Retirement In 2024: More Wisdom From The Juice’s Crowd

You can Tesla, Apple and Nvidia yourself all the way to the bank. If you’re not happy, what good is a whole bunch of money in retirement? That was the focus of Tuesday’s Juice where we focused on some great subscriber feedback regarding retirement. 

In that installment, we compiled some key retirement-related questions — generated from your emails — that we’ll do our best to answer in the coming weeks and months:

• Does the process of retirement always have to include the notion that happiness — or some vision of a better life — is off on the horizon? 
• Why can’t we have both now? 
• If you’re grinding through the last few years of your full-time working life, will you have anything left in the tank — physically and mentally — to truly enjoy retirement? 
• Is the idea of saving $1 million or more by, say, age 65 and quitting work altogether dead?

Very obviously not yes or no questions. But that’s okay. We don’t like to dummy things down here at The Juice. We won’t insult your intelligence. Like most money matters, retirement isn’t one size fits all. It requires nuanced answers — aided by wisdom from the crowd — you can adapt to suit your specific situation, not to mention your preferences. 

Now, we go to the crowd again. Please feel free to add your two cents by using the feedback link at the bottom of this email. Today’s subscriber feedback adds three more retirement elements to happy: health, time and place. 

On health and time from Juice subscriber, Jim:

I have been retired for 6 years and am 73 years old. Never thought I would enjoy retirement as much as I do. I believe 3 things are a key to a successful (happy) retirement:

1) Good health

2) Financial security

3) Establishing a routine

People may believe good health is the luck of the draw. However, when you retire you should get in great shape physically because you have time to exercise. Financial security allows you to travel and spend money without much worry. Achieving financial security requires saving as much as possible during your working years and wise investment. A daily routine after retirement is crucial to engage the mind, maintain a sense of purpose and fulfillment, and prevent boredom and depression.

Lastly, Retirement means “Time is no longer your enemy.”

This was a key takeaway from the installment where we asked Has Retirement Had Its Day? The idea that in retirement you can have lots of time, but don’t let it be wasted time. Focus it, but in a way that’s not tied to the grind of your previous full-time professional life. Maybe you’re working part-time, but, as Jim indicates, you can use your “free time” to enhance and preserve your physical and mental health through exercise so you’ll be able to fully enjoy your years of working less or not at all. 

However, as Jim also seems to imply, without financial security, it might not be so easy to enjoy. 

Which leads to an email we received from an unnamed Juice subscriber (edited for space and clarity):

Retirement today is very different. This is mainly because of globalization, internet, & social media. Anyone aged 25 to 45 to 65 can see all the options posted by people on YouTube, podcasts, etc.

Within my circle, most blue collar workers are too sick by 50 to migrate to another country. The white collar workers are better, but they’re (even too unhealthy) to want to migrate far away. So, I’m always curious if there are people who actually migrated to another county in big numbers after retiring.

I have seen only (a few people) who retire abroad (i.e. Asia & Latin America). The simple formula they use is to go where you can live your next chapter with a lower expense ratio to your fixed income.

The Juice can help by solidifying some of these globalization factors in retirement. You can do a series of articles on whether it is really true that people who move to Mexico, Portugal, Thailand, etc have done it right? 

Thank you for what you do.

Not a problem. Thank you for providing your thoughts. We agree. We can help solidify some of these factors. We think the questions we have compiled and themes of happiness, health, time and place make for a good foundation to get deep into the personal finance and investing elements of retirement. 

In terms of moving abroad, it’s something we think of a lot. With the cost of living so high in America, particularly around major metropolitan areas, it’s getting more difficult to make ends meet, let alone retire someday, unless you’re a super high earner, otherwise wealthy or locked into a solid situation, such as home ownership with a low or no mortgage. 

First, people are moving abroad. We subscribe to a newsletter where this is a major theme. There’s lots of interest in the subject. A day doesn’t go by where you don’t hear about someone threatening to move or actually moving. 

While the cost of living elsewhere can be lower and attractive, the reader who brought this up also added that, for most people, heading overseas isn’t viable, primarily because they don’t want to leave their family and friends and have to assimilate into a new culture. While it works for some, it’s probably more a social media fad where it looks cool to say you’re moving to Mexico, South America, Asia or Europe. 

Which leaves the other question this reader asked: “How do you figure out a correct formula to spend less in retirement and do more?” 

The $1,000,000 question and the main culprit for all of this talk about the American dream no longer being readily available in America. 

The Bottom Line: While it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make it work in the United States, it’s not impossible. You can be happy and healthy, on your own time, and in a great place in the 50 states. As with most things having to do with money, you need a well-considered, comprehensive plan. 

It’s a plan we’ve laid some nice groundwork — thanks, in large part, to your responses — to begin putting together. So, please forward this email to a friend as we continue to make sense of retirement — and so much other personal finance and investing — in 2024.

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