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Those of you past 65: does thinking about this topic interest you? Do you dwell on it or is too sad or pessimistic? Even if you are in decent good health.
Those of you past 65: does thinking about this topic interest you? Do you dwell on it or is too sad or pessimistic? Even if you are in decent good health.
I wouldn't call it sad or pessimistic, but once you get past the basic goal of getting your ducks in a row, it does seem pointless. Why waste time dwelling on something when you have no way of knowing? You could get hit by a truck an hour from now. Or, you could live to be 100. Even when it comes to have my ducks in a row, I wouldn't say I spend more time thinking about it now than I did when I was younger. I've always done things like make a will, etc.
So I guess my answer is I have just enough time left to find ways to enjoy myself every day.
Last edited by Piney Creek; 05-25-2019 at 08:48 AM..
I try to enjoy my time here, not to worry about things I can’t control. But the flip side is if everybody lives until 100 then we would have a different problem, I mean globally.
I'm 67 &, using actuarial odds, figure on somewhere roughly around 84-85, not to predict my future but for general planning purposes when I get too passive & unmotivated in the present to do something I should just get up & do. I plan for my finances to last a bit beyond that but have decided that strictly adhering to the "4% rule" right now in the beginning while I am as healthy & energetic as I will ever be isn't wise. In 10-15 years I will be less interested in travel & toys... or dead... & my spending will be accordingly less.
Predicting is iffy though, if we previously knew for certain we would all be enjoying robot butlers & flying cars or monorails by now. No male in my direct bloodline has ever lived past 75yo but my mother will turn 93 in 5 months & her sisters are similarly long lived.
I don't think about how much time I have left, but I do sometimes wonder what is going to be the thing that kills me. Currently I'm very healthy, no sign of illness that I'm aware of, but everyone dies of something.
I don't think about how much time I have left, but I do sometimes wonder what is going to be the thing that kills me. Currently I'm very healthy, no sign of illness that I'm aware of, but everyone dies of something.
Right now I’m healthy but the next shoe to drop is my worry, which one.
While I am not past 65 but "only" 59, my boyfriend died suddenly at 59 (heart attack, very healthy and athletic prior to that), plus my best friend from childhood died from breast cancer at 56 - two people closest to me besides my immediate family ... on the other hand, one of my grandfathers lived til 99 (almost 100) and was healthy up until 6 weeks prior to death. So, my "remaining life" expectations are bracketed between the age of 59 and 100... actually, I have started thinking about the length of my remaining time CONSTANTLY a few months ago, as I approached the fatal (for my late partner) 59th birthday... the best use of the remaining time took the place of saving for retirement as the chief concern for the future (simultaneously, the financial issues almost completely disappeared from my thoughts - budgeting for the next 40 years is pretty much done). So, I am scheduling everything with the assumption that I will live either 40 more minutes, or 40 more years. I constantly try to "feel good NOW", this moment, because every second of not feeling somewhere between simply content and fabulously thrilled seems like a horrific waste. My main question right now is how to prevent "overplanning" of trips and other enjoyable experiences, to leave enough space for happy surprises. That's it, basically.....
My "gene pool" is such that living until my 80's or 90's is a thing.....but I don't dwell on that because anything can happen.
I just make certain I do what I want to do - and now that I am retired (as of last October) we are doing just that.
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