One of my brothers sent me a link to a Kiplinger Magazine article titled "The Rule of Retirement Inversion". The article was about flipping "How to have a GREAT Retirement?" on its head and asking "What would destroy or suck the joy out of your retirement?" Sometimes, there are inexpensive and simple steps that can be implemented to mitigate against those risks.
Everybody's analysis will be different because we are different people. For instance, I have no intention of leaving my house for sunnier climates but many people do leave.
With no further ado:
Preliminary Inversion Analysis Retirement (ERJ's second draft)
Social
- Spouse “leaves"
- Death
- Divorce
- Disease (stroke, dementia, mental health, addiction)
Health (personal)
- Dementia
- Blindness
- Loss of mobility (arthritis, loss of limb(s), stroke)
Economy
- Inflation destroys purchasing power of savings and pension
- Aging destroys ability to work (obsolete skills, lack of stamina, unwillingness to relocate)
- Savings are stolen
- Accounts hacked
- Stolen by trusted people
- House gets broken into
- Mugged
Losing the ability to drive
- Losing ability to connect to internet
- Credit card fraud makes remote transactions too risky
Losing house
- Fire
- Eminent Domain or is Condemned
- Key systems fail and I will not be able to afford fixing them
- Lawsuit (dog bite, trespassers have accident, hunting accident)
- Squatters
- Medical costs
- Chemical/nuclear spill
Bad neighbors
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Using this analysis as a planning tool might involve asking "Which systems in my house are most likely to fail in the next 25 years?"
If "bathing" is likely, then installing a walk-in shower might be warranted.
If "laundry" is likely, then maybe having a plan to move it to the ground-floor is a good idea.
If health-issues are at the top of the list, then having a plan with Who-What-How-Where-Why-When details inked out is important.
If inflation is a hot-button for you, then what critical needs can you produce on-property with minimal, outside inputs? Can you add those skills to your tool-box?
Many of the circumstances listed in my Inversion Analysis are beyond my control. The point of the plan is to "mitigate, dilute or delay" if events are inevitable.
For example, one of the couple we see at the walking track where we exercise is a man pushing his wife in a wheelchair. She has a degenerative neuromuscular disorder and they are fighting it by doing what they can.
ERJ, that seems to be a pretty complete list.
ReplyDeleteOne thing my parents' planned for was a decline in their health by building things like a large shower (that a wheelchair could get into) and large doors and hallways to accommodate the same. One thing that did not go as expected was the fact that they were far enough out of town that it became difficult in the case of medical emergencies; also, the size of their property became difficult to manage. In retrospect, they might have moved to the local town (my hometown) where medical care and a right sized property would have been more readily available.
It has certainly impacted my own retirement thinking.
An interesting idea, a different type of prepping.
ReplyDeleteI've read elsewhere about people having trouble with large properties as they age, especially with steep terrain.
While I want a property with privacy, I know others who want one close to town so they can more easily restock. I can understand both views.
Thanks for the food for thought.
Jonathan
Good list, I would add that for single people failing health and economy is a bigger concern due to a lack of support, though spousal loss or disability is not an issue.
ReplyDeleteAs for property and finances, I rank government confiscations a much bigger risk than private sector crime, though when it comes to property, public private partnerships can be an issue. Once a person has been recognized a soft target (old age, poverty, mental and/or cognitive decline), local corrupt networks will move to kill. While lawfare, like declaring property condemned or eminent domain may be used as an excuse, in more brazen jurisdictions laws do not matter against local elite interests.
One prep to do would be to take a good hard look at what is happening to the rule of law. not the shoplifting, muggings, burglaries and such bit player activities but the whole law enforcement, courts and county level bureaucratic institutions and then act accordingly. if necessary, move and sell before someone takes it from you.
If there is time and strength, taking new hobbies and learning new skills is a good insurance against cognitive decline. And who knows, maybe those skills and hobbies will grow to a secondary or even primary income stream.
Losing ability to drive and economy are in my books listed together with energy/water infrastructure under acts of government. There is a push to hem people into 15 minute cities, which paradoxically are more vulnerable to infrastructure failures, which will proliferate due to complexity collapse and deferred maintenance. But while the push continues, owning or driving a vehicle may become functionally impossible for a regular citizen.
Relocation as a health prep: when I visited Finland about a month ago, a friend pointed at new apartment buildings where an apartment would cost hundreds of thousands of euros - an outrageous price, except for the location, a couple of blocks from one of the country's leading cardiology and neurophysiology hospitals. I presume the apartments were directed at elderly rich worried about their health.
Finally, I would add to the risk list a loss of friends and other social and psychological support network. Loneliness can be devastating for motivation to survive. While nothing can replace old friends and family, it is always good to make new friends and expand one's social circles.