Congratulations, you’re retired. Now what? Retirement, like graduating from school, is full of anxiety. It’s a big world out there, and not knowing what to expect can be stressful.
Take investing, for example. By the time you reach retirement, you probably know how rough investing can be. If you were to close your eyes and imagine how you felt if you ever lost money, you know the pain and memory of losing stays with you. The gains, not as much.
Because losing money is the saddest thing. You can’t make money with lost money. You can only try to make back what was lost with what you have left. Which brings me to your retirement survival checklist. You know you need to have food and water. What about shelter?
The way blue states are being run into the ground, many of you are thinking about a second home in retirement. My advice? Start by renting. Imagine what you did when you graduated from school. I know I was a renter. Why not let history repeat?
My first apartment after Babson was in Everett, MA. It was the closest one I could afford to my office at Fidelity Investments at the World Trade Center, Boston. I lived on the third floor of a triple-decker with a deli on the first floor.
A year later, I moved to Watertown, MA, and after that, when my Fidelity group was relocated to Marlborough, MA, I bought a triple-decker with money I borrowed from my dad. That was a good move, earning Becky and me enough money for the down payment on our first home in Newport, RI. I’m guessing you rented somewhere too, eventually saving enough money to buy your first home or rental property.
Hard to believe any of us got out alive, but somehow, we did. But when you were young, you were forced to think outside the box because you didn’t have money. You studied the for sale or rental listings in the locations where you were interested in living and where you could afford to make ends meet.
Action Line: When you were young, with no money, you were forced to continue your education, sometimes at the school of hard knocks. Maybe it’s time to take a break. If you need a guide, I’m here. Email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com, and pick up a map for the road ahead by clicking here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Read the entire series here.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
