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He tried hard to quit the job he hated and find another but the experts said don't quit until you find another job. So he stayed at the miserable job and with the long hours he did not have time to really look hard for a new job. With age discrimination he really struggled anyway in the job market.
He had $800K saved but was told by the experts at Fidelity he needed at least a million or more before he should even think about retiring. I told him any times the experts were wrong because he had no mortgage and lived in a low cost small town and would get $5000 a month if he retired at age 62 from a combination of Social Security and a 3 percent withdrawal and a small pension. But he did not believe me and went with the experts at Fidelity and kept working until he was 67 even though it was killing him.
I think they (the experts) are self serving and want people to work until they drop so they can put more and more money in their investment accounts.
I will add to the conspiracy theory and maybe the social security checks have something on them that causes death in a few months. Best to be on the safe side and go with direct deposit.
My mom and dad lived to be over 90 and collected SS for around 30 years. My MIL has been collecting for over 20 years. FIL collected for over 25 years before his death at 87.
Everything about retirement is a gamble. A gamble about living, health, finances, etc. We should make the best decisions for us and then live life.
Statistically, people are going to start dying of old age all along the way and in increasing numbers as they get older. Notice how few reach 90 or 100? Almost the worst thing you can do is to postpone life until retirement. What you have left in time may be short or long but it is a gamble.
The reason why people die after they start collecting SS benefits is exactly the same reason why kids get autism after a vaccination.
People should always think of SS as insurance, insuring against the possible disaster, that you might live a lot more years, and need money for those years. Just because you have insurance doesn't mean the disaster you're insured against is going to happen. It isn't nearly the tragedy it seems, to die of a massive heart attack while still having a million dollars unspent. If he didn't die that way, he might die of cancer or something. A massive heart attack only lasts a few minutes. Cancer can be years of misery. And dying with money is not that big a deal. People love money too much. It really doesn't matter that much. If dying with money is wasting that money, so what? We waste all kinds of stuff. That's life.
I was once told by someone to start paying attention to how many people that I personally know who began to collect social security, then watch to see how long they live after their benefits begin and notice how many die not long afterwards. This person claimed that there was some sort of conspiracy that caused people who began collecting Social Security to die shortly after because the system didn't want to pay out the money.
I laughed it off as being unfounded and nutty... that was until my father retied and began collecting his social security and 5 months later he died. The social security had recently sent him his payment but there is a clause in Social Security that says if the person dies within 8-10 days? after receiving their last SS payment that the payment must be returned to the government. Of course even if the individual paid into SS their entire life once they die their benefits (their money) cannot be given or transferred to their heirs, the government keeps it all.
It wasn't a few months later I then noticed another person I knew begin to collect SS and they too died soon after. Then a year later the same thing with my uncle, he began collecting SS and within 5-6 months he died too.
He tried hard to quit the job he hated and find another but the experts said don't quit until you find another job. So he stayed at the miserable job and with the long hours he did not have time to really look hard for a new job. With age discrimination he really struggled anyway in the job market.
He had $800K saved but was told by the experts at Fidelity he needed at least a million or more before he should even think about retiring. I told him any times the experts were wrong because he had no mortgage and lived in a low cost small town and would get $5000 a month if he retired at age 62 from a combination of Social Security and a 3 percent withdrawal and a small pension. But he did not believe me and went with the experts at Fidelity and kept working until he was 67 even though it was killing him.
I think they (the experts) are self serving and want people to work until they drop so they can put more and more money in their investment accounts.
It's a sad situation. That's why it is wise to seek out advice from several sources to be sure it applies to your own situation. Was he really so swayed by Fidelity to save a million? Or did that merely reinforce his own concerns about having enough? How would anyone know? Some people can't stop running out of fear...
Sorry about your brother. That's sad. The experts are the ones needing the million dollars. I know of no one in that savings category and all are doing just fine in retirement. My employer made us an offer that was hard to refuse but many did and kept on working into their seventies because they followed the experts' advice. I retired early and will hit the $1 million mark just in retirement income received...pension and social security...in about a year. I haven't touched my savings and investments which continue to grow and I add a little each month. I'm reaching the point where, by law, I will have to take some from my IRA. Everyone's situation is different. If you intend to live in Hawaii, own a yacht or a vacation home in the south of France then you will have to keep working but you won't have time to enjoy what you have.
Sorry about your brother. That's a sad story, but a lesson for us all. As the Bible says, Tomorrow is given to no one. I think it is sad that so many people wait to do things, thinking they're all going to live their 90's with their health and mind in tact. The vast majority do not.
Sorry that HE lost. I know at least 3 other people that died within 6 months of retiring, just like your brother, trying to maximize their pension and/or SS benefits. I, too, hated my job that I held for 28 years. So when the early retirement package rolled around at age 55, I jumped on it, and now collect a pension at age 58. Because my wife refused to let me just sit home, and because the pension is no where near what we currently need, I took a job doing something I liked, that pays half of what I was making before I retired. One can do this with some spending modification and the addition of supplemental income, such as a pension, prior to SS age. It's a much less-stressful job...and I love working and being around the younger people...they add energy to the workforce, and remind me of what it was like for me when just beginning a career.
When age 62 rolls around, I will take early SS. While the payments will be lower than if I take them at Normal Retirement age (NRA), the average breakeven age (where the full amount received) is somewhere between 78-80. To the OP's point...who knows what will happen between age 62 and 80? And to his point, our own retirement strategies should be based on our own needs assessment and risk.
The way I look at it...is if I make it to 80, I got my life's worth out of it. After that, if any major health issues arise, I pray they take my life as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Do your own thing...your own way...and life can be much more rewarding and fulfilling. It may even last longer.
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