Issue # 156

Work More Years

You may need to know how to work more years, maybe many more years into your aging years.

You could have gone through a financially crippling divorce or made a number of massive financial mistakes or been wiped out in the recession or been in a dying industry or just had some really bad luck.

Most of these things happened to me. And I'm still happy and fine.

Lots of people have suffered financially for a variety of reasons and when they look at their bank accounts and investments, there is not much there. Certainly not the millions the financial industry says we are supposed to have to fund a lavish early retirement or give your children a ton of money when we die.

One solution is to just keep working. Work longer. Work more years or maybe a lot more years. Think in terms of late 60's or early 70's rather than early 60's or late 50's..

A well-funded early retirement might not be in the cards for you.

Retiring in your 50's will be a pipe dream unless you have an incredible mountain of cash, a reliable maxed out government pension, minimal expenses, great luck and maybe even a spouse who wants to keep working.

Retiring at 62 with just a social security check and no health insurance until you make it to 65 and the safety of Medicare, will not work unless you dramatically cut your expenses to the bone or make some extremely radical changes.

I absolutely love stories of people living in vans on public land out west, rolling the dice without health insurance or moving to an inexpensive foreign country. I can sit and read these stories and watch these videos for hours and dream of doing this myself...someday.

But not now.

I'm not ready for those extreme radical solutions.

I like my comfortable apartment, good health insurance and being close to my family and friends.

If you don't want to go all in with massive changes in your lifestyle you need to know how to work more years, keep making a good income with some quality of life benefits, pay down your debts, enjoy your life now and put a little money away for the future you.

Read the rest of the article here - Work More Years