very risky to make bets on the stock market or on real estate. If you’re disciplined, you can have a nice nest egg in retirement.
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New beginnings in 2017
We will focus on new beginnings in an upcoming issue of Community Matters. As we approach the new year, what resolutions are you making? Have you ever made a resolution that changed your life? What are your hopes for 2017? If you’ve got a story to share, contact Health Care Lifestyle Coordinator Loretta Cutler, and your story could be featured in an upcoming edition of Community Matters.
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Community Matters November 2016
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