You know that Your Survival Guy is most interested in keeping you happy and well during retirement. The best way to do that is to save til it hurts while you’re working so your savings doesn’t run out when you need it most. For women, who tend to earn less but also live longer than men, retirement presents a unique challenge. In The Wall Street Journal, Anne Tergesen explains the stories of four single women who are facing retirement. Here’s the story of one retiree, Marianne Simpson, who lives in Chicago, retired with $2 million, and spends $132,000 annually. That spending rate is way above what Your Survival Guy recommends. That math doesn’t work for me. Tergensen writes:
Marianne Simpson retired slowly.
She chose to wind down her financial advisory business over three years, using the transition to test drive retirement while continuing to build up her nest egg. All this still didn’t fully prepare her, she said, for the moment she put her longtime home up for sale and closed the deal on her new life.
She left the Cleveland area and her 25-year career behind and bought a new place in Chicago close to her daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren.
With $2 million in retirement savings and a $3,800 monthly Social Security check, she’s in much better shape than most retirees. She also knows better than most how one’s health and lifespan can largely dictate how long money lasts.
“My daughter tells me to spend more on myself, but my mother lived to 101 so I want to make sure I don’t run out of money,” Simpson said.
As a single adult, she said it is critical that she can manage any future healthcare challenges independently and not have to rely on friends or family.
She now spends about $11,000 a month, around half of which goes to setting aside reserves for large expenses such as taxes and insurance. Her big yearly expenses are about $10,000 for insurance including her long-term care and personal umbrella policies, $10,000 to charity and $15,000 in property taxes. Simpson spends roughly $12,000 a year on travel, including her recent two-week trip to Spain.
She volunteers in her church’s shelter for Venezuelan migrants, cooking dinners and doing laundry. She also volunteers several times a month at a local secondhand store where all of the receipts go to local charities.
“The volunteer work helps give me a new sense of purpose,” she said.
Simpson has met new friends, though socializing as a single woman isn’t always easy, she said.
“Much of the world still moves in couples,” she said.
Action Line: A retirement can last a long time. Prepare for it by saving til it hurts. When you want to talk about saving for retirement, I’m here. Until then, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
