Managing Money in Retirement

So, I’m grabbing coffee with my friend Margaret last month. She’s this incredibly smart nurse who retired after 35 years of taking care of people. And she tells me something that made my jaw drop. She’d spent months calculating her retirement budget down to the penny. Social Security, pension, the whole nine yards…

When I was growing up, retirement looked quite different. My parents’ generation expected to stop working in their mid-60s, collect a pension/Social Security and enjoy the years they had earned. Today, almost one fifth of Americans over the age of 65 are still working, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the majority of which work because they have no choice…

A common question when people are nearing retirement or in retirement is, “How much of my money should be in ____?” They may be referring to stocks, bonds, or cash. An alternative approach to developing a retirement investment strategy starts with your time horizon: When will you need to use the money?

There’s a particular kind of anxiety that can settle in later in life: quiet, persistent, and difficult to explain. It often sounds like this: I should be further along by now. Maybe you feel it when a friend talks about her investments over lunch. Or when someone mentions paying off their mortgage. Or when you hear about someone retiring early, downsizing comfortably…

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) estimates that a “comfortable” retirement in the United Kingdom now costs £45,400 (US$60,000) a year for a single person and £62,700 (US$83,000) for a couple. For many people approaching retirement, those figures are sobering…

For many women, saying “no” to a financial request doesn’t feel like making a money decision. It feels like making a relationship decision. That’s part of what makes financial boundaries so difficult, especially with family. It’s rarely just about the money. It’s about love, loyalty, guilt, and the quiet fear…

For many, summer is when families come together. We check the more obvious things: flights, medications, hotel reservations, and maybe passports if it’s an international trip. But families often overlook another kind of preparedness. If something unplanned happens while traveling…

A woman once told me something that has stayed with me ever since. She said: “I know I’m okay on paper. I just don’t always feel okay.” At first, I thought she was describing a financial problem. But she wasn’t. She had retirement savings. She owned her home. She had Social Security income and no major debt. By most measures, she was financially secure…

My friend Carol was 68 when her husband Jim died of a sudden heart attack. Jim had paid every bill, managed every investment, and met with their financial advisor solo for decades. Within a week, Carol realized she didn’t even know their advisor’s name. She couldn’t get into their online…

Have you started a small business, side income, or personal project after 60? What skills from your life could help someone else today? If you wanted to earn extra money now, what would be the easiest first step for you? Many people over 60 would like to earn extra…