VictoriaF wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:48 pm
SGM wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:54 am
VictoriaF wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 12:01 pm
I'll add a related consideration: as we get older, it becomes more difficult to manage our money and more easy to lose money to errors and scams. If everything else is lost, our Social Security will still be there for us. Thus, it makes sense to maximize it.
Victoria
Hi Victoria,
I saw an elderly relative fall for a Bernie Madoff type Ponzi scheme. The elderly relative had been a competent businessman and real estate investor. In his 90s he lent money to a developer who paid him 18% yearly for the loan. This, of course, was a scam. The scammer had a seemingly good reputation and headed a local charity. 'We needed to hire an attorney who was able to get back half the money that was lost in the scam. It was the fear of errors and scams that was another factor that contributed to choosing to delay SS. We have an annuity and a pension that also offer some protection.
Hi SGM,
Thank you for a good example, albeit a sad one.
I am also thinking about financial innovations that do and will take place as we age. Cryptocurrencies may become a principal means of financial transactions, and if we don't understand them fully, we can fail. Cryptocurrencies and other critical files must be protected with strong cybersecurity controls and, with age, we'll be less capable to implement a strong cybersecurity. All kinds of transactions are conducted on small screens and small screens make us more vulnerable to making mistakes. Likewise, web sites become more crowded and use moving images which reduce our ability to focus.
Even if we don't get a medical diagnosis of a mental decline, the market forces conspire to force us make mistakes. Social Security and pensions/annuities are the first line of defense when everything else fails.
Victoria
I can think of an even sadder one,
with a little dose of humor mixed in just to balance it all out!
I remember hearing someone once say:
"You have to make sure you're worth more to them alive than dead."
Now imagine your heirs decide it's time to cash in on that large nest egg.
(Hey it happens! Anyone ever heard of the Menendez brothers?)
Oh, if only you would have planned ahead to get a larger check,
so that the nest egg would continue growing, and their greed would have kept them (and you) in the game!
But alas, the monthly checks are too small to hold back any longer,
so they roll your wheelchair to the edge of a very long flight of stairs...
Now for the funny part:
The movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" comes to mind,
except in that one Steve Martin rolls his own wheelchair to the edge...
Ahhh, what a great movie! He's hilarious!
Seen it at least 5 times over the years,
and maybe it's time for a good laugh once again.
Like the part where Michael Caine is "the doctor" diagnosing Steve Martin's "problem" by whipping his legs. And he has to pretend he doesn't feel a thing!
"Look doctor, he's so happy you're taking on his case, that he's even crying!"
Anyway, I agree there are many ways to miscalculate things,
and the older we get, the easier it is to just simply make a very costly mistake.
Such as by using poor judgment when "the deal of the century" comes along.
There's a reason why a lot of these scammers go after the elderly.
But if you do somehow manage to lose everything along the way,
all you really need to do is just make it to that next monthly check.
At least that way you can be pretty sure you'll have a roof over your head,
and food to eat. And the larger that check is, might even get dessert!
Plus if that nest egg keeps growing, well, you never know!
"We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well...and live." Ben Hur...and The Taxman! hahaha (a George Harrison song)